Arguing with God: Literature for Healing and Exorcising Rage

Jewish literature boasts a rich history of characters who argue vigorously with God, from the laments of the psalmists and Job, to the complaints of the Hebrew prophets, to the “boldness against Heaven” in the Talmud, to the Hasids chastising God, and finally, to the rage of post-Shoah authors, such as Elie Wiesel, Zvi Kolitz, David Blumenthal, Chaim Grade and Will Eisner. Authors and psychologists have recognized the potential for this literature to heal and exorcise rage for both its readers and writers. When asked why God would allow the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel said, “I have moments of anger and protest. Sometimes I’ve been closer to him for that reason.” After losing his daughter to leukemia, Jewish graphic novelist Will Eisner explained that by writing A Contract with God, he “exorcised [his] rage at a deity that [he] believed violated [his] faith and deprived [his] lovely 16-year-old child of her life at the very flowering of it.” In this lecture, I will briefly survey this particular strand of Jewish literature, primarily attending to the ways in which both the authors and readers may experience healing, exorcise rage and deepen intimacy with the divine by engaging with God in honest argument and protest.