The Case Against Negativism
Fighting evil even with violence may be a necessity in an imperfect world. The spirit of fighting should never be institutionalized. Good deeds and the spirit that inspires them are intrinsically positive and should become engrained within us.
Abraham the Iconoclast
Destruction of idols and idolatry has been a part of Jewish tradition from the days of Abraham. When little Abraham was but a child, the Midrash relates, he was an iconoclast in both the figurative as well as literal sense of the word. Abraham’s father Terach owned an idol business which Abraham destroyed. From that point onward Jews have always been confronted with situations that challenged them to destroy all forms of idol worship.
This week’s Torah portion of R’ei devotes an entire section to the commandment the Jews were given upon their arrival in the Promised Land of Israel:
“Do away with all the places where the nations worship their gods… You must tear down their altars, break up their sacred pillars, burn their Asheira trees, and chop down the statues of their gods, obliterating their names from that place.”
Don’t do it to G-d!
Following these instructions to destroy and obliterate all traces of idolatry, the Torah continues:
“Do not do this to G-d your G-d.”
Talmudic literature interprets this verse very literally; Do not destroy anything that is holy, such as the Temple in Jerusalem, a synagogue. Additionally, we should not erase G-d’s name.
The question arises, why anyone would think that it would be permissible to destroy something that is associated with G-d. From the juxtaposition it would appear that because the Torah instructed us to destroy everything associated with idolatry, it then became necessary to emphasize that we may not do it to G-d your G-d! Who, in his right mind would ever make the transition from destroying idols to tearing down the Temple in Jerusalem?!
Negative Conditioning
This exhortation actually provides us with profound insight into the human psyche as well as into the fundamentals of Judaism.
When the Torah commanded the Jewish people to begin their career as a nation in a new and holy land by fighting a war and following the carnage that occurs on the battlefield with the destruction of idolatry, the Torah realized how this could affect our attitudes towards Judaism. When a person is engaged in a war or dispute, even it is for the most noble and righteous of causes, one must take great care that the negativism and violence do not become an ingrained part of one’s personality.
A negative person relates to everything in a negative way. An iconoclast rips down not only idolatrous institutions but, when the iconoclasts or holy warriors finishes their G-d given task of destroying idols, they then channel their destructive energies to tear down even good and holy structures, because the need to constantly destroy has become second nature to them.
This can also happen in a more subtle way. Jews who returns to their roots very often were motivated by a rebellious spirit; they were rebelling against the materialism, secularism, immorality etc. There is a possibility that they may also rebel against their new establishment. They have to be instructed to not do the same thing to G-d and Torah.
Yes, they can still use their rebellious spirit in a positive way by fighting against complacency or regression in their Judaism. They should not use it to attack other people and other holy institutions.
What’s Your Obssession?
On a more sophisticated level, the exhortation not to do this to G-d your G-d, is intended to relegate the need that some have to fight against evil to a secondary position.
While there is always a need to fight evil, our obsession should be building and releasing our positive energies. We cannot express our dedication to “G-d your G-d,” the Torah tells us, by simply destroying evil. We must seek G-d by traveling to Jerusalem, the City of Peace, and go to the Holy Temple where G- d’s presence was accessible by way of positive actions.
Compartmentalized Evil
The above was important throughout history when evil was quite formidable. This message is particularly relevant now, when we stand on the very threshold of a new era of Redemption, at which time there will be no more evil, we must get used to putting more of our energy into doing good, rather than just fighting the evil in our midst. While we must counter any and every evil, we must focus our attention on releasing the positive G-dly forces within ourselves and the world around us.
Although it seems that evil has become more potent in recent years, from the evil of Nazism and Stalinism to the evil of ISIS and other terrorist groups who seek to destroy the Jewish people, the truth is that evil is far weaker and less ubiquitous than ever before.
As explained in other essays, from the beginning of time our mission has become the separation of good from evil, for everything good has some mixture of evil in it and vice versa. This intermingling of good and evil occurred at the dawn of history when Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge.
Every time a person has performed a Mitzvah or resisted evil, the good has become more distilled as it has separated from evil.
As we stand close to the Final Redemption, with the cumulative effects of millennia of Mitzvos performed, evil is now mostly separated from the good and is therefore simultaneously more potent but less invasive into the hearts of good people. The benefit of this separation is that the good is also much more potent, refined and pure.
Moreover, evil cannot exist without syphoning some life form the forces of good with which it is intermingled. Hence as evil becomes more potent it “recognizes” that its days are numbered, and as a result, it is making its last stand.
Since evil has been compartmentalized and marginalized, our need to combat evil should also be compartmentalized and marginalized. It should not be our primary focus and obsession.
Our primary focus and obsession, rather, should be on bringing more light to the world by doing one more Mitzvah. In one of the Rebbe’s final messages to the world: “To increase in acts of goodness and kindness.”
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Rei by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
