Who’s Responsible for the Evil in the World?

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

CHULA VISTA, California — One of the interesting points that Maimonides and Philo of Alexandria agree on in this week’s Torah portion is the role of human freedom and responsibility.  Philo routinely pointed out that God is never the source of moral evil in the world—human beings are, and they alone must be responsible for the moral condition of society—whether it be good or bad, harmonious or chaotic. This idea is also one of ancient Stoicism’s greatest moral teachings.

I often wonder: Why do people always blame God for the bad things that happen in the world? But part of becoming a spiritual adult requires that we emancipate ourselves from the childish conceptions we have maintained. Adult religion begins with taking ownership of our actions.

A sobering thought indeed!

Maimonides makes the same point. He writes that regarding the passage, ‎ אֲנִי אַקְשֶׁה אֶת־לֵב פַּרְעֹה  “and I will harden the heart of Pharaoh” (Exod. 7:3), afterward punishing him with death, there is much to be said, and from which there may be deduced a critical principle.

• Carefully consider what I have to say about this matter, reflect upon it. If you like, compare it with the words of others, and consider the best answer to this moral conundrum.  Suppose Pharaoh and his counselors had committed no other sin than not permitting Israel to depart. In that case, I must admit the matter would be open to a great doubt, for God had prevented them from releasing Israel according to the words, as we read later,כִּי־אֲנִי הִכְבַּדְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ וְאֶת־לֵב עֲבָדָיו   “For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants” (Exod. 10:1).
• On the surface, it is one thing to demand that Pharaoh release the Israelites; but it is quite another matter to force him to do the opposite and punish him and all his followers to death. Such behavior by God would undoubtedly have been considered ethically unjust.  But this was not the actual state of affairs for Pharaoh and his followers. We must remember:   Pharaoh intentionally abused his migrant population and treated them unjustly.  Scripture plainly states, וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל־עַמּוֹ הִנֵּה עַם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל רַב וְעָצוּם מִמֶּנּוּ: הָבָה נִתְחַכְּמָה לוֹ  “He said to his subjects, “Look how numerous and powerful the Israelite people are growing, more so than we ourselves! Come let us deal wisely with them.’” (Exod. 1:9-10).
• Because of their misdeeds against humanity, God’s punished Pharaoh by withholding from him and his people the power of repentance. Such cruelty and wickedness could not go unchecked and unpunished. Justice demanded that Pharaoh and his people face punishment for their immoral misdeeds. Egypt’s collective failure to release the Israelites came with dire consequences: losing their moral freedom.  God explained to Moses that if He wished to liberate Israel, He would have already destroyed Pharaoh and his enthusiasts. God would have certainly brought out the Israelites. God’s justice required that He punish Pharaoh because of his sadistic oppression of Israel, as it is said at the beginning of the matter, גַם אֶת־הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר יַעֲבֹדוּ דָּן אָנֹכִי “And also that nation whom they shall serve will I likewise judge” (Gen. 15:14).
• Now concerning the Egyptian masses, had they shown a modicum of contrition and repentance, they would have never been punished. But God chose to withheld repentance from them because they continued to enslave the children of Israel, as it says, ‎‎כִּי עַתָּה שָׁלַחְתִּי אֶת יָדִי וָאַךְ אוֹתְךָ וְאֶת עַמְּךָ בַּדָּבֶר וַתִּכָּחֵד מִן הָאָרֶץ וְאוּלָם בַּעֲבוּר זֹאת הֶעֱמַדְתִּיךָ בַּעֲבוּר הַרְאֹתְךָ אֶת כֹּחִי וּלְמַעַן סַפֵּר שְׁמִי בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ “For by now I would have stretched out My hand and struck you and your subjects with such pestilence as would wipe you from the earth. But this is why I have spared you: to show you my power and to make My Name resound throughout the earth” (Exod. 9:15-16). . .[1]

Ramban, in contrast, viewed the enslavement of the Israelites as something that God predeterimined. Maimonides, in contrast, puts the onus all on Pharaoh and his associates that chose to carry out a policy of enslavement and genocide.

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D. writes:

• Forty years of working with alcoholics enabled me to understand Pharaoh’s obstinacy. The alcoholic can suffer blow after blow, each time swearing off drinking: “I will never touch another drop as long as I live!” Invariably, he resumes drinking soon afterward. I recall one man whose drinking resulted in severe pancreatitis, which caused such horrific pain that it was not relieved even by morphine. He cried bitterly, “If you can only get me over this pain, Doc, I swear I will never, never even look at alcohol.” Three weeks after being released from the hospital, he was drunk. Alcoholics who go through the ordeal of a liver transplant may drink at their first visit outside of the hospital. Pharaoh acted like a typical alcoholic. When he felt the distress of a plague, he pleaded with Moses, promising to send out the Israelites. No sooner was the plague removed than he retracted.[2]

Philo of Alexandria, Maimonides and Rabbi Twerski concur on one important point: Our actions always have consequences. The author of the Sefer HaChinuch perhaps said it best, “A persons behavior molds one’s character.”

May we all make the best decisions for the new year that is coming our way starting this evening.

NOTES

[1]Shemonah Perakim 8:8. Let us add that the early preeminent 20th-century rabbinic scholar R. S. Schechter writes in his book on rabbinic theology: “As to repentance, it is as the word תשובה  suggests, first, the returning from the evil ways, that is, a strong determination by the sinner to break with sin. To enter upon a course of repentance and not to leave off sinning is compared to the man who enters a bath with the purpose of cleansing himself of a Levitical impurity, but still keeps in his hands the dead reptile which causes all this impurity. “What shall he do? Let him throw away the thing impure and then take the bath and he shall be purified.” In the addresses to the people on fast days, the elder would say, among other things, “My brethren, it is not sackcloth and fasts which cause forgiveness, but repentance and good deeds: for so we find of the men of Nineveh, that it is not said of them that ‘God saw their sackcloth and fasts, but that God saw their works that they turned from their evil way’ (Jonah 3:10)” Cited from, Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1909), p. 332.

[2] Abraham J. Twerski, The Twerski Chumash (Brooklyn: Shaar Press, 2003), p. 121.

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Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista.  He may be contacted via michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com