Good and Evil

When we find a teacher inspiring and compelling, when we are enthused by people who seem spiritual and pious, how can we be sure that they are not charismatic charlatans preying on our vulnerability for their own selfish gain?

Are good things G-dly or are G-dly things good? What would the Chassidic masters say of the Socrates- Euthyphro debate?

Should we combat it? Ignore it? Is it possible to do both?

Once you are at war, you don’t stop to ponder all over again. Now you are out there on the field of battle, there is no turning back....

This is not a question about why people choose to do evil or why evil is visited on the innocent. It is a broader question. Why did G‑d create evil and what purpose does it serve?

If evil had some explanation that we understood, would we be as outraged as we are now in the face of its incomprehensibility? Would we abhor it as much, would we fight it as vehemently?

The Talmud tells Brachot 10a. how Rabbi Meir had wicked neighbors who caused him harm and much anguish. He prayed to G‑d to wipe them out. When his wife, Bruria, heard him praying this way, she scolded him. (Rabbi Yeshaya Horowitz writes in his classic Sh...

Have you ever done any carpentry or one of those Ikea do-it-yourself jobs? They always tell you not to tighten the bolts until the whole thing’s been put together.

Is it necessary to have the shackles of religious observance to be a good Jew or, for that matter, a good person? There are thousands of Jews who are good, moral and decent human beings, yet non-observant.

If you had a child, an only child, who was too much of a wimp to stand up for his rights, would you smack him in the face and watch him fall to the ground?