Author Talk: Why God Why? with Rabbi Gershon Schusterman

Wed., Nov. 12 | 7 pm | $10

"Why God Why? How to Believe In Heaven When It Hurts Like Hell" by Rabbi Gershon Schusterman

When his wife — the mother of their 11 children — died unexpectedly at age 36, Rabbi Gershon Schusterman’s faith was nearly broken. In his grief, the respected community rabbi abandoned his role as God’s “defense attorney” when counseling the bereaved and instead delved into the great moral and spiritual questions of life: Why is there evil in the world? Is there purpose in all the suffering we see?

The author challenged classic Jewish teachings to offer satisfying answers. As a result of this struggle he began to understand that because life has meaning, suffering must also have meaning. Though difficult to accept, we are not victims of random occurrences, and can choose a response to transcend our grief and embrace a life-affirming, optimistic path forward.

Rabbi Gershon Schusterman was born in Paris, France in 1947 while his parents were enroute from the Soviet Union to the United States. They arrived in March of 1948 and settled in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. His formal education began at the age of 5 when he entered first grade of the United Lubavitcher Yeshivah. Besides a one-year period at the Rabbinical College of Canada in Montreal, Rabbi Schusterman studied in the Brooklyn based Lubavitcher school system through his ordination in 1969. Rabbi Schusterman’s Smicha is of the highest caliber ordaining him to address, not only in rabbinical matters, but also in matters of Jewish civil law, the Jewish religion’s equivalent of a judge.

Rabbi Schusterman will be interviewed by Megan Maurer.

This event is sponsored by Megan & Greg Maurer.