Parshas Ki Saitzai

As seen in the press: "Katrina is G-d's vengeance on sin city." J.Grant
Swank
As seen in the press:"There is a connection between Katrina and Gush
Katif." Reverend Billye Brim.
As seen in the press:"Katrina is the answer to Iraqis' and Afghans'
prayers." Al-Zarqawi.
And the list goes on....

Our sages (Yalkut Shimoni Bishalach 265) looking at the episode of Amalek (Divorim 25:17) analyzed OUR sins to see why we were attacked by Amalek. The Gemarra (Yevamos 63b) says that when tragedies happen in the
world, WE JEWS should look at our actions and repent, because G-d is telling US something. In 1927, when the Mississippi River flooded, the Chofetz Chaim declared that JEWS should fast and repent.

G-d certainly has His reasons for causing events to occur, but we are too small to really understand why.When tragedy strikes, the only actions we are suppose to analyze are OUR OWN (even if the tragedy doesn't seem to
affect us), not OTHER PEOPLE'S actions.

Have a great Shabbos !!

That's right, blame the Jews once again!

Seriously though, you are quite right that we should be examining ourselves, especially at this time of the year so close to Rosh Hashana.

But my Rabbi taught me that we should always view our

"sins" collectively.

Thanks for the question. Hopefully, my answer will be satisfactory. If not,please let me know.

I am not sure what you mean by "viewing our sins collectively". There certainly is a concept that if Bnai Yisroel does something bad, punishment could be meted out to all the people, even though this individual didn't do that sin per se.But to say that I was punished because of "collective punishment" is only after the conclusion is made that I am not part of the reason.(I once had a student who was thrown out of Yeshiva because he was a thief.When asked why he left Yeshiva, he told people that he couldn't stay in a Yeshiva that had a thief !!) Also, a person could be part of the "collective punishment" because he didn't prevent others from sinning.(Judaism definitely believes that "I AM my brother's keeper".) i.e. "Collective punishment" doesn't exempt the individual from introspection.When something bad happens I have to look at my actions. Relying on "collective punishment" means "I am good, others aren't" or as I also say, "My team are the good guys, the other team are the bad guys". The bad team can be Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, politically right, politically left, depending upon where I stand. Let them do their soul-searching, I must do mine!!

If I may, I'd like to throw in a thought. I think the Sages knew all too well that it is a general human trait to think, sometimes vindictively, sometimes spitefully, that Hashem is punishing this man, or Hashem is punishing that nation, etc.

So they (the Sages) say, think about what YOU did wrong, not what THEY did wrong. It's OK to analyze what "they" did wrong in handling the situation - otherwise, how do we learn from other people's mistakes? - but it is what "we" did wrong that matters for "us".

Thanks for the note, but I have a couple of observations to share.
"Learning from people's mistakes" does NOT mean that I look at someone who got "punished " by Hashem, say it was because of a certain sin, and consequently I won't do that sin. That is quite presumptuous about my a)knowing what goes in other people's lives and b) knowing darchei Hashem.
I have written a number of times lately (as a response to comments on my dvar Torah)about our being too small to understand the ways of Hashem. Now I would just like to address "Knowing what goes on in other people's lives". The Gemarra (Baba Metzia 85a&b) says that the people didn't understand why the land (Israel) was becoming desolate. They asked the Chachamim (sages) and Neviim (prophets) and they didn't know. Hashem Himself said that it was because the people didn;t make a bracha before learning Torah.(I am not going to explain now what exactly the Gemarra means.) Rav Schach zt"l asked, that if the sages and prophets didn't know what our sins were, how could Hashem give us such a severe punishment? He answered that the problem was, that everyone was looking at everyone else's sins, and that's why they didn't know what the problem was. Had they looked at their own sins, they would have known!!!!
Take care.
Chaim Flom

R" Flom, thank you for the explanation. That we were punished by being thrown out of the Land for not making a bracha before learning Torah makes very good sense to me. Without a bracha, learning becomes mechanical. The bracha tunes the mind and the spirit to hearing every word of Torah, to making it linger and reverberate within us, which is how it was intended to be learned.