When Bad Things Happen to Good People..., Harold S. Kushner
When Bad Things Happen to Good People..., Harold S. Kushner
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When Bad Things Happen to Good People

Author: Harold S. Kushner

Narrator: Harold S. Kushner

Abridged: 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 07/05/2000


Synopsis

As a young theology student, Harold Kushner puzzled over the Book of Job. As a small-town rabbi he counseled other people through pain and grief. But not until he learned that his three-year-old son, Aaron, would die in his early teens of a rare disease did he confront one of life's most difficult questions: Where do we find the resources to cope when tragedy strikes?

"I knew that one day I would write this book," says Rabbi Kushner. "I would write it out of my own need to put into words some of the most important things I have come to believe and know. And I would write it to help other people who might one day find themselves in a similar predicament. I am fundamentally a religious man who has been hurt by life, and I wanted to write a book that could be given to the person who has been hurt by life, and who knows in his heart that if there is justice in the world, he deserved better. . . . If you are such a person, if you want to believe in God's goodness and fairness but find it hard because of the things that have happened to you and to people you care about, and if this book helps you do that, then I will have succeeded in distilling some blessing out of Aaron's pain and tears."

Since its original publication in 1981, When Bad Things Happen to Good People has brought solace and hope to millions. In his new preface to this anniversary edition, Rabbi Kushner relates the heartwarming responses he has received over the last two decades from people who have found inspiration and comfort within these pages.

About The Author

Harold Kushner is Rabbi Laureate of Temple Israel in the Boston suburb of Natick, Mass., after serving that congregation for twenty-four years. He is best known as the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, an international best seller first published in 1981. The book has been translated into fourteen languages and was recently selected by members of the Book of the Month Club as one of the ten most influential books of recent years.He has also written When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough, which was awarded the Christopher Medal for its contribution to the exaltation of the human spirit. In 1995, Rabbi Kushner was honored by the Christophers, a Roman Catholic organization, as one of fifty people who have made the world a better place in the last fifty years. His other books include When Children Ask About God, Who Needs God, To Life, and a 1996 best seller How Good Do We Have to Be? With novelist Chaim Potok, he is co-author of the new Conservative commentary on the Torah, scheduled for publication in the Fall of 2001. His book Living A Life That Matters will be published by Knopf in September 2001. Rabbi Kushner was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Columbia University. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1960 and awarded a doctoral degree in Bible by the Seminary in 1972. He has six honorary doctorates, has studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and taught at Clark University, Worcester, Mass., and the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary. For four years, he edited the magazine Conservative Judaism. In 1999, the national organization Religion in American Life honored him as their clergyman of the year.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Heidi on October 17, 2017

When Bad Things Happen to Good People is Rabbi Harold Kushner's examination of life, why things happen and the role of God in all of it. Kushner wrote the book because his son was born with progeria, a disease where his body aged much faster than it should, and he died young. It shook Kushner to his......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on July 22, 2015

Savvy Spiritual Guidance I often recommend this book to psychotherapy clients because it gives me peace of mind when struggling with the pain of life. Written by Rabbi Harold Kushner, this collection of philosophical wisdom is not tied to a particular religion. Why do bad things happen to good people?......more

Goodreads review by Megan on January 03, 2008

The best I can do to explain this book is to quote it: "But if Man is truly free to choose, if he can show himself as being virtuous by freely choosing the good when the bad is equally possible, then he has to be free to choose the bad also. If he were only free to do good, he would not really be cho......more

Goodreads review by Ellen on October 27, 2007

I wish I could say that this book answers the question posed by its title. Instead, it is more of lesson on how "God" doesn't cause bad things - humans do. If this a concept unfamiliar to you then you might find this book mind opening and perhaps relieving. On the other hand, if you already felt thi......more

Goodreads review by Deacon Tom on February 23, 2022

Truly A Classic Please add my name to the long list of people that I’ve called the book an absolute 100% classic. As a man who in the past two years has had a heart attack/stroke and a broken back. Plus I live with cancer. So,this book was in many ways my story. It is logical and it is sensible and sh......more


Quotes

“Whether religious or not, this book will speak because it touches–profoundly, but simply–on questions no parent and no person can avoid.” —Harvey Cox, Harvard Divinity School

When Bad Things Happen to Good People offers a moving and humane approach to understanding life’s windstorms.” —Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

“A touching, heartwarming book for those of us who must contend with suffering, and that, of course, is all of us.” —Andrew M. Greeley

“This is a book all humanity needs. It will help you understand the painful vicissitudes of this life and enable you to stand up to them creatively.” —Norman Vincent Peale