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Jewish Tradition - The PRoblem of Evil
The Problem of Evil
Jewish Tradition
Genesis 6.5-6
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And the Lord was sorry that he had mademan on the earth, and it grieved him
to his heart.
Talmud, Kiddushin, 40a
Is there a "righteous man" who is good and a righteous man who is
not good? He who is good to Heaven and good to man, he is a righteous man
who is good; good to Heaven but not good to man, that is a righteous man who
is evil... But a wicked man who is evil to Heaven and evil to man, he is a
wicked man who is evil; he who is evil to Heaven but not evil to man, that
is a wicked man who is not evil.
Mishnah, Sanheidrin 4.5
Only one single man [Adam] was created in the world, to teach tat, if any
man has caused a single soul to perish, Scripture imputes it to him as
though he had caused the whole world to perish, and if an man saves alive a
single soul, Scripture imputes it to him as though he had saved the whole
world.
Talmud, Peshim 25b
A man once came before Raba and said to him, "The ruler of my city has
ordered me to kill a certain person, and if I refused he will kill me."
Raba told him, "Be killed and do not kill; do you think that your blood
is redder than his? Perhaps his is redder than yours."
Talmud, Sanhedrin 72a
If a man comes to kill you, forestall it by killing him.
Talmud, Derek Ertz Zuta 2.5
Because what is your is not yours, how then can you regard what is not yours
as yours?
Talmud, Baba Metzia 49
No man should talk one way with his lips and think another way in his heart.
Proverbs 23:29-35
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has
complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30
Those who tarry long over wine, those who go to try mixed wine. 31
Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes
down smoothly. 32 At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings
like an adder. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your
mind utter perverse things. 34 You will be like one who lies down
in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. 35
"They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt; they
beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I will seek another
drink." (RSV)
Ellie Wiesel on the Trial of God:
During the war, in one of the camps one evening, three Jews, who before the
war were heads of academies, sages, learned men, and who all knew the Talmud
by heart, decided that the time had come to do something about it, to indict
God. And they conducted a trial. I was very young then. But I remember I was
there. They say on the bed one evening and they began the trial, the trial
of God, with all the arguments for and against. And it lasted a couple of
days. It was very serious, very dramatic. There was a certain gravity, a
certain solemnity in every word they uttered because they knew that whatever
they say has an impact, whatever they say is being heard. And I remember
that after many days the verdict came. And the verdict was:
"Guilty."
Mr. Wiesel now comments:
I would like to do a story on that one day... but I will introduce a new
character a character who defends God, the only one who defends God, the
only one who says God's ways are justified even there, even in Auschwitz.
And I would say that the character is Satan.
... For a Jew to believe in God is good. For a Jew to protest against God is
still good. But simply to ignore God - that is not good. Protest, yes.
Affirmation, yes. But indifference? No. You can be a Jew with God. You can
be a Jew against God. But not without God.
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