Why Is There Suffering? A Jewish Perspective on Pain, Emptiness, and Purpose

“Hi. Something has been bothering me for a long time: Why is there pain and suffering? It’s not that I think everything is bad—there’s good too—but even the good is fleeting and doesn’t always fill the emptiness people feel inside. I usually can find joy in something small, like a flower or a meaningful conversation with someone close, but I still don’t feel like I’ve found the real purpose behind it all.”

Hello and thank you for sharing your question.

The emptiness you’re feeling comes from a deep and sensitive awareness that this world is not the ultimate destination. It’s a reflection of a soul that longs for something more. That longing is a sign of inner depth.

A small flower can bring a moment of joy, yes. But lasting happiness is something else. Real happiness doesn't exist fully in this world because this world is temporary. It’s a corridor, a preparation room for something much greater—the world to come. The Sages explained that this world is like a hallway before a grand hall: prepare yourself in the hallway so that you can enter the banquet hall.

In that light, there isn’t really such a thing as "evil" in an absolute sense. What we call “bad” is usually just the absence of good.
Hunger is the absence of food. Blindness is the absence of sight.
“Evil” isn’t something tangible—it’s like darkness, which is just the absence of light.

The highest form of good is doing what aligns with the Divine will. When G-d created the world, He called it “very good”, because even its challenges serve the ultimate purpose to bring us closer to Him.
Even pain and difficulties are like surgery for the soul, intended to heal us and guide us toward that true, lasting good: closeness to the Divine in the world to come.

It is for this reason that we need teshuvah (spiritual return). We were created with an inner conflict and temptation, not because we’re flawed, but so that we could grow through struggle. This is something even angels are unable to do because they have no free will and no trials. In fact, that’s why the human soul is considered even higher than angels because it chooses, struggles, and climbs.

G-d created what we experience as “evil” to be a tool in our journey toward the good. The ethical and spiritual texts describe this with a metaphor: imagine a royal commander asking to go out to war—not because he loves battle, but because he wants to show his loyalty and strength to the king, and earn greater recognition and reward.
In the same way, the righteous want to face tests and overcome them, to grow spiritually and connect more deeply with G-d.

Each of us has the power to choose whether or not to grow through the challenges we’re given. Through those choices, we shape our inner world, and our world to come.