As spring turned into summer, my 8-month-old son, Hersh, slowly but surely began to crawl. It would be, I thought to myself, before I knew it, a year of Hersh. But then my thoughts turned – I realized before it would be a year with our Hersh we would mark a year without Hersh. My wife and I named our son in memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin whose first yahrzeit will be in just a few days’ time.

The Book of Job is the paradigmatic work of Jewish theodicy. While much of the Bible explains suffering as punishment, the Book of Job attempts to answer why bad things happen to good people through the story of one man. Job’s suffering has nothing to do with his behavior; instead it is the result of a bet between God and the Satan.

Job, an innocent and faithful man, has his life overturned simply as

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