(March 29, 2019 at 1:28 pm)Yonadav Wrote: I am surprised that no one has mentioned Isaiah 45:7 yet. In it, G-d says that He creates evil.
The Jewish understanding of evil is a little bit different. And there are different types of evil. And sometimes people do evil for good reasons. When they go too far with their evil, then they are just plain evil-- example, Hitler. And when they do just the right amount of evil, then they are saviors-- example, Cyrus who is actually referred to as a moshiach in the OT.
Most acts of man are both good and evil. There is a little bit of evil in pretty much everything that is 'good', and there is a little bit of good in everything that is 'bad'. In the earthly realm, things aren't entirely good or entirely bad. There is a correct measure for everything. The correct measure is not necessarily a constant.
Every person has a capacity for evil that is equal to their capacity for good. They have a capacity for good that is equal to their capacity for evil. So Hitler could have been one of the greatest people in world history, had he chosen the better part of his nature. We have the yetzer hara (dark side) and the yetzer hatov (our better nature). There is a story of some students of a great Rabbi saying that their Rabbi had no yetzer hara. Another Rabbi objected, saying that they were insulting their Rabbi. To say that someone has no yetzer hara is to say that they are a zero, a doormat. Our dark side motivates us to do great things. Our better nature moderates the ambition of the dark side.
Not every person. Read the DSM5. Some have very little capacity for good (at least what others would consider good).
An example: https://psychcentral.com/blog/difference...sociopath/
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
