These aren’t new questions, of course. Jewish tradition has wrestled with them for millennia. And in the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, ("400 Gates of Wisdom") a profound idea emerges, one that challenges our assumptions about the nature of evil itself.
The core argument is this: evil doesn't spring from some separate, opposing power to God – chas v’shalom, God forbid! It’s not a cosmic tug-of-war between good and evil where God is somehow constrained. Instead, the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah insists that evil’s existence ultimately serves a higher purpose, revealing God’s absolute oneness and goodness. The text states plainly: In the end, it will certainly be good. But why? Because nothing can ultimately stand against God's goodness. Not even the concept that a will He brought into being might somehow limit Him.
But how can something so awful ultimately be good? This is where it gets really interesting. The text suggests that Ein Sof, the Infinite One, reveals His true oneness precisely through the existence of what we perceive as evil.
Imagine a world where we were immediately presented with God's perfection. We'd recognize His majesty and glory because it was simply given to us. But, the text argues, that wouldn't truly refute the arguments of those who disbelieve.
You see, some ancient thinkers argued that you can only understand something by understanding its opposite. If there's only ultimate good, they'd say, then how can we truly comprehend it without the existence of ultimate evil? If we claim there’s only one God who is the ultimate good, mustn’t there (God forbid) be another who is the ultimate evil? Otherwise, how could we ever truly know the ultimate good?
The existence of perceived evil, then, becomes a crucial element in our understanding of God's absolute, unparalleled goodness. It's not a separate power, but a necessary contrast, a shadow that highlights the brilliance of the light. It's in grappling with the apparent darkness that we ultimately grasp the fullness of God's oneness. As we find in Midrash Rabbah, the world was created with both good and evil inclinations, yet the purpose is to choose good.
It’s a challenging concept, no doubt. It doesn’t excuse suffering or diminish the reality of pain. But it does offer a framework for understanding that even in the midst of difficulty, there is a deeper purpose at play, a revelation of God's ultimate unity and goodness. So, next time you find yourself wrestling with the problem of evil, remember this teaching: it's precisely through those challenges that we can come to a fuller understanding of the Divine.