Dvar Torah
Noach 5772/2011
New Jersey enacted what some have called the toughest anti-bullying law in the nation. And as of this month school officials in several districts have complained that the implementation of the law is difficult since the law is unclear regarding procedures and that officials find themselves using the bulk of their time figuring out if certain words and behaviors fit within the scope of the law, writing reports, and contacting parents.
Hopefully this new law, which also includes measures for preventive education, will reduce bullying in our New Jersey schools.
What the law does not address, though, is the deeper sources of the behavior whether it is the verbal kind or the physical kind. Whether it occurs in the elementary school playground, between candidates in political campaigns, or in battles between peoples and nations, human beings seem to be prone to conflict and aggression.
We see all these things when we look outward, and what do we see when we look inward, at our sources in the Torah, especially this week when we read of Noah and the flood?
God destroys the world since the world was full of evil, like a computer that has become filled with malware and viruses to the point that it simply cannot function anymore – and then the user reboots the whole system, wipes the digital slate clean.
The question about the world at the time of Noah is: Does the world begin with the evil in place already? Or does the evil behavior of Cain ripple across the generations and infect the world in a downward spiral?
When Noach, wife Namah, and family leave the ark, God says, “I will not destroy the earth on account of humanity, for indeed the inclinations of the human heart are evil from youth.”
Robert Alter argues that here God is simply recognizing the “evil of which man is capable” and that God “concludes that given what man is all too likely disposed to do, it is scarcely worth destroying the whole world again on his account.”
But didn’t God create us? Couldn’t God have predicted what human beings would do?
Radak, Rabbi David Kimchi (late 12th early 13th century), argues that the evil inclination is called ‘yetzer hara’ since it was created within us (notzar imo), that the evil inclination is within us before the yetzer hatov, the good inclination, and the good inclination does not come into being fully until the person grows and acquires it little by little.(Radak to Genesis 8:21)
Radak goes as far as saying that God decided in God’s wisdom to create human beings with the evil inclination first.
I find myself confused and frustrated by this view, and if you find yourselves confused and frustrated, you are not alone.
The great Rabbi Yiztchak Abravanel was confused too. He argues that “we cannot escape” from answering the question whether ‘evil from youth’ is correct or incorrect. He argues, if it is correct, how come God waits until the generation of the flood to destroy the earth, why not destroy the world earlier? And if ‘evil from youth’ is incorrect, and God punishes only as a result of judgment against their behavior, how come God does not punish them in each and every case of their misbehavior?
While I do not like to think that we are only born with the evil inclination, I do find wisdom in the idea that a primary goal of our lives is to actively seek to acquire and grow the good inclination within us. There is great potential for personal growth through connection to Jewish community and participation in activities that stimulate us and challenge us to ‘acquire’ the good inclination.
Yesterday, we went as a group to serve dinner at the Bergen County homeless shelter in Hackensack, dinner that was prepared and served by our community. It is an amazing facility that does amazing work under its director Julia Orlando. Every time I enter though I feel a minor sense of anxiety, what will I see, will I be safe, what will happen while I’m there? And then, each and every time, I see the humanity in each and every person who receives food from our serving spoons and I talk to the shelter employees, one of whom yesterday said he’s ‘doing God’s work.’
Just as Radak writes, we have to work to acquire the good inclination, to make it part of our lives – that given our good judgment – the mitzvahs that cause us to have fears about our time, our existential fears, may be just the programming we need for our growing and changing human systems.
And perhaps in the end we might say that we are not born with an ‘evil’ inclination, but rather a flow of energy that has little direction or shape, that cannot convert thought into appropriate action – which might answer why a baby cries sometimes just because he or she cannot communicate needs in a clear way to the world.
To come full circle, here’s my amendment to the anti-bullying law, “It is up to every person within the community to take responsibility for directing the minds, hearts, and energy of our youth (and adults) toward the values and behaviors that help people live full, meaningful lives.”
Is there a 2nd for this motion?
Shabbat Shalom.
