JLI Course: Class 4- Why Does Evil Exist?

[Music] is evil real if you just ask the question of simply what would the answer be of course it's real if it wasn't real we wouldn't even have a topic to discuss so what is the question really what's a question there's evil real yeah let's go home how do you make how do you make this intriguing I guess the the reason we ask the question is firstly because we don't want it to be real secondly we have a problem because how can a good God create real evil I guess that's why the problem or the question the question is asked so we start off right at the beginning a text one here's the beginning of our problem the beginning of problem is because the Rambam says as if as if it even needs to be said that where it says in the Toyota of oh ma la Kim where it uses the name la Kim what does that mean there's Hashem and there's our Kim Ella Kim means the source of all strength because the the root of the word Elohim is kale and that means strong so Elohim is the power of all powers in other words there is nothing outside of God's control there's nothing outside of God's power so the statement that some people make that God can't control the evil he just sympathizes with those who suffer he is not acceptable because how can he not be in control of how can there be a power that is not his power so that's what sets up the problem which leaves us with one of two options either God is not really God he's not the power of all powers or he's not so nice so we're either questioning his power or His goodness so there was this book which I think they quote later on a rabbi wrote this book saying that when bad things happen to good people it's not God's fault that's the way it is and God is very sympathetic so somebody wrote a review on the book and said it's not really a big big accomplishment because he just replaced a cruel God with an impotent one so maybe you can't be angry at somebody for being impotent but it's certainly not God text 2 is it possible that there are some events that are not significant enough in God's eyes to bother with so you see you could actually make a very good argument people suffer all the time let's talk about Jews Jews suffer all the time and yet there are always Jews so you see God is not really so concerned with the individual but he takes very good care of the collective he will not let the Jewish people be killed individuals not so important god forbid so maybe that's the answer the answer is yes God is in control of big things but he doesn't particularly care about the little things but the pisaq says why mamela says the homo came in the Hashem safe face array invitation the eyes of God are everywhere observing the bad and the good there is nothing overlooked or overseer overlooked Rambam says in text 3 in the 13 principles of faith the 10th principle is you can read it yourself the last line is the most important for your eyes are open to all the ways of mankind to give each one according to their ways and according to the fruit of their doings which means everything happens with judgment you get what you deserve you suffer only if you must if you deserve it you're rewarded according to your deeds so nothing is overlooked so that option is also not acceptable so here's the problem if God watches and sees everything and judges everything and is the power of all powers than what's going on what's going on is evil and the problem with that is text for da Fatima look says in tehilim cave hashem Lacovara hama Valco massive sadaqa sham behold the rock / hosted behold massive he is good to everyone his compassion as upon all the creatures he is just in all his ways and benevolent and all his deeds so where is the evil coming from texts five and six also strengthened the question text five says according to the ami Camila he says God in fact created the world for the purpose of doing good of kindness because it is the nature of the good to do good so the whole purpose of creation is for goodness and yet here we have evil text six at the end of creation of the six days of creation God says behold it is exceedingly good what does it mean it's good God saw all that he had made and it was good the trees the grass wasn't mean it was good it was for the good it would all serve the purpose of goodness so where does the question why do bad things happen to good people where does this come from what causes us to ask that question aside aside from the pain and so that's all subjective I don't like this I want justice I'm but but there's a philosophical reason there's a an objective cause for the question we want justice it's it's not just I want justice there has to be justice it's not my issue isn't it personal this is essential God is the judge of the world where is the where is the justice so actually if I were an atheist I wouldn't be able to ask that question why do bad things happen to good people why not why not in fact I had this ongoing debate with a woman in Minnesota years and years ago she consider herself an atheist actually she was a little flighty she wasn't she wasn't intelligent enough to even be an atheist but she loved playing the role of the atheist and tragically her brother who was the patriarch of the family passed away very young and she was furious and she kept saying why him he was so good so at months after the funeral I said to her you know you're giving atheism a bad name how can you ask such a question why him he was good what does it have to do with anything that doctor showed you exactly where his veins or his arteries were blocked he had a bad heart so what if he was a good man what what does that good men don't die I mean what is that only a believer can ask that question only if you believe in God who says I am the judge and I pay you according to your to your deeds and so if you're a good person you should deserve more life not less so he was a good guy so why did he die so first of all who are you asking why did he die what you asking me you're asking God if you believe in God secondly if you believe in God then then there's a system set up and this is not following the system if you don't believe in God there's no system what are you asking why do good guys die why do bad guys die what's the difference another thing why do good people suffer I got a better question why are bad people born that doesn't bother you I think that's a bigger question the good guy suffer and they become you know Noble and we admire them bad guys are born what what's the excuse so that we compartment to them for being bad so if you don't believe in God you have no questions so you can't say oh I want justice from whom who says there is justice it's an accident oops sorry a so the question actually comes out of belief in God in fact the more you believe in God the greater the question so here's an interesting thing you can't say if you want to handle the evil in the world strengthen your faith in God that doesn't help the more you strengthen your faith in God the bigger the problem becomes like for example I believe in God I don't believe in the house gossip practice I don't think God is paying attention to every little detail okay you've solved your problem somewhat but if you believe in as your practice also the baal shem tov Zeiger practice that every little detail is by divine plan well I'm not a problem is much bigger so how does a munna help you with the question of evil so somebody who does believe will obviously be bothered more by the question rather than less it's also possible that a non-believer will be more bothered by the problem why would it be worse for the non-believer well first of all the believer at least has someone to complain to the people the survivors of the of the war of the Holocaust who hate God with a passion at least they have somebody to hate so if the evil bothers him where does he vent is where does he vent his pain where does he he's got nobody to complain to and we know when you're suffering the first thing you want is that right is someone to clutch to every eighth night not even that so unfortunately what happens if you're not a believer and evil things are happening you blame yourself I'm stupid I made a bad mistake I've been a bad choice of it or you blame the people around you blame the government you blame the school you blame the neighbor because you got a vent it somewhere so for a non-believer the question is not bigger but the pain is bigger because you have no outlet so when a person comes to you and says I'm angry at God how could he do this I hate him I'm not gonna be from that's a survival technique that helps them handle the pain so the first thing you do is you agree with them don't don't defend God he doesn't need your defense on the contrary in some way this is the strongest expression of Emunah it's enviable almost how real God is to people who hate him we're supposed to love him you do you don't a little bit maybe forget about it but those who hate him he is so real so ah let's see what the let us tell you to say on how to handle evil now we're starting off with a with a handicap here because we don't know what evil is we haven't defined it what is evil which evil are we talking about pain you're hit urine you hit your hit your finger with a hammer that's the evil we're talking about okay a piano falls on your head big pain is that is that the evil we're talking about maybe why should that happen right that's the other option the evil of people people's evil intentions evil people let's let's even take people out of the picture a lion eats a gazelle is that evil but to the lion it's just lunch so is that evil in other words it's not what human-beings introduce that we can almost handle evil people do evil thing kill them but I'm in jail or whatever but the question is is nature itself evil is this an evil ii designed world like for example the food chain everybody's eating everybody everything is eating everything tsunamis diseases plagues it seems like nature itself is evil and yet we don't call with that nobody says that a lion eating a gazelle is evil that's nature why because the lion has no evil intentions is just hungry unless it's your pet lion the lion doesn't have choice we have the a-team I don't know I really want the schnitzel right here without a chance but we have an option we can eat other stuff the lie you really doesn't have an option his teeth don't work well with grass the world by design is evil seems like right - evil how about you a little bit if we're just a little bit evil someplace else that would be okay but when we go and eat if somebody goes yeah you could call it if we called bad taste we got poor taste and food okay so we haven't really defined which evil we're talking about and we also haven't defined what does the word real mean is evil real what do you mean is it real does it happen of course it happens we're talking about it but is it real what does that mean real is is like the opposite of imaginary evil is not imaginary that's a ridiculous question so what does it mean is it real let's let's use just for the purpose of our discussions let's let's let's define real as justified is it justified in other words is there a necessary or justified reason for evil to exist that it exists that's a fact but some things exist and they're not justified in other words we'd be better off without it and some things exist because because it's necessary it's it's good it's it's proper so we don't call it evil and I don't know and we want more of it but then there are those things that are real in the sense that yes it exists but should it is it really necessary so the question really is not is evil real the question is what justifies the real existence of evil now the question it becomes even more religious in nature what justifies it look who says there's justice why does everything need to be justified only if you believe not only in the existence of a creator but in a purpose if the creator is a is a purposeful creator then you can legitimately ask what purpose does he see in having evil exist so what we're really asking if we get right down to that the city sure approach to the whole thing I would like to see what he sees why do we learn why do we ask questions because we're curious because it's the nature of the human mind to one to want to fit everything into a neat little package so that it all is consistent and logical to our brain why do we learn why do we ask why do we probe why do we why do we search from a city god is doing all this we would like to see what he sees we would like to enter his mind and look through his eyes because he's our God not because we need justification we're not putting God on trial that that that language is completely unacceptable which they have a text for it we're not judging God we're not more righteous than God that's that's so unacceptable that arrogance that that I know right from wrong what's with God and that's childish what we want to do is we want to get into God's brain into God's mind so that we see what he sees so the first assumption is God created evil and and finds it necessary at least necessary if not virtuous in some way we would like to see what he sees not only to justify the evil but to get closer to him if I can see what he sees then then we're closer were on the same page there's this beautiful explanation that their their big use before before Jakov passes away the Torah tells us that all of a sudden without any provocation he he explains to yay safe why he buried his mother on the side of the road in in in in Shem rather than bury her in the family because because he knew that yes have had some hard feelings so with his dying breath the last thing he said to yes--if was there was there was a reason what was the reason 400 years or so from now the Jews will be taken captive by the Babylonians and they'll be marched down that road in Chains and to survive that golus they're gonna need to davin at her resting place so she is where her children are going to meet her the devas question was yes I've had bad feelings against his father how could that be yes of question whether his father was was behaving properly he doubted his father's motivations particularly since his father was also his attempt his teacher doubting yours ember is like doubting the shimla so how could he have had bad feelings so the question is a very the question itself is is a moral powerhouse but the answer is he didn't have bad feelings against his father on the contrary like we were saying before the more you believe the more you know for sure that everything that God does is for the good the bigger your question is but what is the question the question is knowing that this is good why don't I see it if I really believe it's all good then why doesn't it look good to me why doesn't it feel good to me why doesn't it taste good to me in other words why am I not in the same place headspace as what I'm seeing so because he trusted his father completely and knew that everything his father did was for the good and it was holy and it was right and then he looks at his mother lying there in middle of nowhere I don't I don't see the good that I know is there so the hard feeling wasn't against his father the hard feeling was why am I not in the same place why am I not in the same mad regard same level as my father so what did Yaakov do he elevated Yosef to the level where he could see what Yaakov sees in other words he brought him closer he didn't justify himself Yosef didn't want him to justify himself he was like jealous why don't I see what you see so that's what we're saying we know that everything that's happening is for the good but now we're jealous if it's all for the good why am I not included why am I left out why do I look like like like I'm the stranger who just came to town I don't know what's going on here so what is that what is the Gemara say the gomorian Barajas hi / demlov Oracle Haruka shame shame America whatever a person is obligated as a mitzvah to bless God for the bad just as one blesses God for the good where does it say that in the Torah it says you should love God with all your heart with all your soul with all your might the word for might is Maha another meaning of the board maha is whatever measure he meets out to you be exceedingly exceedingly grateful to him love him for every measure that he gives you so the word medica comes from the word NIDA whatever media he gives you whether it's Hesed or glory you should be grateful so the even wrote a song called you Yiddish and he writes they sings everything is you when things are good it's you when things are not so good it's you and as long as it's you it's good in other words from you I'll take anything as long as it's coming from you so you want to love me I great you want to hate me great as long as it's you which basically means that whether God is loving you or hating you you're in a relationship it is so amazing that God could actually love you that makes no sense whatsoever his love is infinite you're finite what are you gonna do it all that love we're gonna put it like the comedian says you can't have everything you know why where you gonna put it have no storage room for everything if God loves you infinitely what are you gonna do with that love you can't even handle it you don't have capacity for infinite so if he loves you it's so strange it's so amazing it's so unexpected and if he hates you same thing you're important enough to be hated since when some guy had this complex and he was he was so upset with me he says every time I walk in you walk out that's how much you hate me I say I'm sorry to tell you but I don't hate you and I don't notice when you walk you know when you walk out you're not that important so if God does hate you wow you're that important so it's almost like love me or hate me just just don't ignore me so if God loves you you should thank him if he hates you you should thank him because it's so unexpected why would you hate me what am I to you what'd I ever do to you what are you hating just off of the record there is a condition where people and it's pretty common where you feel like everything in my life goes wrong everything I am always everybody else gets by I some people have good luck and bad luck I have only bad luck nothing goes right in my life that that is that feeling or that that perception is actually pathological it's a it's an illness doesn't have a name yet but but it is it's it's it's an unhealthy disturbance it's not an opinion it's not a and then another perception of life no no it there's something there's something broken in the system and there's actually a homeopathic remedy that takes it away so it must be an illness because you can't cure nature you can only cure a pathological disturbance so if a person feels like I get all the bad luck it's almost like God has singled me out and is out to get me he spends all his time thinking up ways of making me suffer at a complex and it's an arrogant complex it doesn't humble you it makes you more arrogant it's me against God and God against me he's out to get me if he was out to get you you'd be gone a long time ago it's a disturbance anyway so let's take a look at what is the broker you say that parent when something bad happens you have to say borrow Diane her MS what does that mean meaning something bad just happened and what are you supposed to say thank you blessed is the true judge what does that have to do with anything how is that a response to the bed don't say anything so there was the incident where Aaron's sons two of his sons died what is the Torah say what was what was Aaron's reaction that's only if the respondus like that like like sad yes so once why doesn't make all highness okay it's nice but it's not bad it's just the truth okay so so that's that's what the that's what the Baraka whatever is burrows Dynamis you say that's what let's let's jump ahead here are seven let's jump ahead through the solution now part of the solution when we say bad or evil like we were saying before what what is the definition we're definition of evil unjustified we can handle anything if we know why if it's justified we can handle it up to a point of course you know the paint can pain can drive you crazy but see you see if we think we have a reason we can we can handle everything like a woman going into labor she can handle the pain but if she wasn't pregnant and she was feeling that kind of pain she wouldn't handle it you can't you cannot handle that kind of pain unless you know what it is once you know what it is no matter how much it hurts can handle it first of all you know it's not gonna last very long hopefully yeah it's only temporary you know what the result will be I kind of fact towards the ninth month you're like come on where's the pain bring it on er eh so if we know what the purpose is it's not evil it just hurts right so what do we mean when we say bad or evil we mean so in in literal practical language it shouldn't have happened why is this happening it shouldn't happen that drives us crazy also for a good reason we are designed by our Creator with a sense of purposefulness the the purposeless makes us crazy even in tiny little things something is out of place it doesn't belong there it drives us crazy what do you care so there are some pens on your dining room table it doesn't belong there so we have a sense of propriety a sense of rightfulness or purposefulness somebody says something is it why did you say that why would you say that I don't know I just said it no you can't just say it everything has its place everything has its purpose and that's why if something happens and we can't identify it or locate it it in its it doesn't it doesn't fit anywhere it makes us crazy not just we object it destroys us we will literally crack up from it because it is so against our nature for things to be useless purposeless unjustified which is a compliment to the human being of course our greatest strength is also our weakness when we can't find the justification we fall apart we go to pieces so again definition why do bad things happen to good people what's a bad thing anything that shouldn't happen is bad like that ever once said the eBrush that is a perfect homemaker a ballbuster everything that belongs is there and anything that doesn't belong is not there that's called efficient home making so whatever doesn't belong is not there so when something happens and it doesn't belong we go crazy not only because it's an injustice there doesn't have to be someone getting hurt anything that doesn't belong disturbs us why is it there even in science why do human beings have remnants of a tale why what do you care it doesn't belong doesn't make sense it doesn't fit so bad means something that should not have happened and that's why if an old man passes away nobody cracks up right but if a child god forbid yeah well well that shouldn't happen why death is death what's the difference how old you are the difference is we can justify the death of an old person we can't we can't find justification for so it shouldn't have happened and now the question is this if you say it shouldn't have happened doesn't that come from your belief in God what do you mean it should it shouldn't so you believe in God and you're saying that something that happens shouldn't have happened that's a little contradictory if God is the power of all powers and nothing happens without him making it happen wait a minute shouldn't have happened if he did it then it should happen secondly how do we know what should or shouldn't happen how many times have we had the experience where something happened and we said oh no no no no no this is bad ten minutes later oh I'm sorry changed my mind I guess it's really pretty good so to judge what should or shouldn't happen we are completely unqualified we don't know what happened in the past we don't know what's gonna happen ten minutes from now what are you judging it should or shouldn't happen so what is the answer to the question why do bad things happen to good people the answer is bad things don't happen how could it you're saying this that happened should not have happened meaning God didn't cause it so who did the devil what is that the Sock'em did it that's that's that's idolatry uh-huh okay okay we could blame ourselves but in in principle by definition no bad thing ever happened because it can't how can something that isn't supposed to happen happen see if we understand the world did not exist God makes it exist so how can something happen that isn't meant to be how can something exist without having a purpose the only way that anything exists is because there's a purpose otherwise there's nothing so when we say God is the power of all powers we mean he is the only creator nothing happens without him so what does it mean it shouldn't have happened so what about the people who questioned God they're not saying this shouldn't have happened they're not doubting the purposefulness most people if you give them a purpose they're content oh that's why okay like the one the woman in labor and the people in the hospital walking around listening to the screaming and and they're okay why are they okay she's in labor no she's in pain yeah there is labor but what about the pain well you know labor there's pain so that's it so you're okay you're okay with the pain now why are you so okay with it cuz you know why so it still hurts so here's the point here's the really important point no matter how justified the pain is it hurts it's not bad which suggests that before the fact that the wolf does the question you had at the beginning the part of the lion it's the gag as then or the wolf it's the there is something bad you know there is something even in there's going to be change because that will be change where there is no evil then me and and death will be removed forever so is death bad I understand I understand but there are two issues there are two issues the first is pointless things that happen that have no purpose no justification though that we have to get rid of because it will destroy us if we really think that things happen without a purpose you can't live no okay yeah we got that in a second so the first thing that we have to do before Messiah comes is we have to get rid of this idea or this suspicion that something can happen for no reason because then then the only solution is suicide if you're living in a world where things can happen for no reason then get out once we figure out nothing happens without a reason and therefore nothing bad happens now the question is what is the purpose of death what is the purpose of pain what is the purpose of suffering of agony of grief yes so the second question is a much more delicate question much more sensitive question somebody is in pain and it's their own fault they did stupid things and they got them so sick and now they're in pain do you have any compassion for them exactly well you know next time you'll be more careful your head next time so we have very little compassion you knew you knew you were gonna get into trouble you did it anyway okay next time be more careful and we have no compassion and that's not right compassion should extend to people who are suffering for a good reason but they're still suffering with all the compassion go well I understand why they're suffering so that's it so here's the problem after we justify the evil we can't be content we can't be content that's why you really want to know why there's a holocaust no I don't want to know why because no matter why it hurts this is compute you can't look into survivors eyes and say you know it was justified it's all for the good and you tax it all time that lost the child right of course you can't but if a person coming out of the Holocaust scientific says I understand there's a purpose wouldn't that be great right so of course we're we're not in a position to preach to somebody in a lot of pain and that's you know I have to go to the Holocaust yeah yeah you go you go god forbid you go to a Shiva call and you say it's all for the good you should they should throw you out of the house it's so inappropriate you didn't come there to dismiss the pain you came there to share the pain that's what that's what a Shiva call is first of all you don't come to somebody else and say but I nemesis oh only for your own pain not for somebody else's but now it makes sense you see what are you saying about the tragedy you're saying God is a true judge what what does that mean what does it have to do it what you're saying is there's a purpose so what have you eliminated the randomness the purposelessness because that that we can't but that didn't take away the pain it's not meant to take away the pain it's meant to take away the insanity you're not gonna go insane cuz it all has a purpose and what the purpose is I don't even need to know I just need to be sure that there's a purpose because otherwise I will crack so I'm not cracking up because everything has a purpose now what do I do with this pain that's why people have to come share your pain take away some of the pain bye bye Bert by taking it on but you don't dismiss the pain because it's all justified the pain is still real and hard hard to carry hard to so we've got to do something about that so the word the the braja Barros die an MS doesn't mean it's okay it's not okay but it's not pointless so don't crack up let's work on the pain let's handle the pain now completely off the table check out how much time do we have huh 20 minutes so briefly and we really shouldn't treat the subject briefly but when historians look back at the 20th century they're gonna find this fascinating thing from a distance objectively observing what happened in the 20th century to the Jewish people they will discover that six million Jews became martyrs died al kiddush Hashem they're the survivors and their descendants couldn't handle it stopped believing in God stopped being thrown and then the grandchildren did River that's it that's the 20th century in other words in the 20th century half the Jews became martyrs and the other half became Bali Cheever that's what happened it turns out that there's actually a prophecy that before Messiah comes tsadikim will become bali chuhwa how does that sound like become about River the souls of people from the past who have achieved the level of Sadiq are still missing this one finishing touch this one crown which is called chuva so before Messiah comes all the souls that were tsadikim in the past will be born again in order to become Bali jeweler and what will cause them to become Bali Shiva the Holocaust the martyrdom of six million Jews will cause the rest of the Jews to become Bali children but in their soul they were ready tsadikim because in their past lives they've already achieved perfection but on top of perfection there are these two crowns the biggest sadiq in the world is missing two crowns one is called chuhwa and the other is called martyrdom may share a banal I mean to say that he was perfect it's like an understatement and yet he was born again as rabbi akiva primarily to dialkyl discussion because misha's death was a non-event nobody saw him die nobody knows where he's buried so he lived his life completely godly but his death was private Noby achievers death was massive it was public it was kiddush Hashem so before Messiah comes which means the 20th century before Messiah comes those tsadikim who needed the additional crown of martyrdom became martyrs and those who needed the additional crown of Coover became Baal each other so now what you would think every time that needs it even it's not the perfection so what happened what happened was people became martyrs or people became Bali chuva and those are beyond perfection in addition to perfection so if you're going to ask what exactly happened in the Holocaust I'll take a look six million Jews died I'll kiddush Hashem the rest have to do to her that's what happened so now the question is really is that necessary that is the purpose so it's not purposeless the question is still was it really necessary so after we know what the purpose is we still don't get it so what is our question about the Holocaust people died for nothing of course not that's not even respectful to the people six million Jews died for nothing that's what you think of life that one Michigan that comes along six million people have to die cuz he's crazy of course not so you see it's not enough to know the reason the only people who are comfortable with six million deaths are Nazis Yeah right so when we asked the question we're saying we want to see what he's seeing because we're not seeing the full picture we see what is happening if until recently the question was not why was there a Holocaust the question is what's a Holocaust we can't even wrap our minds around it what was that so we were we were we were we were paralyzed by the question but even if we know what it was we still understand the necessity for it so we want to get into God's mind to know why is martyrdom so great so let's get to the answer before we run out of time is evil real of course it's real the comparison to darkness which you're gonna find here darkness is only the absence of light so it's not really dark that's not that's double-talk but it's not really dark the absence of light is not real so what is this idea that evil is not really real it's just the absence of light what does it mean the absence of light is not real what you turn off the light that's not really dark the the comparison of evil to darkness only does one thing and it's only meant to do one thing to tell you that you can so easily get the light back doesn't mean it's not really dark it's really dark the question is how do you undo darkness the answer is it's not that hard put on the light because darkness is only the absence of light only it's the absence of light so what is the remedy the remedy is bring in more light don't fight the darkness because the only thing wrong with darkness which is real the darkness is real what's your problem with it let it be dark no you don't like darkness so how do I get rid of it don't fight it turn on the light so the the comparison of evil to darkness is only in terms of how to handle it not whether it is or isn't real now there is a darkness that can be fixed by turning on the light it's not true of all darkness in with Zion for example during the plague of darkness turning on the light didn't help because that darkness was not the absence of light that darkness was a creation called darkness so there are two things that we do with evil or darkness there's a certain evil you simply outlive it because it's the absence of light so if you do what you need to do if you follow the right path stay the course keep going for the light you'll get there what about the darkness it'll disappear it doesn't exist by itself it's only the absence of so if you keep bringing in light there will be no darkness but then there's another darkness or another evil that we keep talking about that we need to fix tikkun olam what are you fixing the absence of light you know fix the absence of light so there's a darkness that you can dismiss and and you should because that's its remedy dismiss it and it will go away but then there's an evil or a darkness you can't dismiss it's not the absence of light it's the existence of darkness and the purpose for its existence is to be transformed into good but to transform something it has to be real so there is a substan substantively and we want it to become good because it has an energy that goodness doesn't have so it's not simply undoing what is the point God created a world with evil and we should get rid of the evil what was the point just to give us a job you mess up a kitchen just to have the cleaning lady fix cleaning it up because otherwise she comes here for nothing and you're embarrassed because the kitchen is clean so you mess it up before she gets there that's ridiculous the reason evil exists is because it has something powerful real and we want it on the side of good so why did God create evil why did God create good there is something in good and there is something in evil that serves divine purpose that serves a divine pleasure so before we ask why is there evil we need to ask why is there anything what are you picking on evil just because you don't like it why do people die why are people born oh that you take for granted yeah people get born now let's figure out why No everything has a purpose including evil what what does purpose mean purpose means if you use it correctly you can extract something positive and valuable from it that's true of evil evil has a power that we're we're jealous good people are jealous of evil people because because there's something about evil that goodness doesn't have like the insanity of it not to justify but somehow sometimes you feel like no these terrorists who blow themselves up what is it a slight aside from drugs they're all drugged but if it wasn't drugs that kind of devotion that kind of commitment that over-the-top commitment to something what's horrible so so separate separate the cause from the devotion of course the cause is wrong but look at how devoted they are to the wrong cause can you imagine if they suddenly did River with that passion they would be better than the biggest Saudi because the biggest Sadiq is not insanely good it's just very good so there's a certain power to evil and we notice it all the time even in children good kids are good kids bad kids they're geniuses and they use it in all the wrong places so what drives evil there's a certain energy there that goodness doesn't have that's why when you do Tuva you're greater than that Sadiq cuz you've taken that energy that sin has yes if you could turn that into good you're more than good your uber good so I'm asked a question there was Hitler who is who is the equal and opposite to Hitler he was he was infinitely evil so who's infinitely good right it's hard to find an example but but in today's world in the 20th century who was Hitler's opposite nobody all right do you see what I'm saying we haven't gotten over it because we don't have an equal and opposite it's still like mind numbing how can you be that bad uh-huh if you transform it no you need that level of energy the evil you do you do away with you take that energy away from the evil that's like yak of stealing the brothers from Asaph those brothers Oh No evil is not going to get that so even what evil already has steal it away get it transferred move it to the side of good that's called tikkun olam so just being good is not good enough so when we say God created the world out of goodness yeah that's not good enough that's true Yeah right so so now there's good and there's evil that's not good enough the evil exists because there's something there that needs to become holy and it's our job to face the evil engage the evil and and steal that goodness out of it yeah yeah yeah more than we want he wants that energy back from the evil so at many places effective easily God is complaining why do you worship idols why do you run after them they're nothing they were saying hear what he's saying meaning so the conventional understanding it God is saying why are you so stupid why are you being stupid what are you running after them they're useless I'll help you they can't help you right so God is complaining about our stupidity no no the energy that people had for idol worship God was so jealous look at the passion you have for that for that for that we deserve I want that passion so when Elio said if you're gonna worship Baal worship Baal if not worship God make a choice stop jumping around from both that way that's what it was yep you know pick one or the other that's what he was saying if you really believe in bowels we'll go now he wasn't saying that he was saying where is your passion not if you believe in God so worship God now if you believe in God give him the passion you have for bow because the different passion for some reason there's a passion in sinning that you don't find in mitzvahs even the biggest Sadiq so the only to access that passion is here oh yeah like like a vault rubra like but there's an idea no one thought of it's like should we send to wait I've already sent and I didn't even know how good I was being so it's like you know the the the the analogy that when we're connected to God with a rope and if you sin you sever the rope if you do Cheever right and the same way with you throw the ball against a wall when it hits the wall it get yeah it is energized so for some reason the rebound has a power that that the straight forward the original doesn't have so there's said there's a song an old Moroccan song where it says it asks God please help me love my enemy to the degree that I hated him in other words I don't want to just stop hating him because then what was the point I want my love for him to be as intense as my hate because hate is more intense but if I can get let me say that was out the true bye it's like and I'll Beach Boys it's greater than because there is access to that and it never makes sense funny how that can be understood and again exact somewhere but it's a need greater to to never touch that in the gym session how can can okay you you're you born without so you you you have it but what you're saying it seems that should always educate our kids to instead of out seen occasionally notion why you don't think let me let me explain this a very very good question a very good question why if you say I'm going to sin because I can always do chuhwa then you can't reach over why so there are many explanations like you can't you can't use one of the reasons is if you're sinning because you can do chuhwa then you're not really sinning the passion for the sin is not the same thing with today's Bali chuva anybody who was not raised with you described and finds you this kite is about children not really because you didn't sin with passion that's right so that passion for sin wasn't there no the only time you have a real passion for sin is when you're from right the passion overcomes everything you believe in everything you're committed to but if you didn't know where's the passion so really a Froome kid who sees a non-kosher candy and says hmm that's true huh that's cuba you don't have to do the worst sins in the world and then regret it the rejection of evil is chuhwa so doing mitzvahs is its addict not doing a sin is about each other now how tempting was that sin determines would help how bigoted about you ver you are the greater the passion and there's always a passion right a non-kosher candy use its appealing you say no you've salvaged that passion so the real bow sugar is a person who sins with passion not a person who sins unintentionally so of course a person who sins unintentionally will correct his ways and become good fine but the reason for evil to exist as not yet been justified the real justification is the the incredible passion that sin has not the absence of light that's not passion that eat that darkness that's easy turn on the light but what about the passion for evil turn on the light not gonna work because the light doesn't have that degree of passion to it but where does passion for goodness come from yeah yeah so the person who blows himself up is having clay son definition yeah but he wants to take others with him it's even more passion right yeah so the purpose of evil which is very real is that it has an energy like like the energy of where is it called OD oppositional defiant that is such an immense such a powerful energy that that rebellion energy that and that's why in a sense the Zephyr created a rebellion not let's all be nice or the physical ever in his time like insanely good and you gotta see them to do it but but he was fighting Stalin more than he was fighting Hitler but yeah in order to win against passion that evil you have to have passionate good not just natural good where does the passion come from from the evil the evil provokes you to that kind of and that's using the evil for good that's like you get into a big fight with your husband nasty nasty painful ugly and then your makeup and it's better than before why is it better why not just back to normal you can't go back to normal once you felt that intense hatred normal you'll never be normal again you will either be better or you're gonna be worse how do you get better than before the the intensity of the hatred intensifies the love an intensity that love does not naturally have so the person who loves God is jealous of the people who hate him because when you hate it is so much more passionate so what weather like normal people do like we're not haters how do you approach something like this we do it very very very often by the way whenever there's a tragedy what do we do more light yeah a young girl passes away we start a myth sir every girl should light candles for her that's insane it's insanely good because it's a reaction to an insanely bad so where do we get all the time you know if if only the rest of the world would do that energy of good is better than the essential yes it is better and that's why the energy that the evil has doesn't belong there it belongs here but it has more convinced yes that's a good point conventionally light is stronger than darkness but not the darkness that is pure evil the struggle between good and evil is in a sense unbalanced in the favor of evil because we live in a world that is more dark than light this is this is the lowest of all worlds so if you just look at good and bad right and wrong pleasure and pain there's more wrong there's more pain there's more evil that's the nature of this world this is not at sillas right the question is what power exists that can reverse that and turn this world into the best of all worlds which is right that's the whole purpose the lowest world will become the main dwelling place for God see there's your answer godliness is is the answer good and evil that's the battle where's where's the solution in other words good will not win over evil make sense godliness will turn the evil into good but if you just leave good and evil fighting they'll fight forever and the evil will basically win out so the lowest of all worlds means a world in which by its own on its own course it'll never be good that's what makes it the lowest of all worlds so the existence of the food chain animals eat animals and and and things destroy each other metal rusts away flowers die when the season ends that whole process which makes this the lowest of all worlds that has to be changed and what changes it really is not choosing the good because no matter how much good you choose the evil is more the solution is to bring in something much greater than good and evil and that is godliness good is good it's not godly unless you bring God into the picture so good people are not the solution and that's why the non Jew who is good is not really solving any problem unless he's doing it for a godly purpose unless he brings God into his goodness he's not the righteous Gentile he's just a nice guy that you do good because it serves a godly purpose not because it's better than evil you know I have a choice I can either be good or bad and good is nicer that doesn't solve anything now because he said so because of his purpose what does he need out of this right so it's not just doing what he wants doing what he needs you're serving him not just obeying there's a huge difference now of course you you serve him obediently obviously they're gonna tell him what to want but but the obedience is not the accomplishment that's just a method a manner the accomplishment is you created what he needed you to create you served him when we read the English it he did this and it was good it was good it was good when do we when does he create yep so so let's go back to the good Meyer what was that the text which is it 31 yeah yes you see what it says where do we learn that you should thank God for bad things that happen because it says behold aha and my aid comes from the word meda no look what it says whatever measure he meets out to you be exceedingly exceedingly grateful to him well what is this getting a little emotional here exceedingly exceedingly is that because that hyperbole very very so the Gemara says of the Madras on Friday God saw all that he had made and it was very good all the other days it says good God saw the light and it was good but on Friday God saw everything he had made and it was very good so the measure says what's what is very good mean good is good what's very good Sandra says good is the Yates of Taif God saw that it was tithe but that's the exit eight very good that's the yates of her not a strange statement because when you take the energy of the eight Sahara and make it good it's not just good it's very good so what what does it mean God created though it was very good it was very good means there's that's the beginning of history not the conclusion so it's not like oh it's very good now we can retire and go back to sleep now now we have a world ready to be redeemed elevated fixed why because there's a yates ihara and that energy that eights had us we gotta get that we gotta get that and then the lowest world the one that has the eight Sahara comes out on top because in the world of at sillas you don't have the passion for godliness that about you over on earth has because in at Suez there's no pushback so is evil real evil that's right exactly right exactly rare and that's why we ask why is there evil we don't ask why is there good because it's just good there's nothing special we ask about evil because there's something special there and it doesn't belong there yep but crazy has an energy that right and insanity has more energy than sanity people go crazy have more strength than that than a normal human being maniacal energy well why don't we have that why do you have to be maniacal where do you have to be a maniac to have that kind of energy okay what crazy right they were tell you what crazy crazy good means that was sitting by a fab ring in nineteen in nineteen sixty sixty right everybody is still bleeding from the Holocaust and that ever says we're going to change the world yeah talk normal what are you saying like everybody else said we are going to rebuild ourselves we're going to get back to what we once had that's normal and they accomplished it all the other city groups their cities were destroyed there their people were killed out and now they're back and they have yeah but innocent it was a natural process also even in the good days they kind of merged in it yeah so now they have these huge centers with magnificent buildings and huge receivers with thousands of kids and back to normal the Debra said I don't want to go back to normal was it what's normal the world wasn't created to be normal if you want normal that's it was that's normal there's God there's nothing besides God everything's good God wasn't content with that God created an abnormal world so what are you gonna make of it normal in an abnormal world you have to have an abnormal amount of godliness so really without noticing we're all insane we're all insane what's Lucas is not an insanity it's pure insanity you take a young inexperienced couple send them into a community that does not agree with them on anything that's the same and you think the couple is going to come out on top what are you thinking and guess what they come out on top it's right you get a little kid to go on with so you it's insane you know how we know that it's insane because when that ever started everybody said that's insane they were said right what's your point yeah that's the same what do you expect isn't that why we're here so you have to really be cuckoo no we aren't we're pretty insane as it is it's really like it's not them think about it a person gets married and is loyal to the marriage that's insane No No question being monogamous being monogamous is insane it's an insane godliness what are you thinking it's not normal by all standards so maybe in the olden days you couldn't you couldn't imagine not being royalty er to your marriage today you can't imagine most of the people you know I'm not loyal to their marriage because the beer oil is the same so the question is this how normal can our insanity become people look at how bad you're insane we look at it and but well what are we doing what's the same garnish with us yeah what else you gonna do to us the insanity has become sane and they never didn't like that so every time we got comfortable with a myth sir he added a new one oh you're getting too comfortable you're becoming way too sane now go and reach out to non-jews whoa whoa whoa that's insane yep totally insane now bring mushiya I should bring my yes but that's the same uh-huh and what motivates this the darkness the evil God who's a quoting it concludes by saying that no matter how we justify evil we should never get comfortable with it the ends I'm kind of a moralistic we will never accept evil we will challenge God then we will we don't challenge God that's that's that's senseless the argument the reason we challenge God is because he taught us to do that no that's that's kind of a strange philosophy of believing in God and believing in yourself equally my sense of justice does not allow me to let God get away with evil that's a god complex or something the thing that we never get comfortable with is not the evil and the injustice the pain the justified necessary pain we should never get comfortable with because God is not comfortable with it it's easy to get upset when you think there's an injustice even children complain that's not fair you don't have to have any intelligence or any goodness to complain about an injustice the real goodness is it is just burrows Dyan MS now what can I do to take away your pain you don't stop being sympathetic once you know that there's a purpose why because God is that way he certainly has a purpose and he knows what he's doing and the pain bothers him that's why he's looking forward to mission yeah not only to bring justice to end the justified pain there are many many different approaches to it very few people notice that Aaron silence meant he didn't say borrowed I animus which what he's supposed to say so it's not just he didn't complain not he didn't Rebell he didn't even save birthday enemas so that's for one of two reasons either because there are some tragedies that you can't you can't say anything an old man passes away peacefully in his bed you say barodia Nemus but when a tragedy is overwhelming it doesn't help to say barrel Dynamis right so it's word words do not work any words I guess in the sense that the Torah says that his silence was perfect it means that's what God wanted didn't want him to say anything had he said anything it would have made it worse so either the pain was too big for words or it wasn't necessary to say everything happens for a purpose Aaron didn't need to say that there was never a question what was a question another explanation that is given is they they did it on purpose they died from their own ecstasy what you're blaming God the question for Aaron was did they do right or did they make a mistake the question wasn't why they died they wanted to die the question is is that right so then God says no that's not right and don't ever do that again it was beautiful it was wonderful it's spiritual don't do that from now on it's forbidden so when they did it they were they were complete tsadikim because there hadn't been a commandment against it the first time that God said do not die from ecstasy was after they died so it's similar to the Ikeda what was the Ikeda God says send your son back to heaven he's completely righteous that was such good news so people say how come he he complained about Saddam and and defended them and argued in their favor in an art no argument to defend his son they've had that question there was nothing to defend God wasn't punishing yet skok he was saying he's purely righteous and he belongs in heaven never look that's what could be better than that the greatness of Avraham was that he wasn't jealous why does he get to go to heaven what what's wrong with me that was the first time that God made it known that going to heaven was not a good thing because before that everybody thought sooner you can get to heaven the better like you must sacrifice so God said though I don't need you in heaven I need you on earth so no more yuuma sacrifices unless you can't serve but if you can serve don't don't quit so that left opened the possibility maybe dying from divine ecstasy is serving him so of course no human sacrifice but to die from the pleasure of godliness that sounds okay so by the sons of iron God said no I don't want that either so don't do that again but when they did it there was no there was no prohibition they weren't violating people died it's not it's not people died for kids or what that means yeah what that means is you can die like I've wrote like Misha died everybody's gonna die so you can die like a non-event or even your death can be serving him making a confession so it's not they died for the key decision they died and even their death brought a key discussion so it's like saying if they hadn't died for Aki - and they would have lived more not necessarily they would have died to give this uh-huh everybody dies when their time comes but some deaths are embarrassing painful some deaths are a little more dignified a little more elegant a little more you know so the question is not why did they die the question is how did they die because death is part of nature but it can happen in so many different ways so I make sure I Ben who died but it his death didn't do anything for the world rebbi akiva died he was 120 by the way not like he he died before his time or something but his death is still being spoken of today it's one of the inspiring parts of the doffing on Yom Kippur so it's not like he really was gonna live a much longer life but he was killed al kiddush Hashem everyone's death is predetermined at birth the question is did your death accomplish something or they just end your life so martyrdom means your death was a significant event otherwise you die and there's no is no significant event that's those are the options but not like well if you don't die kiddush Hashem you live forever don't live forever so there are people whose lives are magnificent but their death was just a death there are people whose lives were magnificent and even their death was magnificent a chimp ssin said I'm about to die but can't I die accomplishing something can't my death also bring a blessing to the Jews like take all these guys with me that so everybody actually prays that their death be productive significant inspire somebody you know have somebody say Connie for me something just gone that's it that's over and done with you even death has a value like how many people become good because the parent passed away and they were never so sensitive and they were never so good but now that the parent passed away all of a sudden they want to do the right thing and would he prefer this would he have preferred that you never cared what your father wanted when he was alive so conclusion evil is real and it is the most exciting motivational force in the universe look at how every cause right every crusade pardon the expression every every rebellion was a reaction to evil of course it turned out to be evil too but that's that's precise a point for every rebellion yet ever a rebellion to undo the evil of the rebellion but the rebellion was against an evil and people gave their lives for it rightfully you're wrong but look at the motivation look at the power that this thing has in fact people are worried what's gonna be when Messiah comes what's the passion gonna be everything will just be good if sounds boring uh-huh yeah we can use a little boring Forex for a change right you have the option serenity or passion a passionate serenity an intense call yeah that's that's exactly what we're looking for an intense goodness not a boring goodness a passionate marriage not a functional marriage so the coming of Messiah is not okay we'll settle down and things will be okay forever but that doesn't sound good it certainly doesn't justify all the pain of the past right all of that so that we can just go back to normal no it's got to be much better than normal because it's been much worse than normal the ultimate purpose is the insane pleasure of our relationship and what makes it insane the transformation of evil into good the world's evil everything just like absence makes the heart grow fonder why so you can say absence only reminds you of what you're missing because when when your husband is home you don't realize how much you need him how much but when he goes away you realize no that doesn't make you fonder that just makes you realize how fond you are but absence does more than that it makes the heart grow fonder because the absence has a power that presence doesn't have when in Russia you were not allowed to put on film how much passion people put into their Tillman the insane passion of communism to destroy Judaism it was insane they were threatened by an old man who's who who spoke Hebrew what is your threat you're the superpower of the world you've got America intimidated that you're afraid of an old guy because he used a Hebrew word what is this insanity what do you care of the Jews in your country speak Hebrew really Bru teach their kid olive base drove them crazy they sent spies and they bred prisons and they met tortured people what is your problem and that kind of insanity was the the Deborah's reaction to are we gonna put on tefillin Wow we gonna teach our kids I love bees underground but insanely and he won it was more insane it was crazier than crazy you see this clip about this guy the refusenik what's his name the famous refusenik firm Mendel Mendel Evek didn't see the clip the whole story of how he went on a hunger strike and anyway he beat the system really and he ends the whole story I don't when he got out of jail but because they couldn't break him they didn't know how to handle him because he was the same they put him on a plane to Israel the Communists put him on a plane to Israel he said look what happened you told me I will never leave Russia because he wanted to get out they said never you're never gonna get out of here in the end they paid his ticket to Israel they put him on the plane who won one question I have hard sheep creates that energy that's weird I mean why do we need hard to generate that energy I don't know is there something else that were given that no because if there was if there was another way to do it and why would God do it this way that's a question we have no answer for we understand the system now but God is infinite could have picked any system why this one that's what mashiach is gonna have to explain so after all the explanation that there's a power to evil because it is rebellious because it is anti god it's even stronger than goodness right okay fine who created that who says evil has to have more power i don't know but the fact is it does and the fact is we have to get that power back and once we get it back we'll ask God why he set it up this way and not some other way because no matter which way he set it up we would always ask why this way why not the other way see there's a difference between he starts off with this there's a difference between absence and opposite let's take a look at them with ya right right not just the absence where where is that right at the beginning somewhere huh right right so the analogy is really referring to a lesser evil which is only the absence of light so there are two levels one is an evil that is only the absence of light and the other one is the creation of evil that is the opposite not the absence to it it's simply the absence and that's easy to fix bring in the light actually godliness prevails in the end not good yeah yeah yes so is there because there are real so the question is are you rewarded for your suffering does it all pay so godliness will succeed and the power of evil will be transformed or redeemed the question is for those who invested and went through the suffering is there some reward is there some huh what's the balance of that like you went to war yeah compensation you went to war in you won that's it okay now I can go on or is there some kind of medal some kind of compensation what balances the pain that you experienced so that's why the Torah says that when Messiah comes we will thank God for the pain which means there'll be some kind of benefit or compensation or reward it won't it won't it won't just be ignored so so what is it we need to see besides the victory see the victory is not yet enough the question is why why did there have to be this war and of course it's good we won great why was there a war why was this whole thing necessary that is the reward or the compensation so of course there'll be the pleasure of victory but there's got to be more than that there will be more than that yeah but that's not enough so what could possibly compensate absence makes the heart grow fonder that's the compensation not the victory victory is necessary victory is the project does not compensation it's almost like it's up right so it's almost like your soldiers come home after winning the battle so that's it they come home you won the battle okay we can all go to sleep now the homecoming the hero worship now you're something so special if that doesn't happen right we're seeing this and that in the headlines soldiers come back from war and they need all sorts of therapy because they're there they're traumatized there that didn't happen after World War one or after World War two nobody came back traumatized they came back heroes they didn't need any therapy or maybe they needed therapy because it went to their head and they thought they were they were greater than they were but no nobody came back feeling horrible because they were greeted like heroes treated like heroes not just victors not enough to be victorious so when was he uh comes it would be we won of course we won you had to win what else what will this do to our relationship with God that we are waiting to see you know somebody says what happens a woman is trying to get married year after year and that it's not happening and it's painful and it's horrible it's that a brink of suicide and then they get married where does all that pain go you ask the ass of the caller so so what about a world so what about all the pain you know she says what pain it's like it's gone it disappears they never say wow those were painful years never heard of colours effect I say everybody talks about the sugar crisis you're engaged crisis over there's no crisis it never happened there was never any pain that's the darkness that is the absence of light once you bring in the light what darkness what are you talking about it's not like Minnesota we go through a miserable winter and we make all sorts of those who never never that's it I'm getting that here and then the summer comes in like wow the place is beautiful what winter it snows here yeah when I'm looking for that quote where it says that evil is not the absence it's the opposite where is that text 18 no it's a short statement from Rambam I think there we go look what it says here darkness is not the opposite of light that is only the absence of light for I have never observed two opposite entities of which one is transformed to become the other perfectly so when I see a dark space become illuminated I know that darkness is not the opposite of light only its absence what is the opposite of love indifference is that not just the absence of love indifference means I don't love so is that the opposite of love or just no love hmm these are the absence how about hate is hate the opposite of love maybe so passionate that it could be transformed into that you only hate the ones you love right something like that the apps the the opposite of love is self-love no what is the opposite of love what is the opposite of my loving you come on loving myself the real resistance to love is self-love why should I love you if I can love myself you can but to the degree that I love myself to that degree I don't love you like what what what is the opposite of respect self-respect I'm important not you so disrespect is more the absence of respect the real opposite is me it's like who should I love that is there love is there love or is there not love that's just absence the opposite to loving you isn't loving me come on you hear this all the time you don't really love me well you don't really love me why should I give you love you're not giving me any love so the real of the real obstruction the real resistance to loving you isn't hey what about me I should love you you love me first so what is the opposite of belief in God no belief that's why I am God you should have no other God but what's another God you should worship me don't worship so the opposite of Munna in God is a moonlit in me mm-hmm you mean like I don't worship anything there's no such thing as don't love yourself there's no such possibility no self-respect means you're too busy with yourself no self-respect means I don't respect myself I need respect that's the problem if I need respect I'm too busy to respect you again I'm busy with myself either because I respect myself more than you or I need respect more than you I got the problem not you but it's all always me is there is the resistance so what about somebody who worships nothing okay that's the absence of worship it's not another god it's no God the darkness that you've mentioned the darkness that has an existing that is left is the absence is that- that transformed into a positive becomes so there is a darkness that would be the opposite of light yes yeah that's what I'm saying he's making an important distinction that there's a difference between something being absent or something being the opposite when it comes to evil there's both it's both there is an evil that is simply senseless like sometimes you Yeats Ahura is just pointless and then the only solution necessary is get busy you're lazy what's the solution go do something but then there is a creation of evil that makes this world the lowest of all worlds and that's real and that's worth redeeming or fixing or ransoming back bring it back to godliness the energy the energy it has is godly obviously God God created it it doesn't exist by itself it exists because God created it like everything else but the amount of energy God gave it is enviable why did he get to that aspect of this world so much more strength is the energy with too so here's the point God God created the world out of what do we know God created the world out of out of at Ava right a passion now if God has a passion then there also has to be an equal opposite passion passion is always in the same

Channel: Chassidus with Rabbi Manis Friedman

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Keywords: Rabbi Manis Friedman, Manis Friedman, 11213.org, 11213org, Chabad Chassidus, Chabad, Chassidus, Tanya, Kabbalah, Torah, Daily Study, Judaism, Jewish Thought, Jewish

Id: WIJzvNhCP28

Length: 138min 27sec (8307 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 15 2018