And if you ask, if so, who created evil? Who created darkness? Verse 7: "He forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates evil, I am Hashem who does all these." Let us first explain what Rashi and the Radak say. Rashi says: He forms light for the righteous, He creates darkness for Bavel. This is really a continuation of the prophecy that stated that Israel would leave the exile. I created light for the sake of the righteous, and darkness and evil for the wicked. Likewise, peace for Israel and evil and war for Bavel. The Radak explains: light and darkness, peace and evil, are two opposites. He is telling you that Hashem does everything, He grants light and peace, and darkness and evil to Bavel, in keeping with the same approach Rashi explained. Evil, says the Radak, is the opposite of peace, for peace is good and war is evil. Concerning light and peace it says "forms" and "makes," for these are acts of making. But regarding darkness and evil it says "creates," following the line the Malbim explained, based on the same idea that darkness and evil are merely the absence of good. Therefore it is not fitting to say concerning them that the Holy One formed the darkness, rather we say that the Holy One created the darkness. As for the Malbim, perhaps first let us explain according to the Radak. The Radak explains that "creates" seemingly does not fit so well with the approach he stated, for according to his approach it is something that comes into being on its own. There is no light, so consequently there is darkness. Why call it creation? Says the Radak: creation means a decree. "If Hashem will create a creation" (Bamidbar 16:30) - what creation did Hashem create there? The earth opened its mouth, is there creation there? What was created there? No, the meaning is: if Hashem will decree a decree. So creation, according to the Radak, carries the meaning of a decree. Thus, I am Hashem who forms light and creates darkness: forming light is an act of forming, and the darkness I decreed to be. How did I decree it to be? When light is absent, there is consequently darkness. This is the definition of a decree. This is according to one explanation. He has a further explanation which he brings in the name of his father, that the Holy One forms light. Now tell me, what here created the reality of darkness? When there is night, what caused the darkness? Very good, what now caused the absence of light? Tell me, does the sun not shine at night as it does by day? It shines. So what happens now that suddenly there is darkness here? Concealment. Who conceals? No, I am speaking now physically, put aside the physical for a moment. The earth. The earth: if the sun is behind the globe, we turn our backs to the sun, and it turns out that we have darkness. When we turn, and let us not enter now into the question of who turns, us or the sun, when we turn, what actually happens? We face the sun and then there is light. So if so, who created the darkness? The back of the globe, we turn our backs to the sun. Tell me, was the earth not created by Hashem? It was created by Hashem. So this is what is written: creates darkness. What does He create? He creates the earth, which by turning its back to the sun produces darkness. This is the meaning of creates darkness. So explains the Radak's father. I always told you that when you see the Radak bringing something in the name of "my master, my father, my grandfather, of blessed memory," prepare yourselves, there are sweets here. There are wonderful things here. Who would have thought of such an idea? What does creates darkness mean? He created the reality of the earth which turns its back to the sun, and behold, here is a creation. What was created? The earth. The earth caused us to have darkness now, it is what conceals the light from us. He makes peace, says the Radak, what does He makes peace mean? It refers to things that are opposite in their nature. For if we contemplate, from what was man created? From four elements. These elements are opposed. For if we have the element of fire, opposite it we have the element of water. How do they coexist? Clearly the Holy One makes peace between them. If He did not make peace between them, we would have no existence. "One who sees a pot in a dream may hope for peace." Why hope for peace? Because fire and water, many explain, and I bring this in Masechet Chalomot, many explain along this same line. Fire and water are two opposing forces. If the fire is strong enough it evaporates the water. If the water is strong enough it extinguishes the fire. How can I derive the most from fire and water? You take a pot. The moment I placed a pot, the water reaches a state of boiling by the power of the fire. The fire is not extinguished by the water and it also does not evaporate the water, rather it brings the water to a state of boiling. So who made peace between the water and the fire? The pot. Therefore, one who sees a pot in a dream may hope for peace. Thus it hints at peace. We see that peace really means creating a connection between opposites. Says the Radak: behold, in man there are opposites, in what the Holy One created in creation there are opposites, for you see that in his nature there is hot and moist and dry and earth and dust and air. Indeed, dust and air are opposed to one another. Even so, the Holy One joined them all. This is called making peace. Or he says that sometimes it happens that a person has an illness. From what does this illness come? From one of the elements growing stronger. If one of the elements grows stronger or intensifies, for example the element of heat, the element of fire, a person can reach a state of having a fever. Or the opposite state, where the body's temperature drops, this is when, say, the element of water grows stronger in him. And so on. So He rectifies it by making peace.
...So the one who created peace and brought man to stand upon the line of health, this is the Holy One who created peace among all those forces that the Holy One placed in creation. Fine, this is "He who makes peace in His heights," this is exactly what you are saying. "There is no peace in my bones" (Tehillim 38:4), why is there no peace in my bones? Illness is in me. For there is no peace in my bones. And why? "Because of my sin." Why do we say to a person... when we want to say "and you shall have peace and your house shall have peace," what is the meaning? That there be no illness in you. What is "you shall have peace"? What is "you shall have peace"? Says the Malbim: peace in the foundations of the body. Thus the Malbim explains in several places. It means that there is peace among all the limbs of the body. For imagine that suddenly there would be some dispute between the heart and, I do not know, the rest of the limbs, that it would decide not to supply them with blood. Or the oxygen would decide, the lungs would decide that they do not supply oxygen. In one moment, if there were the smallest dispute, there is harm to the entire body. We see what happens when the pancreas suddenly decides not to do its work, Hashem preserve us. Or the kidneys suddenly decide that they do not do their work. A person must be tied to machines for several hours each week. Not pleasant. So if so, peace is peace among the foundations of the body.
The Malbim explains: "forms light and creates darkness." Says the Malbim: there is a difference between creation and formation. Creation, says the Malbim, is bringing forth the essence of the thing. Formation is bringing forth the incidental qualities attached to it. This is a quote of his wording and I will explain. Creation is to create the essence of the thing. From this thing things flow, things are formed from it, this is called formation. Says the Malbim, he elaborates further and we will see the continuation of his words and then the matter will become clearer. Says the Malbim: anything that has things coming out of it and changing and flowing from it, these things will change from the standpoint of the essence of the thing, even though the essence of the thing does not change. I will give an example. If, for instance, let us say the Holy One creates light, had the Holy One not created the light, there would be no place for darkness. That is to say, the light itself did not change, it is constant, but the Holy One formed light such that by the power of this light there are stages in which the light is not perceptible. And then, consequently, by the power of this we have darkness. So if so, understand, if the light were a creation, creation is something unchanging, creation is something fixed. And then there would be no reality of darkness at all. What did the Holy One do? He formed light. Formation, we said, is something that admits change. It is something that has changes of states, in which the incidental circumstances act upon it. Therefore this is called forming light. Why is it forming light? Because I formed here something in which changes can occur. Indeed, not in the body of the thing, for the light itself, as we saw, has no change in it, the sun does not change, it always shines with the same fixed light. But there is change in the recipients. To this the term formation applies. In contrast, creation is something that does not change at all.
Now see how wonderful this is. For there really is a difficulty here. For seemingly, according to what the Malbim explained earlier, it is not understood why he calls the darkness creation. After all, darkness is only the absence of light, it is not fitting to say Hashem created it. And this, by the way, is one of the proofs used by those who claim, I told you there is a dispute about this, it is one of the proofs for those who claim that darkness is a creation in its own right. For it is written "and creates darkness." So indeed we saw that the Radak already grappled with this and explained in one interpretation that "creates" means He decrees that there be darkness. In a second interpretation he brought in the name of his father: He creates the earth which causes there to be darkness. But the Malbim explains: "creates" refers to something that does not change. Now when Hashem formed the light, He also formed a state of darkness, correct? As we explained. Therefore the term formation applies to it, for formation is always something in which changes occur. In contrast, tell me, does darkness admit changes? After all, it is not a formation in its own right, it only flows from another source, so it is not fitting that anything change in it. It itself is acted upon, it is not something in its own right, it is not an entity in its own right. When there is no light there is consequently darkness. So I can say, you know, this darkness contains changes within it. What do you mean it contains changes? It itself is formed from something else. It is not a reality in its own right. Regarding the formation of light, it is a formation, I say this formation, know, changes flow from it. It may be that sometimes the light will be perceptible and sometimes it will not be perceptible. But darkness is not a formation in its own right. Rather what? When there is no light there is consequently darkness. So therefore I can call it creation, for no change occurs in it. In darkness itself no change occurs, it is not something created by its own power in which I can say there are states that change within it. No, rather darkness is an absence, it is not a thing. Since it is not a thing, the term creation applies to it, for creation means unchanging, fixed. In contrast to formation, for formation, as we said, is something from which various things emerge. This is the definition of formation. So light, sometimes darkness emerges from it, sometimes light. The term formation applies to it.
Says the Malbim: so too the essence of evil. Regarding evil, it is not fitting to say that Hashem formed evil. For we said Hashem does not form evil. What did Hashem do? Hashem forms good. Now, Hashem formed the good as limited. That is, for a certain period of time. So the moment the good ceased, there is consequently evil. But it is not that I formed evil. So now, consequently, it is not fitting to speak of formation regarding evil, for formation, we said, is something always subject to change. Something in which various incidental circumstances occur. Regarding evil, it is not a thing in itself. When there is no good there is evil. There are no changes in it. When there is no good there is evil. So in evil itself there are no changes. And therefore, regarding evil, note again: "makes peace and creates evil." It does not say "forms evil." For indeed evil is not an independent force in which changes occur, rather when there is no good there is consequently evil. So therefore the term "creates" applies to it, meaning there is a fixed reality of evil the moment the good ceases. If a person claims: but I see that even darkness is not absolute. Sometimes there is strong darkness, sometimes less strong darkness. Behold you see that even in darkness there are changes. A mistake. The change is in the light. The darkness is the same darkness. Only if you add a bit of light, then there will be less darkness. Reduce the light, there will be more darkness. But again, in darkness itself there is no change at all. Darkness is static, it is fixed. And therefore creation applies to it. Creation means unchanging. It flows from a reality of the absence of light and does not change. But regarding light, it can indeed be called formation since change does occur in it. Yes.
Says the Holy One: "and nevertheless I am Hashem who does all these." And if you ask, then why did Hashem create darkness and evil? Why, that is, did He leave any place for it in reality at all? Why did Hashem grant a reality in which light is absent? Why did Hashem grant a place in reality in which there is room for darkness? Even if you do not call it an independent creation, you do not call it an independent formation, but at any rate you agree that there is darkness and there is evil when the good ceases. Why did Hashem grant a reality for the cessation of good? Why would Hashem not grant a reality in which the good would be endless forever? And then, consequently, there would be no reality of absence at all, there would be no reality of evil at all. On this He says "I am Hashem who does all these." The meaning is: "I am Hashem who does all these," without this it would not have been possible to make and complete reality according to His blessed wisdom. For behold, if there were only good in the world, is there room for Gan Eden and Gehinnom? Is there room for reward and punishment? No. Then there would already be Gan Eden here. Everything is good here. True, so what would... why would there be reason to strive to fulfill mitzvot? Why strive to do forever... behold, you have everything good here. What would you say, but then I depart from the... there is no departure from the world. Departure is evil. Rather everything is good. Everything was good without end. So where would creation impose its purpose? And the purpose of creation is after all to place man in a test, so that man will serve Hashem through a test and thereby merit eternal reward by right and not by the bread of shame. All this must exist through the fact that in the end there is death, and through the fact that one can speak with a person through afflictions, and the entire matter of absence and evil in the world is meant to bring a person closer to this path of serving Hashem. I once told you that far more people repented following the passing of a close person than people who won the lottery. Correct? You received a favor, well, whoever repents, thank God, wonderful. That is it, he continues to celebrate. But suddenly his father died, that sent him to the synagogue. Correct? He never saw what a synagogue looks like from the inside. How? Why? What happened? He came? Father died. Father died, he came to the synagogue. And then suddenly you see him come one more day, and another day, and that is it, a year passed, that is it, he decides he stays in the synagogue. Who brought him? The good or the evil? The evil brought him. That is to say, we see that often the evil is meant to steer him toward the good. So in order to create a world, there must be a reality of evil. There must be a reality of absence. "I am Hashem who does all these," because I wished to bring forth creatures here, and for these creatures there must be evil, for only through evil is good revealed. Only through evil is the abundance revealed. And consequently, through evil, a person often rectifies his ways, through this a person straightens his paths to serve Hashem properly.
"הַרְעִיפוּ שָׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וּשְׁחָקִים יִזְּלוּ צֶדֶק תִּפְתַּח אֶרֶץ וְיִפְרוּ יֶשַׁע וּצְדָקָה תַצְמִיחַ יַחַד אֲנִי הַשֵּׁם בְּרָאתִיו - Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, that they may bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I, Hashem, have created it." Let us explain according to Rashi. Rashi explains that the "righteousness" written at the end of the sentence also refers back to its beginning. As if it were written "drip down, O heavens, righteousness from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness." That is to say, says the Holy One, from Me comes the righteousness from the heavens above, I am the one who created the good and the righteousness in the world. Onkelos explains that this verse speaks of the resurrection of the dead. "Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness" refers to the dew of resurrection, through which the Holy One revives the creatures. Through this "the earth opens" its mouth "and the dead come out of it," "and they bring forth salvation and righteousness springs up," people begin to spring up from within it, all those whose time has come to be revived, "I, Hashem, have created it." And this creation refers to the resurrection of the dead.
We will continue along the line of the Malbim. After he explained and clarified for us that good and evil come only from the root of good, and there is no root of evil, there is no force of evil in creation as an independent force, rather it is only a force flowing from the good, which is really the purpose of evil, he comes and says: behold, see, so too from the standpoint of governance. Behold we see that Hashem sometimes does good, Hashem sometimes does evil. I am no longer speaking of the essence of creation, light, darkness. About governance. Sometimes a person has good, sometimes evil befalls a person. Sometimes there is an influx of life, sometimes there is an influx of death. And so on. We see that sometimes there are troubles, there are wars, there is seemingly evil governance, again, according to how it appears to the recipients. On this he comes and emphasizes: know, I always bestow only good. Why? For the Holy One is the perfection of good. And from where does evil come? Evil comes from the standpoint of the recipient who did not prepare himself to receive the good. He gives a parable on this, and through it we can explain the matter more. Behold, see, rain falls. The land that is not ready to receive the rain is harmed by the rain. And the land that is ready to receive the rain is influenced for good by the rain. What is the land that is ready to receive the rain? I have a field, I plowed it, I prepared it, I await the rains. For me the rains are like a thirsty one awaiting water. This is very wonderful. So the rain bestowed good upon me. But imagine that I have no field, I have a road. Are the rains good for this road? Certainly not. It is harmful, it is mud, wagons get stuck there, a person walking cannot walk when the whole road is ruined. Certainly for the road it is harmful. What do you see? According to the preparation, so is the benefit. One who prepared a field and plowed it, when the rain comes, oh, how wonderful that there is rain. And one who did not, he will say, a pity there is rain, the rain only harms, only dirties, only ruins. If so, does it turn out that Hashem gave evil when He sent down rain? No. It is not evil, rather you did not prepare yourself, so consequently for you it is evil. Do you understand? That is to say, the rain is good. The rain is an abundance of blessing. You did not prepare yourself, so consequently you received evil. Or let us give an example, a person did not repair his roof. So rain fell, his whole house got wet. Had he repaired his roof, he would still have had benefit from the rain, for all the water would descend toward the garden, it would still water his garden, he would still collect the water, he would have benefit from it. In simple words, rain is good. If you did not prepare properly, it will harm you. If you prepared properly, draw out the abundance from it.
This is the parable. And now let us see how he explains this parable. "Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness." What does "drip down, O heavens" mean? What is "let the skies pour down"? The Malbim explains that the skies are higher than the heavens. And the skies pour down righteousness. To where? To the heavens. The Malbim explains: pouring is always in abundance. In contrast, to drip is dew. It is rain, it is in drops, not in great abundance. "Le'harif" or "la'arof," to drip, these are among the verbs... it is somewhat like keves-kesev (lamb), simlah-salmah (garment), yes? Like lahak-kahal (assembly). And so on in this manner. Many words in which the order of the letters changes and it is the same idea. So here too, the Holy One, as it were, sends down the abundance from above. From where? From the skies. From the skies He sends it down to the heavens. And what is this called? "Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness." The skies pour, pouring, as we said, is in great abundance, they pour to where? To the heavens. And the heavens are lower, the heavens drip down what the skies poured to them. But note how he comes to express here the difference in abundance. If you remember, we once explained that the entire purpose of the sefirot is to constrict the abundance. Since the light of the Ein Sof is a light that cannot be received. It is not possible... we have no vessels to receive the light of the Ein Sof. It is like a person wanting to light a lamp from a power station. He would burn up along with it. So too we have no power to receive. So all the sefirot, which are the worlds, Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah, and each of the worlds has ten sefirot within it, Keter, Chochmah, Binah, Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut, these are screens upon screens that constrict the abundance. Behold, see, the abundance is immense. The skies from above give a pouring, which is an immense abundance. In contrast come the heavens which constrict the abundance and drip down the rain. They constrict and send down the abundance according to the measure of the recipients, for the recipients cannot receive an infinity of rain. And the earth, as we said, "let the earth open, that they may bring forth salvation." The earth cannot receive this abundance if it does not open its mouth to receive it. What is this "open its mouth"? This is the preparation we spoke of. We plowed the earth, we sowed seeds, let the earth open, behold now it opens its mouth, it can... give me rain. Rain fell, excellent, through this "they bring forth salvation." What is in the earth, that seed, bears fruit, there is salvation, it is saved through this rain.
So too in the analogue. The righteousness that descends from above is an abundance that the Holy One sends down. Only if you prepare yourself toward this righteousness, how? Through the mitzvot between man and God, "you shall bring forth salvation and righteousness shall spring up together." The meaning is: the Holy One sends abundance down to the world. And if you prepare yourself properly, how? Through fulfilling Hashem's mitzvot, doing His will, righteousness, the Malbim always explains that this refers to between man and God. By doing Hashem's will, you merit that the abundance comes for good. As we have explained several times, that if sometimes a decree was decreed that rain should come, and thus it was decreed on Rosh Hashanah, and they made their deeds evil, the Holy One brings rains of wrath. The Holy One brings rains in places that do not need them. The Holy One brings the rains in a manner in which they harm the fruit and the like. That is to say, we see that there is a situation in which the abundance comes and it does not come for good because of you. You did not prepare yourself. Had you prepared yourself by doing Hashem's will, you would have received the abundance in the proper way. So it turns out, then, who created the evil governance? You. You yourself. Had you prepared yourself properly, you would be a vessel for receiving, Hashem says I wish to bestow good upon you. But prepare yourself. "Let the earth open, that they may bring forth salvation." On this he says "and righteousness shall spring up." So too when you conduct yourself with righteousness, in the law of Hashem, meaning you fulfill Hashem's mitzvot, in the mitzvot between man and God, then "you shall bring forth salvation, righteousness shall spring up together," through this you will add and increase the abundance that descends from the upper world to the lower world. For behold, you do Hashem's will, you turned yourself into a fitting vessel to receive.
The Malbim explains that the skies are always higher than the heavens. Where do we see this? There is a verse "for her judgment reaches to the heavens and is lifted up to the skies" (Yirmiyahu 51:9). He always adds, he goes and adds. He says, not only up to the heavens, but up to the skies. If you say the skies are lower, then you already reached high up to the heavens, what is "and up to the skies"? You descended? Rather certainly the meaning is that the skies are higher. Like "look at the heavens and see, and behold the skies, higher than you" (Iyov 35:5). "Shur" is always looking into the distance. From where does one look into the distance? When one stands where? On the wall. Correct? And what is "shur" as well? A wall. Since from the wall I look, I can see, correct? "The daughters marched upon the wall" (Bereishit 49:22). "Shur" is a wall, for from there they would see and look into the distance. So "look at the heavens and see," for that is near, "and behold," this is looking into the distance, "the skies." Look into the distance, you will also see the skies. Behold you see that the skies are always higher. And also the pouring is more abundant, as it is written "and flowing waters from your Creator," "and flowing waters from Levanon," "water flows from his buckets" (Bamidbar 24:7). And "raaf" and "aruf," to drip, is drop by drop, "my teaching shall drip like rain" (Devarim 32:2), "even the heavens drip dew." We see that dripping is weaker. And as we explained, the matter comes to say: when you prepare yourself properly, then the upper abundance descends and cascades from the skies to the heavens and flows. And from the heavens it sends down dew that you can receive, rain that you can receive here in the lower world. And as is known, we have already expanded on this, but according to Kabbalah it is certainly so, that a person, through the mitzvot and good deeds he does here, there is an aspect of raising the mayin nukvin to the upper worlds, and this creates above, in the upper worlds, abundance and pairings of upper attributes that send down abundance below. It turns out, then, that the Holy One created only good. But if you are not worthy, then consequently the abundance will not arrive properly, or may even arrive in a negative manner. Who caused this? Only man with his negative deeds. And if he does good, he will merit all the abundance fit to be received from above.
"הוֹי רָב אֶת יֹצְרוֹ חֶרֶשׂ אֶת חַרְשֵׂי אֲדָמָה הֲיֹאמַר חֹמֶר לְיֹצְרוֹ מַה תַּעֲשֶׂה וּפָעָלְךָ אֵין יָדַיִם לוֹ - Woe to him who strives with his Maker, a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to its potter, what are you making? And your work has no hands." Concerning what was this verse said? Rashi brings that it was said concerning the prophecy of Chavakuk. Yeshayahu here prophesies concerning the prophecy of Chavakuk. Chavakuk did not yet exist, so therefore Rashi explains that this is a future prophecy. Concerning his prophecy about Chavakuk, who would in the future stand and protest. Why does Nevuchadnetzar still exist? Why does his rule still continue? "How long, Hashem, shall I cry out, and You make man like the fish of the sea" (Chavakuk 1:14). The Holy One says to Yeshayahu, why does this one come to quarrel with Me? Does he think I do not take to heart to save Israel? For it is written "at the time of the completion, when the land shall be appeased for its Sabbaths." That is to say, there is a time of the redemption. So why does he come to quarrel with Me, as it were, about the fact that I do not redeem Israel? For the time of the redemption depends on the time when Israel sinned. And since Israel, as we saw, the Shemittah was their trouble, that they did not keep the Shemittah years, so "until the completion of the land when it shall be appeased for its Sabbaths." The Radak explains that this was not said concerning Chavakuk, for indeed Chavakuk seemingly did not yet exist, and here the Holy One comes to complain about someone who would quarrel in the future. In any case, this is Rashi's interpretation. But the Radak explains that this was said concerning the king of Bavel, concerning Belshatzar. Belshatzar would exalt himself, would raise himself against God, he took out the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash from his palace and gave them to his concubines and ministers and queens to drink, he gave everyone to drink from the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash. And on this he coined a parable and said: does the clay quarrel with the one who formed it? And say to him, what are you making? Do I know more than you? Could such a thing enter the mind? "A potsherd among the potsherds of the earth." For this king, this Belshatzar, is a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth. Like a potter's vessel he will soon be shattered. As it is written concerning him, "on that night Belshatzar was slain" (Daniel 5:30). They did not draw out his time. That very night he took out the vessels, that very night he was killed. So "woe to him who strives with his Maker," you come to quarrel with the Holy One and say, "ah, the Holy One will no longer redeem Israel." Who are you? After all, you are a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth. Could it enter the mind that clay would say to its potter, what are you making? You come, as it were, in arrogance toward the Holy One, You cannot redeem them? "Shall the clay say to its potter, what are you making? And your work has no hands." Does it imagine that hands did not make it? As it were, who is he at all? A potsherd among the potsherds of the earth, which does not even have a form. Does it imagine that hands did not make it? I can take a potsherd and form a fine vessel. But if it is a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth that was not even shaped, then it has simply become some wretched raw material. So who are you at all, Belshatzar, that you come and exalt yourself against the Master of the world?
According to the Malbim, this verse is a continuation of what we learned above. For we saw above that the prophet confronts the conception that was accepted in his time in Persia. And this conception says that there are forces of good and forces of evil in creation, and they are constantly in collision. And when the force of good increases, then good increases in the world, and when the force of evil increases, then evil increases in the world. And they are not both from one source. As we saw that he confronted this conception. So a person might come and ask, seemingly, perhaps let us pause, let us recall. What did we explain? We explained that indeed there is no evil in the world. Rather there is only good. And when the Holy One brought the good, He brought it for a limited time. And since this is so, when the good ends, then consequently there is evil. But Hashem did not create evil. Hashem did not create darkness. Rather Hashem created light. And the moment light was created, there was abundance here. The moment Hashem decided to take away the light He created, then consequently there is absence, absence of light, consequently there is darkness, consequently there is evil. But it is not that Hashem created the evil. So says the Malbim, on this a person will come and ask, indeed it is true, it was not fitting to create the world except in such a reality that there would be room for absence, for death, for evil. As we explained, that it cannot be that there is only good, for if so, why is there an Olam Haba at all? Then everything is here, in this world. So where is the world of trial? Where is the world of struggle? For everything is intended so that we not have the bread of shame. And if so, if here in this world he already has Gan Eden, then where are the trials here to merit the life of Olam Haba? So there must be a reality of concealment, and a reality of absence, and a reality of darkness, and a reality of death. But a person will come and ask, seemingly Hashem could have created the world in a better way. A physical world that never changes. That man would not be composed of flesh, sinews, bones. That is, as it were, he wishes to say, what are you explaining to me? The reality of man necessarily requires that man die. The fact that man has a body necessarily means he reaches death. It cannot be that a physical thing, a material thing, remains in existence forever. So what do you want? That there be no state of death? That there be no state of darkness? There is no choice, as it were. The material from which man was created is such material that is subject to decay. So a person will come and ask, well, if so, why did He create us from such material in the first place? Let Him create us from material not subject to decay. Let Him create us from such material that can remain forever.
On this he comes and answers, so against this is our verse. "Woe to him who strives with his Maker." On this the prophet says: behold, the matter is as if the earthenware vessel would come and quarrel with its maker and say to him, why did you make me earthenware? Why did you not make me gold? The vessel comes with complaints against the maker. Why did you not make me from gold? And this is what he says, "woe to him who strives with his Maker, a potsherd." Do you understand? He strives with his Maker, why did He make him a potsherd? Why did He make him such a lowly vessel? As in the analogue, a physical, material man, who is subject to the ravages of nature, who can die, who can be harmed. One who comes to quarrel with his Maker, who is it that comes to quarrel with his Maker and say to Him, why did You make me earthenware and not gold? Or comes to quarrel with his Maker and say to Him, why did You create me in the form of a vessel without the possibility of movement, without the possibility of having hands, of being able to feel? As it were, You made me like a vessel standing in place all the time, without movement, without the possibility of moving from anything. And this is the continuation. "Shall the clay say to its potter, what are you making? And your work has no hands." Why did You make a vessel without hands, without a head, without the possibility of movement? Could it enter the mind that the vessel would come and complain such a complaint? Rather what, what do we all understand? The potsherd is from an earthenware vessel, and really why was it made thus? Because the Holy One wanted an earthenware vessel. And when He wanted living beings, then He created living beings. And when He wanted earthenware, then He created earthenware. This is really the will of Hashem, blessed be He, and He is the Maker. And as the Maker, you have no complaints to come and ask why this was made thus. And so too it is not fitting to ask why Hashem created man from such material that is physical material liable to death, liable to harm. Do not ask such a question, since it is like a person asking why You did not make the vessel hands and feet, why You did not make it with the possibility of movement, why Hashem did not create it in such a way that it would never perish. The one who created knows what he wishes to create, and according to his plan this is what he created.
Along this line he continues. "הוֹי אֹמֵר לְאָב מַה תּוֹלִיד וּלְאִשָּׁה מַה תְּחִילִין - Woe to him who says to a father, what are you begetting? And to a woman, what are you bringing to birth?" Says the Malbim, and if you will further ask, why did Hashem make vessels from this material? If this material is such fragile material, material liable and capable of receiving illnesses and receiving death, and harm and loss afflict it, then if so, why did He not make it from finer material? On this the prophet says: behold, this is similar to one who says to a father "what are you begetting?" and to a woman "why are you in labor?" "Techilin" is from the language of "chila," yes? Meaning from the language of labor pains. "What are you in labor with?" That is, as it were, to come and say, what are you bearing? It is better not to be created than to be created. As it were, Master of the world, why did You create a person? It is better that You had not created than that You created. As it were, he has instructions for the one who created him, he has complaints against Him. He says: after all, the Holy One created man from the best material with which it was possible to create him for his purpose. That is to say, if we wish to give an example, if I wish, for instance, to make an airplane. Someone once asked, after all, you know what they take from the airplane when the airplane crashes, explodes, do you know what they look for? A black box. Why? Why do they look for the black box? To examine what happened. But the airplane exploded, no? What? The box does not explode. Ah, it remains. Why does it remain? It is made of durable material. So someone once said, why, a pity they did not make the airplane from the material of the black box? You did not think of that, ah? Correct? And then we would no longer need a black box, we could even save. We would not need a black box. Do you understand why this is ridiculous? Because an airplane can fly because it is made of sheet metal. Make the airplane from reinforced steel, this thing will not travel, let alone fly. So it will not move. The black box is taking some small safe within which there are recordings, within which there are chips, everything that happens in the airplane, this you made. As something small, well, the airplane will carry it. But make an airplane from a black box? You would make such an elephant that it would need several armored vehicles just to pull it, just to drag it. That is to say, though it seems to us an airplane, ah, what material did you make it from? Material that at the slightest impact loses a wing, at the slightest impact crashes entirely, nothing remains. Sir, in order for an airplane to be able to fly, it must be made in this way, in this form. I think this is a wonderful parable to explain here as well.
He tells you, you think you have suggestions for improving the Creator of the world. Why did Hashem create me from such material? Why did He not make us in a better reality, more spiritual, more angelic? Sir, you have a role here in the world. And for this role, the material you were made from is the most suitable for your role. And if so, this is like a person saying to a father "what are you begetting?" and to a woman "what are you in labor with?" As it were, why do you contain birth pangs and why do you beget? After all, you are making something unsuccessful here. You made a potsherd, as we said. For man was created from material, from blood, this is not, this is not the successful thing, you see it is subject to afflictions, it can fall ill, it can be harmed. Why did You make it thus? Says the Creator of the world: for the role I designated for man, this is the best form that could be. And we have really already answered the answer in advance. When we explained that man was created from the outset liable to afflictions, for when a person has an illness, then he knows to return to the Creator of the world. Then he knows that it comes from some direction. When he hears a siren and his heart skips a beat, then he knows that thunder was created only to straighten the crookedness of the heart. And sirens were created only to bring Israel back in repentance. So through this a person understands, sir, a red alert. Do you know what a red alert is? It is a red warning. Beware, they are already sending you a red warning, the birth pangs of Mashiach are at the door. So if so, the very fact that there is a reality of harm was created for good. As a person would come and say, why did the Holy One create pain for man? How wonderful it would be if we had no pain at all. Thus people suffer, you know there are special laboratories, there are, in hospitals there are special departments for treating pain. After all, it would be far more wonderful if a person had no pain at all. A woman would give birth easily, a person would not get cut, he would immediately treat it, put on a bandage, nothing happens. There is no pain at all, he does not suffer from an ulcer, he does not suffer from anything. Would it not be far better? To what is the matter comparable? To a person who had a car, and this car was a bit old, and every time he drove, the red light of the engine would light up there. And he had to, he had to stop each time to fill water and check oil and see that everything is fine, and after that just continue. At a certain point he got fed up, he says to the mechanic, listen, this light is driving me crazy, take it off, do me a favor, take it off. That is it, he really solved his problems, for when the vehicle died he no longer drove at all, and then he no longer had anything, he never needs to fill water, he no longer needs anything. When the vehicle dies then it dies completely. That is it, his story is over. So too a person who does not want pain. What is this, he does not want to have pain? Sir, when there is pain it says check, you have a problem. That is to say, there is here some need to treat yourself. But if a person did not check following pain, Heaven forbid, there could be a situation where he reached death. Why? Because you had some internal problems, you would have gone and treated it in time, you would have been healed. You did not treat it in time, behold, see where you reached. The meaning is, the very fact that man was created in a form in which he has harms, in which he has pain, in which he has suffering, in which he has deficiencies, all these things were really created for his good in the best form that could be conceived.
I once heard, I believe it was from Rabbi Neugroschel, or I do not remember, from one of the lecturers. I once heard that there is some person, I do not know if Jewish or gentile, abroad, who composed a comprehensive book, in which he writes that if he were the Creator of the world, how he would create the world and man. And he reaches the conclusion that he would not change anything. First of all, the Creator of the world surely says to him, thank you very much for the fact that... that I have approval from you. But what he really wanted was to bring the matter closer to the mind. To see how what was created was created in the best possible form. For if a person were to try to change and thinks that other possibilities would be more successful, he is mistaken. Often only harm would result from it. I think I once already gave you this example. That if you say to a person, if you had another eye, where would you place it? So a person said, I would place it behind. I would place it in the head, at the back. So first of all this is a mistake. If I want to turn, I do not want to see something, I want to turn to the other side, do I need to see from every direction? Ah, someone said no, I would place it on my finger. Why? I want to see what is under the table, I put my hand under the table, I place the finger behind, I place this here, I look, my back itches, with the finger. Well, really, why did Hashem not create an eye for us on the finger? Do you know how sensitive an eye is? Could you lift a bag if you had an eye on your finger? Could you touch, touch a remote control, could you touch if you had an eye on your finger? You could not do anything. You could not write with a pen. At the tip of the finger you have an eye, could you do anything? So see how much a person thinks it could be better, but who says? Make a slight change, see how everything changes and not for the good. Everything changes for the worse. So therefore what the Holy One created is the best. So why do you go to the father and say to him, what did you beget? Why do you go to the mother and say to her, why are you pregnant? The father and mother know what they want. The Holy One knows what He created and what He begot, and everything was done with precise planning according to the preparation, according to the needs for which man was created.