Thoughts about Evil on Shabbat Zachor

It is hard not to pick up a newspaper, log onto the internet, or turn on the television lately without encountering the horrors of the world all coming directly into one’s own living space.  It no longer takes weeks or months for news to travel.  We can see the suffering, killing, and starvation with our own eyes as it is happening.  Have you ever gotten so disturbed by the sights that you have stopped watching and asked, “ How can G-d tolerate such evil?  Why doesn’t G-d just stop this entire craziness from happening?”

This very question is addressed in Aryeh Kaplan’s writing,  If You Were G-d.  Kaplan challenges us by suggesting a “game.” To play, we should think of ourselves as being part of a highly advanced technological society where we can see everything that is happening in any place at any time.  We have the power to control the weather, natural phenomenon, and implant ideas through subliminal suggestion.  However, if we try to implant the ideas that go against the basic nature of the population of this society, those ideas will be totally rejected. Oh, yes, and there is one more restriction.  We cannot reveal ourselves to members of the society under any circumstance.  In other words, we are to play as if we G-d.

So, if you could play G-d, what would you do? Would you allow the evil that is going on to continue?  Would you do something about it? Would you step in ensure that it ends?

Kaplan acknowledges that it is not G-d who brings evil to the world, but human- kind.  G-d does not kidnap children, sell people into slavery, behead individuals, nor bomb cities.  Human beings do these things. Yet the basic dilemma still exists:  Why did G-d create the possibility of evil existing in the world in the first place?

According to Kaplan’s answer, G-d did not want robots nor puppets for human beings.  G-d wanted human beings to have free will and to be responsible for their own actions.  “But as soon as you have free will, you have the possibility of evil.” (179)  G-d’s purpose does not permit human beings to be prisoners. In order to have freedom of choice be real, G-d had to create the possibility of evil. (180). 

Why do we often feel as if G-d is hidden from us?  Don’t we read in the Torah of the Israelites who were privy to G-d revealing G-d’s self in history at the time of the Exodus from Egypt and engaging the people in Revelation at Sinai?  Why does G-d seem hidden in this day and age when are only able to read about a time when that was not so?

Kaplan suggests that as long as G-d is hidden we can strive toward G-d as a matter of free choice.  If G-d were to reveal G-d’s self, we would have the sense that part of our humanness would be destroyed.  We would be more like robots or puppets.  Our only other alternative would be rebelliousness. Which if you remember, was the path that the Israelites took after they were unable to receive the revelation with true belief.

Kaplan suggests that we are “taught, that an overabundance of light does not rectify the vessels, but shatters them!”  In other words, “For G-d to reveal Himself to an unworthy vessel can do more harm than good.”  If the ultimate goal of G-d is to have humankind integrate positive values into their lives, and revealing Himself to mankind might wreak more havoc than remaining hidden, then, the method to best use to accomplish this goal might be through infiltration.

Infiltration by whom? Kaplan thinks of the Jewish people as the infiltrators who are interested in spreading a message that diverges from the majority of society.  Judaism’s message is about pursuing justice, ethical living, and removing suffering, not through killing anyone who is not like us, but by trying to live in accordance to what we believe are G-d given principles.  The wisdom that is found in the Torah represents a path for establishing a world based on tzedek and mishpat, justice and righteousness.

If that is what we have to offer the world, why have we found ourselves so hated?  Why do we still have a Shabbat Zachor which reminds us of the name of Amalek, and then cautions us to wipe out his memory? Why is the hatred for Jews more palpable today than it has been for years across Europe?  Why are we seeing an uprising of anti-Semitism on campuses and in communities across the United States?

“Our sages teach that just as an olive must be crushed before it brings forth its oil, so is Israel often persecuted before its light shines forth.” (Shmot Rabbah 36:1)

I imagine that statement was meant to bring hope during bleak times.

My hope and prayer is that we continue to hold onto the light within us, continue to stand up to injustice in the world, continue to refuse to give up our ethical standards even when others try to say they don’t exist.  May we continue to maintain our identity, and may the day speedily arrive when evil will cease and be turned into good. May we never give up our belief that freedom, tolerance, and justice are the foundation of a better world for all and may we never stop acting to promote those concepts even within a world that is filled with hatred and violence.

Shabbat Shalom.