There is a very old dispute over the nature of evil in our tradition. Does evil have an independent existence? In other words, did God make the world in a perfect and good manner but with the space for evil to fill vacuums? Whenever there is an absence of good, some lacking in perfection, a void is created. We call that evil. It is not something independently real; it’s just something painful that fills the void where goodness ought to be. The Rambam and some of the early Kabbalists, such as Rabbi Azriel of Gerona, basically take this view.
G-d emanates perfection towards us. In order for creation to exist, that perfection must be blurred and lose its shape. If G-d left everything perfect, if He made no room for anything other than himself, we could not exist, we could not exercise free will, we could not do anything. Yet, this very creation of space for us creates gaps that allow evil to exist. Along the way, vacuums are created and evil takes form.
The other approach is that G-d actually created evil as a significant and independent presence. He created evil creatures and all sorts of horrible things in order to serve a higher, and better purpose. But woe to the one who confronts evil because it is lurking in shadows literal and mystical. It is always there. Sin crouches at the door. This is the view of the Zohar. Serpents put evil and violence into the heart of men; Lilith is a demonic force that kills children; sin invites them in and gives them authority, power, strength to act.
In stories old and new, especially in fantasy, science fiction, and horror films, evil often becomes incarnate in just this vein. It takes on physical form in evil creatures that threaten. There is a good reason for this. It helps us understand evil better than we otherwise could.
Take, for example, the 20th century fantasy series The Lord of the Rings.
In the Fellowship of the Ring, the first of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings trilogy, the fellowship is forced to take a short journey through the long abandoned, dangerous, enemy-filled, and dark Mines of Moria. More terrifying than the orcs and goblins is the possibility of ancient beasts that may lie in waiting. Indeed, the fellowship faces a beast called the Balrog. It is some kind of beast of smoky shadows and fire.
“You cannot pass,” (Gandalf) said…
With a terrible cry, the Balrog lunged at him with a whip of flame. Gandalf’s sword gleamed, and the two forces clashed in a deadly struggle, but the Balrog was too powerful.
In that moment, the bridge cracked and fell beneath the weight of the Balrog’s attack, sending him tumbling down into the darkness below. Gandalf, too, was pulled into the chasm.
And so, Gandalf is gone. How deep is the chasm? How dark? What other creatures dwell there? How evil are their hearts?
We don’t know.
It should be obvious that the journey into the Mines of Moria and Gandalf’s fall into the chasm are intended to reflect real evils and real challenges, to capture a sense of the horrible that a mere declaration that “good is absent” simply cannot. Sometimes we are faced with treacherous journeys filled with unknowns. The only thing we know for sure is that we will confront remarkable evils. How evil? How dark? How horrifying? How dangerous? How lethal? How sharp are their knives? How blunted their hearts? We don’t know. The chasm is too dark, too deep to see. We do not know how deep the evil goes.
Tolkien’s depictions – the Balrog, the orks, and so on – present a view of evil that comports better with the second approach that we described. You find full bodied creatures that perpetrate horrible acts.
Does he mean it literally? Or is it a metaphor?
And what monsters have we met? How dark are their hearts? Is it possible that human beings actually murdered Ariel and Kfir with their bare hands? We know that biologically these murderers are humans. But only a demon could do that. Only shedim (demons) and taninim (serpents) could switch out Shiri’s body.
And we do not know the depth of the evil. I do not think we ever really will. That particular cave and chasm runs far too dark and far too deep for us to look inside and see, grasp, understand. It is yet deeper and deeper.
And what of those who refuse to see it?
What of the journalists who write not about Kfir, not about Ariel, not about their mother, not about the hostages who sit in terror, but only about how the next dead, injured, or kidnapped Israeli effectively endangers the ceasefire. What of the people who tore down posters of two little red headed children, of babies, and then felt righteous?
They do not see what is so obvious to us. “Can’t you see?!” We wish to shake them awake. But they do not see.
In 1956, Rabbi Soloveitchik wrote:
Let us not forget that the poison of Hitlerite anti-semitism (which made Jews fair game to all) still permeates this generation, which look with equanimity upon the horrible scene of the suffocation of millions in the gas chambers as a normal event that need not be challenged. (Kol Dodi Dofek)
It was a normal event then, it is treated as something to gloss over now. It needed no challenge then, and barely a sound is made now.
Because it feels like the Zohar says: it feels like dark shadows enter the minds and hearts of men, take them over, fill them with apathy, anger, false feelings and broken moral compasses.
As always, political decisions are fraught. But we must know now and never forget: there is yet more evil in the heart of man than can be imagined. It goes deeper and darker. And we must be prepared to confront it and all of its students.
What form should that confrontation take, outside of political realms?
- Give no ground on the moral issues. Yes, we are still under attack. Yes, there is much to be fought for. No, our enemies are not in the right. They are all sorts of shades of wrong.
- Be prepared for it to go on, to get worse, to take more of our time and money and energy. Because we do not know where such things begin and end.
- Find G-d. We must speak to Him in prayer, study His wisdom in Torah, and bring Him into our hearts. Because if we are not better, stronger, smarter, wiser, kinder, sharper, keener, then we may not have what it takes to go on. We need to be better because we don’t know what the future holds.
- Do not trust yourself until the day of your death (Avot 2:4). Even we can be infected by evil. No one is exempt. Neither do we need to despair. We need not worry about resting on our laurels or turning evil because we have Torah, and we can wake every day and work to be good.
I do not wish to end on a note of anger and despair.
Some have made much of the miraculously thwarted bus bombings that took place on Thursday night in Israel. Our enemies do not rest, but neither does G-d. Behold, He neither naps nor sleeps, the Guardian of Israel (Tehillim 121:4) G-d is with us, so long as we are worthy. And we are worthy in all moments that we do good (Tanya 1:1). Let us do good.
