GOOD AND EVIL.
****YET ANOTHER SELF-ASSIGNMENT WRITTEN FOR LIBERAL ARTS:**** Two separate inclinations reside within the human. These inclinations are in fact so real, that the Torah refers to them as BEINGS (The Yetzer Hora - The Evil Inclination, and the Yetzer Hatov ---- The Good inclination). It is up to man to decide which being he will allow to conquer him. In addition, it is taught, that it is only the Yetzer Hora (evil inclination) that is there since birth. The Yetzer Hatov only arrives at the Bar/Bas Mitzvah. (For a woman at the age of 12 and for a man at the age of 13). Commentators explain that this is because the Yetzer Hora must be given a head start, or it would never do its job. If one were to be born with both inclinations being equally as strong it would be clear what was good and what was bad, and thus no one would ever do bad, but yet in this case, doing good would lose all of its meaning. Obviously one would do good if it was only natural to do so. This is the reason why G-d created the Yetzer Hora, or the Satan (a Malach (angel) that is sent by G-d throughout our life to tempt us, or distract us from performing G-d's will. --- it is actually basically indistinguishable from the Yetzer Hora of each individual). Without the ability to do evil, good could not exist. This is in fact the reason why G-d sent down the snake (Satan) to Adam and Chava as the Sabbath was approaching. If only they had withstood their temptations for a short number of hours longer, they would have succeeding in completing G-d's purpose, and they would have then been able to partake of all of the fruit on the Tree of Knowledge. I have gone off on a tangent however, so I will return to the concept of Yetzer Hora - Yetzer Tov. This whole reasoning of how we acquired the Yetzer Tov only later in life, and why, seems very logical. Although there is an essential question which will be asked by any parent or other objective observer of children. If infants are born with only a Yetzer Hora, and do not acquire the Yetzer Hatov until 12/13, then how is it that some children, if not most, are so kind, and do such nice things? It is here that another concept must be brought to light. Concerning the Soul, the Alter Rebbe (the first Rebbe of Lubavitch), teaches in Tanya (his famous book, which all of his Chassidim live by, it speaks about man's relationship with G-d, in terms of the makeup of the soul, etc..) that man has two souls. A G-dlyu soul, and an Animal soul. The Animal Soul is sometimes understood to be equivalent to the Yetzer Hora (The G-dly Soul, however, is not to be understood as being the Yetzer Hatov, as it is not only something we are born with, it is something that is present even before one is born - it is our very essence). Animals do nice and good things. It seems thus degrading to the animals to give our evil inclination such a status. To proceed, we must examine the difference between humans and animals. Creation can almost be understood in an evolutionary sense (not in Darwin's sense however…). Plants were similar to the inanimate minerals and rocks in all aspects, except for the additional factor which G-d granted them - and that is LIFE. Animals were then granted a soul (NEFESH). The soul they were granted however, was an Animal soul, and it functions on INSTINCT. This is the key concept. Instinct can do both bad and good, however anyway it is understood, it is instinct. It is instinct that leads a mother dog to feed her young. When man was created, he was given all of these things, existence, life and an Animal Soul. However he was given something else as well - a G-dly soul. Being created in the image of G-d, man has one essential thing which al other creations lack - FREE WILL (ASIDE: Woman was created after man, and thus is closer even still to G-d's image, but this is off topic). Man has the ability to rise above the level of the Animal Soul (regardless of how much good this soul does, it is still run on instinct, which thus the beholder of the soul cannot be given any credit for), and become a conscious being. Doing good, in Torah, goes far beyond doing what is "morally" right. There is a commandment not to kill. However, though we understand and can rationalize why killing is wrong, we should not abstain from killing simply because we feel it to be wrong, but rather because G-d said so. This is the cause of much of the socio-religious problems in our world. Homosexuality is not evil , or morally wrong, it is forbidden. The very fact that Torah forbids it, means that the ability and instinct lies within us, and we must be commanded to abstain from it (G-d does not command things that we would do anyway - there is no commandment in fact to believe in G-d, because we all DO, whether consciously or not, because He exists, therefore to command such a thing would be superfluous). If we could understand or rationalize all of what G-d wanted us to do, it would both degrade the whole essence of G-d and strip the commandments of all meaning. Doing good, thus, according to Torah, is to do G-d's will. As G-d is beyond even the concept of infinite, doing G-d's will, is thus obviously not a clear-cut simple matter, and is incredibly relative. Two people may lead nearly parallel lives, but yet be judged entirely differently, as what they need dot overcome was very different. I having to choose one or the other, action would surely win over faith in terms of importance in Torah, however action itself encompasses far much more detail than we even come close to realizing. Many time sin Torah are people (such as Moses and Tziporah etc..) judged incredibly harshly for things we would not be judged for at all. The punishment for Lashon Hora (Bad Tongue - i.e. gossip) used to be Tzara'at (a disease commonly mistakenly translated as leprosy), yet if this punishment were to prevail into our own times, would there be anyone not afflicted? If you spill a drop of wine onto a multicolored dirty tablecloth, it is easily covered up, and will probably go by unnoticed. However, if you spill a single drop of wine only a clean white tablecloth, it may destroy the entire tablecloth. While some people may need to control their instinct to steal or to kill in order to be "good", others will have to work on far more complicated and intense things (such as controlling thought or speech or even very intrinsic instincts) to reach a similar status. The Talmud relates that when Reb Zushia pondered upon his time after this life, he feared that when he confronts G-d's judgement, G-d will not ask him why he wasn't more like Moses or Abraham, but He will be asked instead, "Reb Zushia, why were you not more like Reb Zushia?"
