The rabbis' point is that Israel could only feel God's presence when they were receiving gifts. This is a common malady; many people pray for something and if they do not receive it assume that there is no God.

Companion animals have a remarkable capacity to disrupt self-centeredness and inspire affection and appreciation for something completely "other."

The accuser challenges God. Take Abraham's son away from him and then see how faithful he will be! Let us recognize that faith is higher than morality and deserves the supreme test.

Science is naturally skeptical, initially couched in doubt. Though doubt might be a stumbling block for science, it is a stepping stone for faith.

I'm pretty religious and knew that "The Tree of Life" tackled what are sometimes ominously called "Big Questions" about religion. But I was unprepared for the power of the film, which is like living inside a prayer.

Why does God not simply say to Job "This is why you suffer?" What is the larger point God is making? There are endless, powerful and provocative speculations about this question.

When making a film that is, essentially, the chronicling of God's relationship with humankind, even the most eloquent narrative would seem anemic.

There are at least four different models in the Torah for the human relationship with Creation. Each voice comes from a different source and each one still has something to teach us today.

Job did not get a straight answer to why then. I cannot imagine why we would get one now. So what are we left with? If faith cannot answer the cry of the heart, what good is it?

The problem for people of Christian faith is that there really aren't very many good answers to the question of "why" in the Bible.

You might think that if someone is powerful enough, say ... omnipotent, then anger would be unnecessary. And yet it makes a lot of sense that we humans would expect God to get angry.

In their 2009 film "A Serious Man," the Coens, for the first time in their career as moviemakers, decide to go back to their Minnesota upbringing and tell a story that touches on the Jewish depredations of Job and Kafka.