Isaiah declared that God is: oseh shalom uvoreh et hara. This literally means that God makes peace, but creates the bad. This phrase was going to be put in the siddur; but why in the siddur would we Jews like to read about how our one God creates all of the problems we have? Because of this, the rabbis who put together the siddur changed this phrase to “uvoreh et hakol”. This new phrase now says that God not only creates the bad, but he also creates everything else.
Now, when Jews pray, they do not say oseh shalom uvoreh et harah but they say oseh shalom uvoreh et hakol. When people look at this phrase they do not look directly at the part that says God creates the bad, but the part that say God creates the good. I think the Rabbis changed Isaiah’s phrase to make the Jews more sure of their God, and to say to the Jews that they are not only praying to a God who creates problems, which is what Isaiah’s original phrase says (or seems to emphasize), but also to a God who creates peace along with everything else.
(- Shira, Kitah Zayin)
G-d creates the good, but not bad. When bad things happened during the world’s creation, he was at rest. Because he helps us with everything he only makes the good, not the bad. Why would G-d want bad in his world that he created? He was too tired to help with the bad but not the good, because good was created first, so it comes before the bad. After he was doing all the good things for six days, then the day he rested is the day when all the bad things began in the world.
ReplyDeleteI think that God creates the good and the bad, as Isaiah said. God created evil people like Hitler so He obviously creates bad along with good. Why would He do this? Maybe he does that because he has to "even out" the amount of good and bad in the world.
ReplyDelete-Ben, kitah vav
This is great Shira! I compleatly agree with everything you havee written! You are an amazing writer! I love this!
ReplyDeleteI fully agree that G-d is the source of good things, but I only partially agree with Isaiah that G-d is the source of bad things ("oseh at ha-ra"). Rather, I would say G-d is only the source of certain bad things—natural disasters, for example. G-d is only the source of bad things that can’t happen because of humans. Besides the things that G-d makes happen, humans are the source of all bad things.
ReplyDeleteG-d gave everything free will, and instead of using our free will to live in harmony with everything on Earth, we use it to kill people, to steal, and destroy the Earth. For example, we made factories to create things for us, and the smoke and chemicals that are created as a result of them are now destroying the ozone. We cut down trees to make paper and to make clear spaces for cities, and in the process we are getting rid of the things that make oxygen for everything that need oxygen to live. So I think you can believe in one G-d like Isaiah argued, but still believe that G-d doesn’t cause bad things to happen.
(-Josh, Kitah Zayin)
This was very interesting. I agree and disagree. I think that humans create bad things and do bad things. People kill and create factories. But remember: some factories are environmentally friendly. And remember: not all humans are bad people! Not everyone kills.
DeleteAlso: Humans cannot create hurricanes and tornados. Those natural disasters are created by G-d. Humans have no control over natural disasters. G-d probably had a specific reason for it. And also: If there are bad people who do bad things, G-d created all of them. So G-d does create the bad and the good.
hey josh that was fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wonderful job have a great weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteI think G-d is the cause of good and bad things. He only makes bad things to teach us lessons. G-d is like our parents. He created us and he is our teacher. He gave us life, food, water and freedom. He has helped us through life. He wants us to learn from our mistakes.
ReplyDeleteThe Zoroastrians in his time believed that good and evil came from two differnt forces in heaven, but you can believe in one G-d and still believe that G-d is the creator of bad things, like Isaiah said. I believe in one G-d, but I don’t think it should be G-d’s [job] to make sure we don’t do bad things. You can always do more than one thing if you really want to!
G-d creates everything and everyone; this means that he creates bad things. He creates bad and good things only for a reason. You should never do anything wrong, but if you make a mistake once in a great while, I'm sure you won’t get in a massive amount of trouble. It just depends on how big your sin is.
So the answer is yes, G-d is the cause of bad things but he is also the creator of good things. Both these things are good because we can learn from both of them. We should be thankful to G-d for all he has done - both good and bad. (-Carly, Kitah Zayin)
God is the cause of good and bad things. He creates bad things to teach us lessons so that we can experience things firsthand. He wants us to learn from our mistakes. God also makes bad things happen for a reason, like how Joseph's brothers threw him in a pit and sold him to slavery so he would later become second to the king of Egypt so the Jews would be in Egypt. Then God would help the Jews escape from Israel and travel in the desert for 40 years to eventually get the Torah just because Joseph's brothers were jealous
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