| Friday 3 November 2023 - 19 Cheshvan 5784
Sedra Vayera
CAN EVIL BE TRANSFORMED INTO GOOD?
WE CAN SEE LIFE AS DIVIDED BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. In a time of conflict with evil, this is the obvious way to understand what is happening. Good is fighting against evil. But Jewish teaching includes also a more complicated way to see things. There is good, and there is evil; and behind the evil is hidden good.
According to Chassidic teachings, that force which creates evil originates in a realm of good. It has effect as evil, because somehow, something is wrong with the way the force is transmitted into our world. Its manifestation in our world may indeed be evil to the extreme, and we have to defend ourselves from it and try to eradicate it. Nonetheless, the hidden spiritual origin of that force is good, and eventually that goodness will be revealed.
This idea relates to a famous section of the Sedra1 this week, the destruction of the evil cities of Sodom and Gemora. The Sages explain that the inhabitants of these cities were renowned for their inhospitality and cruelty. The text of the Torah gives us an idea of their barbaric immorality2.
G-d revealed to Abraham that these cities were going to be destroyed, and Abraham pleaded on their behalf. Abraham represents the attribute of Kindness, seeking to find a point of merit even when this seems impossible. So Abraham argued with G-d: If there are fifty righteous people in the cities, let their merit save everyone else. Realizing that there were not fifty, Abraham asked further: if there were forty five, forty, thirty, twenty, ten - let their merit prevent destruction3. G-d agreed, but it was clear there were not even ten. So, after Abraham's nephew Lot and his family were rescued, the cities were indeed destroyed. The Torah describes an unprecedented cataclysm combining elements of an earthquake and a form of volcanic eruption. The bleak vista around the Dead Sea remains as a monument.
Now comes an intriguing postscript. In the Book of Ezekiel (16:53) we find a prophecy that the city of Sodom will somehow be redeemed: "[G-d] will return the captivity of Sodom…". Despite the obvious evil of the inhabitants, and the total destruction described in the Sedra, some aspect of Sodom will be recovered in a positive way.
Here we come back to the question of the origin of evil. The Jewish mystics tell us that there is an intense Divine radiance termed the 'Radiance of Chaos'. This radiance has tremendous power, but it is usually manifested, as its name suggests, in a chaotic way. This can take the form of utter, horrific evil, and we have to battle against its manifestations with all our might.
However, the source of this energy, as of everything, is Divine. For all comes from G-d, both good and evil. Jewish teaching promises that eventually the Divine source of everything will become apparent, including the source of evil. Then the 'Radiance of Chaos' will cease to be chaotic and dangerous. It will be channeled in positive ways, and will provide the energy for the manifestation of good, called Repair, Tikkun. Everything negative will be transformed to good. Today too, many people have found ways to channel their own dangerously chaotic energy into something positive.
The prophets and the Sages depict the time of the Messiah as an epoch when all evil of any kind will disappear. For then the very source of evil, the flow of energy which now takes chaotic form, will be transformed into healing and Repair. At that time the hidden good of every kind of Sodom will be revealed4.
Then the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem will be the centre of world consciousness and spirituality, including for our cousins the Arabs, descendants of Ishmael, and also the Iranians, the Russians, the Europeans, Americans and so on. At last there will be peace in the beautiful garden of the world... 1. Genesis chapters 18-22. 2. See Gen. 19:4-10. 3. Gen 18:17-33. 4. See Likkutei Sichot vo1.35 pp.745.
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