The Rebbe Explains Evil in This World

The Rebbe Explains Evil in This World

Welcome to our weekly program, "The Inside Story of Chabad in America," through the Mindel archives. Today I will share with you another question that the Manhattan class was in the middle of - that they had asked, which I spoke about last week - and that the Rebbe wanted answered.

You can see how much effort the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe put into that Manhattan class. There is so much ksav yad from the Rebbe about the discussion - he wanted to know about the discussion - and this gave the people [a boost of emunah in Hashem]. At the end of this, in another two or three programs, I'll share with you what they wrote - the lesson of this whole exchange, what the Rebbe wanted. This was under Merkos, and what the Rebbe wrote about how we should teach teachers - how to teach pedagogy. That was very [profound], and I'll do that - that's the lesson. It's unbelievable.

But today I want to continue with another question that this class had. Rabbi Mindel gave it to the Frierdiker Rebbe, [who] said, "Give it to the Rebbe, the Ramash," and the Rebbe answered.

Now, this again - I'm going to show you these. This is the ksav yad of the Rebbe. So we have pages and pages of ksav yad; I have the originals. I'm going to translate this into English. I mean, last week I read the Hebrew as well, but today, since it takes too much time, I'll just translate the Rebbe's letter into English.

First, the question - what does it mean when we say G-d created worlds and destroyed them? Can we say G-d was not satisfied with the world He had created? How is it possible for G-d to create unsatisfactory worlds? This is, I guess, based on [a Midrashic text] - I think this is what Alexander Cowan [?] had in the text.

So this is the answer, and the Rebbe begins again with an introduction, like he did last time. It's very interesting - I'll try to do this word for word.

"The world we live in clearly operates on a system of good and evil. Man is the reason for creation and is the choicest of all creatures, to whom G-d entrusted the whole world." That's what the Rebbe writes. "Man is dominated by two contradictory spiritual forces - the good inclination and the evil inclination." Then, in summary, in a few words, he writes: "The world, as well as man, who is the goal of creation, are both ruled by the forces of good and evil." That's how it begins.

Now, man's natural inclinations are similar to any other animal's - they are instinctively selfish. A man eats, and an animal eats; a man sleeps, and an animal sleeps; people have physical needs, and animals have physical needs - the same thing. What's the difference? But G-d gave His divine powers to man, to combat and subdue the animal instincts within him, and to attain a spiritual level, which is the very opposite of the earthly and natural.

So both man and animals have physical desires and needs, but what makes man different are the divine, godly powers that man uses to control the animal instincts. Such a system of good and evil was, of course, necessary in this world - it was necessary to have good and evil to create that kind of creation. Why? Because, the Rebbe says here, "G-d, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, desired that man should, by his own free will, choose to do good against the strongest temptations to the opposite direction."

In other words, what he's saying here is that a person should choose good. G-d could have created a world where man would have had no evil temptations at all, and would do nothing but good. But such a world would be altogether different from ours, for man would cease to be man - he would be an angel. And G-d didn't want people to be angels - G-d wanted people to be people. This is not the kind of world that G-d intended the world to be. So the Rebbe wanted a world that would be both bad and good, and he wanted man to choose good.

The question now arises, the Rebbe says: how is it possible for evil to be a product of the good G-d? That means, how can a good G-d create evil? The nature of G-d is to be good - G-d is only good, we don't see it many times, but G-d is good. But how can a good G-d create evil? This is what the Rebbe asks.

And here the Rebbe goes into an example - this example is explained in the Tanya, originally used, he writes, by the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidus. The Rebbe gives this parable, and this parable is from Tanya:

"A king had a son who claimed to be absolutely devoted and loyal to his father. Wishing to test the love and devotion of his son, the king orders a woman of doubtful reputation to tempt him and try to steal his affection." I'm trying to do this word for word, at least from the Rebbe. "Now suppose the prince - meaning the son - rejects her temptation and withstands the temptation, proving his unshakable loyalty to his father, the king. The king is, of course, highly pleased - he rewards his son, not forgetting also to give a rich present to the woman who was instrumental in proving beyond doubt the prince's loyalty." She helped test the prince, who passed the test. In essence, she wanted the prince to be good.

"Suppose, on the other hand, that the prince fails to resist the woman's temptation and becomes a victim of her apparent charms." That's how the Rebbe writes it. "The king punishes his son for his failure - but can he honestly be angry at, or punish, the woman, who, after all, was doing what the king wanted her to do?" She did what the king wanted - the same thing.

"Also, when G-d created the world, it was His intention that man should find himself in such a world where he would have to prove himself a loyal prince in the face of the strongest temptations, in order that he may deserve the greatest reward that G-d had stored up for the righteous." The world was intentionally created, he writes, with many challenges, so that when man overcomes these challenges, he is greatly rewarded - the more challenges, the greater the reward.

In that original intention of G-d, evil was not really bad at all - it was not an end in itself; evil was merely meant to show man the good road to follow. "But," the Rebbe writes - and he underlines this - "if man would see evil in that light only" - the purpose of giving man free choice of action and rewarding him for doing good would be lost, since man would not be tempted by such evil.

In other words, he writes, the true intention of evil is only as a means to bring out our powers for the good - evil is not a goal in itself. If this idea were clear [to man], then the test would not really be a test. It was therefore necessary for G-d to clothe evil in such a way as to appear to man as something independent. Evil in that state means destruction. To preserve true free choice, Hashem needs to make it seem that evil is a power in itself, an independent power. But in truth, evil is nothing by itself - evil exists only to show goodness.

So, regarding the question that was asked - how can a good G-d create evil? - He didn't. Evil itself is nothing; evil is only there to show, to bring out, the good. Otherwise, [the purpose of serving] Hashem [would be lost].

Next week we are going to continue with the questions that they asked, and we're going to finish with another example that the Rebbe gave here. So the answer is: we still don't know why the Rebbe - why G-d - had to create worlds and destroy them. What does that mean, that He had to destroy them? He wasn't - he didn't know what he was doing [in a human sense, but this will be explained further]. So, next week we will continue the answer.