why is this happening

I bet that plenty of people have ideas, and many of them are pushing them through social media and other forms of publicity. There is a painful reality that seems to elude way too many people. Hashem did not consult with us mortals before arranging His hashgocho protis. We also lack the neviim to explain to us exactly what we need to know about the Divine cheshbonos. This is true for every single event since we last had these baalei Ruach Hakodesh. So we are limited in being unable to honestly declare the causes for these major events, whether mass shootings, terror attacks, pandemics, etc. All we can do is to examine ourselves and make tikunim in our lives to be better at our Avodas Hashem. None of know the specifics of our tafkid in our very existence. What we do know is that we have a Torah with 613 mitzvos, and Oral Torah that provides us with any other specifics in how to conduct our lives, and countless seforim that bring all that to our level to make direct applications in our lives. What is right for me might not be the same for you. For this, we need a spiritual guide, as in עשה לך רב, and to develop the skill of חשבון הנפש, where we can fearlessly look inside to see what we need to fix or where to improve. Headlines and Whatsapp messages cannot accomplish this.

We can reasonably say that when this is over, we should do something to make our experiences in yeshivos, batei medrash, simchos something more spiritual. What those specifics may be should be with the guidance of our morei d’asra, our Rav, and our personal introspection. It is reasonable to seek to reset our Avodas Hashem, both public and personal aspects of it. But the delving into what caused it, or why is fruitless, and a general waste of time. Perhaps even arrogant to believe we can identify the intention of HKB”H in how He runs the world.

The Tosfos Yom Tov informed Klal Yisroel that the tragedies of Tach V’Tat occured due to talking in shul. Other Gedolim explained the causes of the holocaust. The Gemora (which is also long after the period of neviim) explained the causes for the Churban.

It is abundantly clear that our Gedolim today and in the past are highly capable of telling us explicit causes or aveiros that triggered specific contemporary tragedies in Klal Yisroel and in the world.

Looking for answers for “why this happened” or “who is to blame” is at best an exercise that will lead to unproductive debates. Even if a Gadol asserts that the reason was a particular shortcoming of this generation in Hashem’s eyes, what is more important is how we respond to the situation. Whether it is the mitzvah of V’nishmartem me’od l’nafshoseichem, protecting the safety of others, tzedakah, bikur cholim done remotely, what matters is how we move forward. The world changes, sometimes in abrupt fashion, and we are presented with new ways to perform Kiddushay Hashem. We need to step up. That is all that Hashem, the Nevi’im and Gedolim expect from us.

Joseph:

I cannot speak for the Tosafos Yom Tov. In contrast to our generation, he was a Baal Ruach Hakodesh. Nor will I accept that I am in any way minimizing the gedolim of today. I will reference Rav Elyashiv ZT”L responding to one of the terror tragedies in E”Y where there were several comments attributing a cause to it. He strongly stated (this was on video I think) that a tragedy should make everyone introspect and change what they need to. But to make a statement about a general cause is not appropriate. Meanwhile, the tendency to attribute causes has followed the pattern of everyone making an issue out of their own pet peeve. Remember the child in BP that was tragically murdered? Do you also remember some speakers blaming this on tznius? I confronted one of the speakers (a recognized Gadol who I think the world of), and he admitted that his statement was incorrect, impulsive, and actually a disservice to the Klal.

It is true that our community has much to fix. That needs to be done. And if a misfortune or calamity triggers that, at least the tikunim happen. But I would be wary if any human tells me that he has the inside story of Hashem’s master plan.

Exactly.

Some fake frum people obsess over how much they don’t like Tzionism but seem to ignore the tragedy of Communism. The average American Jew doesn’t know what it’s like to be scared of being put in a Siberian Concentration Camp for KEEPING SHABBOS.

I find Western Jewish culture to be embarrassing in what it chooses to hashkafically oppose; it makes no sense!

Perhaps Frum people need a wake up call no to be Fake with Frumkeit.

I just davened with a physically spaced-out outdoor Minyan. It felt so special and satisfying to daven with a minyan. That’s not something I normally feel. The mere ability to do a mitzvah has become special.

Sometimes we take the little things in life for granted. We don’t even stop to think of what we truly value.