Evil and the Divine Providence
Shalom Rosenberg (1935 – 2023) was a religious Jewish thinker, Israeli, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he was head of the department of Jewish thought. Rosenberg dealt mainly with the philosophy of religion, the relationship between religion and morality, the relationship between religion and science, and interpretation and hermeneutics in Jewish and general thought.
Evil and the Divine Providence
The first portion of the Book of Genesis – the story of Creation – ends with an announcement of the ‘grade’ that GOD gives the world: “... and behold it was very good.”
Only in the second portion, in the story of the Garden of Eden, are we introduced to the presence of both good and evil. Evil makes its appearance in the world as a result of Adam's sin. This moment in history created both the presence of evil in our world and the source for ultimate Redemption. It gave birth to the hope of return to the “very good” and to the ultimate “day that is all good.”
Today good and evil are intermixed; mankind must conquer and alter reality. This has an important impact on our attitude towards the world. We are not judged by the world; we judge the world. We do not see nature as a yardstick by which to assess ourselves; we look at nature and proclaim that it contains both good and evil.
Thus, the idea of Redemption is born - GOD expects us to amend the evil in our world.
Shalom Rosenberg
Professor of Jewish Thought
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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