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Some Rabbinic Concepts of Evil with Rabbi Wayne Allen
Recorded August 1, 2023 at a meeting of MORASHAH, the rabbinic fellowship of UTJ
Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 7a discussion of theodicy including “מִפְּנֵי מָה יֵשׁ צַדִּיק וְטוֹב לוֹ, וְיֵשׁ צַדִּיק וְרַע לוֹ, יֵשׁ רָשָׁע וְטוֹב לוֹ, וְיֵשׁ רָשָׁע וְרַע לוֹ? Why is there a righteous person for whom good things happen, a righteous person for whom bad things happen, a wicked person for whom good things happen, and a wicked person for whom bad things happen.”
Pirkei Avot4:15 Rabbi Yanai says we can’t explain the suffering of the righteous or the prospering of the wicked.
Babylonian Talmud Bava Metziah 87b Rabbi Elazar learns from Abraham that the righteous say little and do much while the wicked say much and don’t do anything.
Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 61b Rabbi Yose the Galilean says that צַדִּיקִים יֵצֶר טוֹב שׁוֹפְטָן… רְשָׁעִים יֵצֶר רַע שׁוֹפְטָן the good inclination rules over the righteous, the bad inclination rules over the wicked.
Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 4a Rava explains Isaiah 3:11’s reference to “the evil wicked one” by saying that one who is evil toward heaven and toward people is a wicked evil person, but one who is wicked toward heaven but not evil toward people is not wicked (scroll up for another observation of Rava based on Isaiah 3:11).
Bereshit Rabbah 34:10 הָרְשָׁעִים הֵן בִּרְשׁוּת לִבָּן …אֲבָל הַצַּדִּיקִים לִבָּן בִּרְשׁוּתָן The wicked are ruled by their passions while the righteous ruled over their passions.
Babylonian Talmud Menahot 29b Moses, waiting to receive the Torah, learns of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Akiva’s fate. God alone knows of the reasons for the suffering of the rightesous.
Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 5b (mentioned by Rabbi Price in discussion, scroll up for further context) discussion of יִסּוּרִין שֶׁל אַהֲבָה suffering due to God’s love, which Rabbi Yohanan states that he neither appreciates the suffering nor the reward for the suffering.
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Born and raised in New York City and currently a resident of Toronto, Rabbi Wayne Allen has blended a career of service to the Jewish community as an ordained rabbi with his academic pursuits. Rabbi Allen is recognized as an expert both in Jewish law and in 18th century British moral philosophy. The books he has written and those he has edited are distinguished by the inclusion of philosophical analysis and historical context, adding an extra dimension to the more traditional forms of responding to questions on Jewish practice. He is a panelist for Jewish Values On-line, an Internet site devoted to providing authoritative answers to questions on Jewish life.
Rabbi Allen has traveled extensively and has led groups to Europe and Israel, lecturing beforehand on the history of the communities to be visited. He has served as a faculty member at the American Jewish University where he taught Jewish law, at California State University Long Beach where he taught the History of Modern Jewish Thought and Zionism, and at the University of Waterloo where he taught Theology After the Holocaust. He has also been invited as a guest lecturer at York University in Toronto and at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Allen has served as a scholar-in-residence at synagogues in St. Louis and Ottawa and currently teaches at the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto where he serves as chairman of the Rabbinics Department.
Samples of Rabbi Allen’s teaching are accessible on his website, www.rabbiwayneallen.ca.
Rabbi Allen's published books, available from the UTJ Bookstore are: