But the Kabbalists, those mystics who plumb the depths of Jewish thought, dared to ask such questions. And what they found, according to texts like Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, is a surprisingly hopeful perspective.
The idea is that evil, believe it or not, doesn't just exist in a static state. It has a history, a kind of lineage. Initially, evil had a "great root," reaching all the way up to Keter, the very highest level of the Sefirot, the ten emanations through which God reveals Himself. Think of Keter as the crown, the source of all being. But then, something shifted.
Evil "descended," as the text puts it. It became rooted only in Chochmah – wisdom – and the levels below. Chochmah is the spark of divine intellect, the flash of insight. And then, it descended even further, taking root only in Binah – understanding – and below. Binah represents the capacity to elaborate on that initial spark, to build a structure of comprehension.
So what does this descent signify? The text suggests it shows that "the world is on the way to repair," on the path to Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">tikkun olam, the mending of the world. The fact that evil only has "affinity" with the lower levels, not with the higher ones, is a sign of progress. It's like a slow burn, a gradual weakening of its power.
There’s this image the text uses, this idea that "waste was thrown back into the pile." It might sound like a setback, like evil is reclaiming lost ground. But the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah insists that the "maintenance of evil" passed immediately to Chochmah, and even more so to the levels below it. In other words, the responsibility for dealing with evil, for containing it, fell to everything that remained unpurified. All that remained “in the grainpile as a whole” except that it still relates to Chochmah and even more so to the levels below it.
And here’s the kicker: when Chochmah was purified, it only reached Binah. It wasn't a complete cleansing. And so it went, the text says, in all cases, until evil remained on that bottom level. It’s this gradual process of refinement, of pushing evil further and further down the chain, until it's isolated and contained. This isn't a simple story of good versus evil in a static standoff. It's a dynamic process, a downward spiral for evil, and simultaneously, an upward climb for the forces of good. It’s a story of hope. Even in the face of darkness, there's a sense that the universe itself is leaning towards repair, towards purification. What if the very struggles we face, the very darkness we encounter, are actually part of a larger cosmic process, a slow but steady march towards a more perfected world? It gives you something to think about, doesn't it?