5 Minutes on Parshat Vayishlach: Why was Evil Created? Rabbi Avi Hoolin

I hope everybody's doing amazing and it is so great to be back for another five minutes on hidab with the para paras. We live in a very very dark world. There is so much darkness out there to just think about what happened that you have colleges, Ivy League colleges of students screaming and ranting and supporting a terrorist group that murdered people in the most vicious ways to get up and show support for somebody, a group that could murder a grandmother and call somebody and a relative and have thousands of people supporting that. We live in a world that neo-Nazis, when we still have grandparents alive that saw the Holocaust, could get up and voice their opinion and famous people could say that and nothing be done with them. We live in a world that every young child could watch whatever he wants on an iPhone. Schlommo Rabashkin did that sadmo Rabashkin when he served time in prison. He never looked at a screen once in prison and he says a fascinating story that he asked a man that actually seemed like a pretty upright individual and he asked him what brought you to jail. This man was actually a paramedic and he said he watched a video and in the scene there was a murder scene and he was angry at someone and he just copied that murder scene. He didn't know what hit him. That's the effect these things are having on our children, on our people. And every kid is allowed to watch this horror movies, whatever you want to watch, you could watch it. And it could be even comedy and fun. That's the world we're living in. And how could a person with morals and principles and responsibilities feel secure and positive in the world we live in today? I would like to start with a fundamental question. Is evil intrinsically evil? Or maybe the essence of evil is actually good. Let's take a dive into this week's para. Yakovu leaving's house. We know the story. He's getting approached by Asa with 400 men. He has to prepare for battle. How is he going to get into this battle? There's 400 men approaching him. He comes up with a plan. He divides the camp. He prays to God. And the night before the angel of Asov comes and fights with him. And after fighting and Yakov Au wins the fight, the angel said he has to go. Rashi says the reason why he has to go is why he had to say Shira song to Hashem. Rifim Brisker, one of the great sages in the 1900s, explains that when an angel reaches his potential, that's his time for Shira. His time for praise. Let's think about that. When did the angel of Asov, the Yates, reach its potential? When Yakov of Venu defeated him. What does that mean? The essence, the source of evil truly wants good. It truly wants us to defeat it. It's there for us to overcome him. But at its essence, it is good. And we see this idea in the first para in the Torah that after God created all six days, the Torah writes to very good. What was very good? The fact that we now have a Yates. The Yates, the inclination for bad was created. And that gives the reason to write very good. And I think the explanation is as follows that when we do good, but there's a current against us and we still choose good. That is the truth of all good and that is very good. So when we're living in this world and it's hard and there's so many things coming at us that see itself see itself as evil, let us remember at its essence, evil is good. Evil wants us to overcome it. And that should give us the strength that no, we are here and we're going to carry on our mission of good. And we're going to keep a world of morals and we're going to keep a world of responsibility and we're going to go forward with that. And the beauty of that is when we have the current against us. I would like to end with a parable from of Yakov Galinski. Just bring out this point. There was a king and a king always knows that everybody is so sweet and so nice to him. Why? Because he's the king. And he decided he's like, you know what? I really want to know the truth about my subjects. what do they truly think about me? So he dresses up and he dresses up like a popppler and he goes on a train and he says, "You know what? I'm gonna ask people what they think about the king." And he goes on the first class and he starts talking about the king and he says, "This king, he's ruthless and he's mean." And he puts on this whole production and everybody's laughing along with him. Yeah, the king is nothing. The king's an idiot and everybody's having a good time and enjoying it. And even though he's showing excitement, deep down he's burning. He moves on to the middle class. And the middle class, he really got mixed emotions. In the middle class, some people were like, "Yeah, the king's an idiot." Some people, what do you mean? The king's a pretty good guy. But it was somewhat like par responses. Like no one was crazy about him, but no one was so against him. Then he moved to the lower class. And when he put on his act about the king is a low life, they started beating him. They said, "You're gonna disrespect my king. The king who gives us welfare, who takes care care of us, long live the king. And while he's getting beaten, he is so happy. And that is a parable to the Yates, the evil inclination. He might dress up and look like he wants us to do evil, but at the same time, at its essence, he's a messenger of God. And that truth, he wants us to overcome. So let us think about this that when we see evil, let us understand that is a test that actually in itself wants us to overcome it. Let's continue our battle and let us go strong to do what's right and what's good. Have a beautiful Shabas.