Why Doesn't Hashem Shut Off the Electricity?

So, I was just asked by Natalie if I believe in Hashem (G-d). I told her that I do but there are times that I don't.

She then went on to ask why they teach that Hashem will punish you for something, if indeed one doesn't actually get punished, such as using electricity on Shabbat. "Mom you know how you aren't suppose to use electricity on Shabbat, well my friends say that if you do you will get in trouble and Hashem will punish you, but that's not true."

I couldn't answer that but I did try to explain why electricity was not allowed on Shabbat - not it's actual relationship but the reason to question if it's allowed or not.

I explained to Natalie and Noah that whenever something new is invented or is being use, such as electricity, a decision has to be made to see if it's similar to the original laws and how its to be applied. The people who decide that are these very special Rabbis and it is they who decided a long time ago, that electricity is not permitted on Shabbat based on the original laws.

They wanted to know why HaShem wasn't present in those decisions. Why it is left up to the Rabbis?

Noah asked again, "Why do the Rabbis make that decision? Why doesn't Hashem make that decision?" Then Noah said something really clever - "Why doesn't Hashem just shut off the electricity on Shabbat? If you aren't allowed to use it, then why not just shut if off?"

I thought that was a very insightful and excellent question for a six year old. I didn't have an answer to that, but I did tell him that I was really proud of him for asking. That it's a great question.


I posed these questions to some friends in the community and asked what would be the best way of answering Natalie and Noah in an age-appropriate manner.

Though this isn't really in child-speak - it does help to answer their questions ....

"When Hashem gave the torah to the Jews, it was given to us to keep to live by. Unlike Christianity, which is a series of dogmatic laws, which you are not supposed to question, Judaism considers torah a "living torah", a developing element of our lives. We are commanded to study and to question, and to discover the reasoning and make the intuitive leaps that connect the past to the present and the future. The Rabbis that make the decisions that we live our lives by are not "divinely ordained". They are men that have dedicated their lives to the study of torah, and, through their knowledge, can make those connections between the origins of the laws and how to apply them to modern technologies.

I'm amazed that a six year old would ask a question like Noah did - I agree that it's very insightful of him. Here's the reason Hashem doesn't just do it for us: Free will. If Hashem just shut off all the electricity for us, he would be taking away our ability to choose what to do, to make the choice between good and evil. And the whole purpose of our lives is to make that choice between right and wrong. Otherwise, we wouldn't be making the choice to follow what Hashem tells us to do, but being forced into it. So it doesn't really matter what the punishment is, or if we're being punished at all. The point is the ability to make that choice."