The good, the bad and the ugly?
Question submitted to “Ask the Rabbi” by:
Name: J. Levi
Full Question:
“In my own words based on some commentary of Rabbi Hirsch Yeshayahu, 45:7 reads: I form ohr (light), and create choshech (darkness); I make shalom (that what is whole), and create rah (that what causes division); I Hashem worketh all these things.
The antonym of light seems to be darkness, the antonym of shalom might be in this case rah. But in Bereshit it is said that the antonym of rah is tov. Are shalom and tov synonyms somehow? The Maharal in many places describes tov in terms of existence, and rah in terms of absence. Likewise I read that tov could be determined as functional and rah as dysfunctional.
Did HaShem create rah as in ‘He did make it directly’, or did He not make it, but was it created by making shalom or that what we call tov (so that it could exist and HaShem eventually could be called the Creator of it)? Like darkness exist because of the absence of light, and cold exists because the absence of warmth.. could rah be the absence of tov? Like Albert Einstein once said to a professor?
Choshech seemed to be there already when HaShem called the light.. how do I need to understand this? And how is it paralleled with the shalom and rah part of this verse?
What is rah, and how, why and when was it created?
Please help me out with these questions, J.Levi”
Rabbi Tully Bryks responds:
Like many words in Judaism, the word “Shalom” has multiple meanings, depending on the context. For example, It could mean peace and it could also mean good. Regarding the question as to whether “Choshech” (darkess) is merely the absence of light, you actually answered this question yourself by quoting one of several verses that clearly state that G-d created Choshech. Nothing in this world is here by accident – Everything has a Divine purpose!
Along those lines, “rah” (evil) was also created by G-d with intent! One of the greatest gifts that we have is our free will to choose between good and evil. We are faced with these choices every single day. From greeting our neighbor, to conversing with our spouse, to conducting our business affairs, we are commanded to choose life and to make the right decisions. The ability to choose evil makes our good choices that much more valuable. And while this certainly entails some risk, G-d would never give us a challenge that we cannot handle!
For a more detailed analysis of this topic, please see my article on free will.
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