How long will the wicked – O G-d – how long will the wicked exult? They speak freely, they utter malicious falseood, they glorify themselves, all the workers of iniquity. Your nation, G-d, they crush, and afflict Your heritage. The widow and the stranger they slay and the orphan the murder. (Tehillim 91:3-6)
This is from the Shir Shel Yom for today, wednesday. Today in Israel two bodies of Jews were returned in coffins in “an exchange” for the release from prison of some wicked individuals, one of whom explicitly murdered an orphan and others. Today he returned from Israeli prison to his wicked nation where he was greeted as a hero with big banners and celebration. The leaders of this nation called the day to be a national holiday and people not only rejoiced over the return of the killers, but also of the sorrow of the Jewish people on the very same day to have our hopes crushed and find our two boys coming back in coffins.
Getting past the blame, poor planning, the sadness, and the anger, we are left with the question of how G-d Who only does good could have such a situation in world? All these “Gam Zu LaTova” stories – like how somebody missed some big opportunity for something, felt all sad, and then said “It’s all for the good” and sure enough it worked out – don’t seem to even closely fit in with this. This is a nation – millions of G-d’s creations – rejoicing a loss for the Jewish people and a murderer who perpetrated this! Making it a national holiday! The Neshamos of these two Jewish boys have already been taken, and even if we were to destroy every member of this nation it would not bring them back, nor would it take back these bad feelings. Likely, it would leave us feeling empty. Of course, we await their return with the coming of Moshiach and the Jewish bodies who will come back from the ground full of life, but still – where is the justice?
We say every morning (or if not, should have a goal to eventually do so) two Berachos before the morning Shema. The first one is Yotzer Ohr – יוצר אור. The full text of the opening line of this Blessing is Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the Universe, Who forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates everything. Rabbi Shimon Shcwabb זצ”ל discusses this Beracha:
He makes the two harmonize, and He creates the totality of the universe.
Chazal tell us that [...] the wicked are considered dead even in their lifetimes, because they see the continuous cycle of sunrise and sunset, light and darkness, and yet they do not bless G-d for creating this cycle (Midrash Tanchuma, Beracha 7). The marvel of our solar system, with its sunrises and sunsets, is such that if one does not see the work of the Creator behind it, he is considered a rasha. Such people consider this cycle as merely a predictable statistic that can be found in the daily newspapers. They give no thought to the יוצר of this אור, Who established this cycle of light and darkness. It has nothing to do with them personally. These reshaim are considered dead, because they fail to see HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the living G-d, at work when they go to bed while it is dark, and awaken to find that the light of the sun has, once again, illuminated the earth.This is in start contrast to Bnei Yisrael who are alive, and recognize that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the cause of the daily cycles of light and darkness: [...] But you who cling to Hashem, your G-d, you are all alive today (Devarim 4:4). Despite the fact that we know exactly when to expect sunrise and sunset, this miraculous cycle affects each one of us personally to the extent that we enthusiastically thank HaKadosh Baruch Hu for it daily with the berachah of יוצר אור וברא חשך, as if this were the first time we had witnessed this marvel.
It is noteworthy that the [...] statement by Chazal that [Once is to make reference to daytime at night and nighttime by day. (Berachos 11b) refers not only to the physical aspect of sunset and sunrise as it affects the whole world; rather [what the quote literally says] means “the measure of light”, which symbolizes the middas harachamim> [, mercy] of HaKadosh Baruch Hu Who makes the sun shine and awakens the world. Similarly, darkness, [means literally] “the measure of darkness,” which represents the middas hadin [, strict justice] of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. [...]
Now, let us examine the berachah itself. The words are taken from Yeshayah (45:7) The One Who forms light and creates darkness, Who makes peace and creates evil; I am Hashem, Maker of these. The chapter in which this pasuk is found has given many headaches to those cynics who do not believe in the veracity of the Neviim. It opens with the words Thus said hashem to His anointed one, to Koresh (ibid. v.1). Hashem is sending a message to His “anointed one,” Koresh (Cyrus)), who lived about two hundred years after these words were spoken by Yeshayahu HaNavi. Therefore, these people conveniently invented a “Deutero-Isaiah,” a second Isiah (Yeshayahu), who has to have lived during the time of Koresh, at the beginning of the Bayis Sheni (the Second Temple), which was some two hundred years after the “first Isaiah”, and the chapter was supposedly written at that time. The scoffed at the old Jews were so naive that they actually believed that Yeshayahu was a real navi with real prophetic powersl that he was not a faker like the other prophets, that he was actually was told by HaKadosh Baruch Hu that there would be a kind Koresh who would live two hundred years later; and that he would have a major influence on the world, especially on Jewish life. Or else, they explain away the prophecy by saying, “Koresh”, which means “shepherd” in Persian, could refer to another king as, in fact, there were many kings who were called Koresh.
However, in truth, this pasuk is the nevuah (prphecy) of the one and only Yeshayahu HaNavi, who had a prophetic vision about the famous Perisan king, Koresh, who would live about two hundred years later, at the time of the beginning of Bayis Sheni. And it was this Koresh who issued a proclamation encouraging the Jews to begin rebuilding the Beis HaMikdash: Thus said Koresh the king of Persia: Hashem the G-d of heave has given unto me all the governments of the world, and He issued a command directing me to build for Him a House in Yerushalayim which is in Yehuda (Ezra 1:2).
Koresh had been told by the Jews of his time that there had been a Jewish prophet, named Yeshayahu, who lived about two hundred years before him, and that he had foretold, in the Name of Hashem, that Koresh would be chosen as G-d’s instrument to rebuild Yerushalayim and the Beis HaMikdash, and to bring the Jewish people back from Galus Bavel (Yeshayahu 45:4-8).
Continuing his prophetic message to Koresh, Yeshayahu says, All of your power and success and dominion over the world is for the sake of My servant Yaakov and Israel My chosen one. He is told here that the reason that HaKadosh Baruch HU gave him so much power in the world was for the purpose of rebuilding the Beis HaMikdash and bringing the Jews back from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael.
The pasuk continues [...] And now we come to the pasuk on which our berachah is based: The One Who forms light and creates darkness, Who makes [them co-exist in harmonious] peace and creates evil; I am Hashem, Maker of these.
To put this prophetic message in its proper context, and to understand the words, Who creates evil, we must know that this was spoken against a background of “multideism”, when the whole world believed in a multitude of gods – thousands of them. There were “demigods”, “male-gods”, and “female gods”. In fact, all of nature had been deified. Then prior to the time of Yeshayahu, a Far Eastern philosopher by name of Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, as the Greeks called him, postulated a dualistic religions system in which he reduced all these gods to only two: a god of light and a god of darkness. The god of light was the one who gives light, health, happiness, success, and victory, while the god of darkeness was responsible for all evil, sickness, death, and all other negative events in the world. This was already considered religious progress, and was later adopted by Koresh and the Persian Empire.
[...] Given this “dualistic” religious belief that prevailed at the time of Koresh, we now understand the meanign of the language of our pasuk. Yeshayahu sends his prophetic message to Koresh in the Name of the One and Only G-d, HaKadosh Burach Hu, Who is the source of everything in the world. Light and darkness, good and evil, all emanate from Him; I am Hashem and there is no other; other than Me there is no G-d (Yeshayahu 45:5). And it is this One G-d Who is commanding him to build the Beis HaMikdash and bring the Jews back from Bavel to their land.
This concept that HaKadosh Baruch Hu “creates evil” is not easy to understand . Unfortunately, we in this century have experienced more evil than many past centuries combined. It is very hard even for one who believes [with complete faith] to images that is HaKadosh Baruch Hu, [creator of evil]. [...] Since there is no other power but HaKadosh Baruch Hu, then it is He Who made [the] mind and heart [... of the Nazis ...] continue to function while they tortured and murdered our people in the ghettos and concentration camps. Who made Hitler’s ימ”ש brain work? Who made the lungs of the Haman breathe air? Isn’t it the same HaKadosh Baruch Hu Who gives us life and makes he sun shine Who is also the [creator of evil]? How is this possible?
The answer to this age-old question, as paraphrased in Tehillim (92:8) When the wicked bloom like grass and the iniquitous blossom, has not been revealed to us. This secret remains with HaKadosh Baruch Hu – at least in this world, in which He has revealed to us only segments of His creation, but not the totality of it. The answer to this question is not part of His revelation to the human world.
The Anshe Knesses HaGedolah, who composed the berachah of יוצר אור did not want to use the word “and creates evil” [as the Posuk says], so they subsituted “and creates everything”, meaning “He creates everything including evil”. While we do not understand this, at least not in this world, we believe be’emunah sheleimah that it is the same One G-d, Who created everything, be it good or bad. Eventually, l’asid lavoi, we will lead the world in understanding this heretofore unknown explanation. That future time is described: The World to Come is unlike this world. In this world , upon [hearing] good tidings one says Blessed [are You, Hashem, Our G-d, King of the Universe,] Who is good and does good; and upon [hearing] bad tidings one says: Blessed [are You, etc.], the true Judge. But, in the World to Come, everything will be understood as being only good (Pesachim 50a). At that time, even happenings that we consider as bad or unfortunate in this world will be clearly understood as being kulo tov. This is not yet our world; it is the world that will exist after the coming of Mashiach.
(Rav Schwabb on Prayer pg. 260-263)
Please G-d, let these words of Torah be a strength to us as we make our way to this time, may it speedily come in our days!