Choosing Good Always

As We Swim Through This Soup Of Evil

Before I begin, I must state explicitly that what is happening in our world is inexcusable. I stand with the victims and the survivors. I believe them. I pray that justice is served and that there is a pathway towards healing. Below is a reflection of what I see as the spiritual message of Judaism for the collective when it comes to understanding the broader theme of evil. I write this because ancient wisdom can often give us something to root ourselves in as we navigate this very harsh moment. Judaism differs from Christianity and other traditions when it comes to transgression and sin. We believe that there is always potential for repair (it is the hardest and most important work of all). I wanted you to know this belief before reading this text as I know this moment is activating for many. I am holding you and us with care and love. I am praying that we find the way to choose the good.

This week we learned more about the Epstein saga and the people connected to it. I do not need to explain how sick it makes me. Powerful people abusing their power in illegal, immoral, and despicable ways, while others knew and looked away or even encouraged it. I want to be surprised. The truth is that I am not.

We have seen this before. Harvey Weinstein was publicly thanked for years at the Oscars while his behavior was an open secret. People (even good people) chose proximity to power over protecting others. This moment is another mirror held up to our society, and what it reflects is deeply unsettling. We live in a culture that privileges power at all costs and allows shadow to go unchecked.

As a mother, I feel this viscerally. I feel the constant need to protect my children from what has somehow become normal. Children are exposed to darkness far too early. Young people are struggling with addiction, mental health crises, and constant access to content that pulls them toward the shadows. This did not happen by accident. Somewhere along the way, we allowed it.

And while there are no clear answers on how to live in such a world, the ancient wisdom of Judaism teaches that there is the both good and bad energies in this chaotic, beautiful world of ours. We believe that there is a yetzer ha tov and a yetzer ha ra, the inclination toward good and the inclination toward harm, within the world and within each of us. The tradition teaches that the yetzer ha ra existed from the beginning, even before creation happened. This fact does not excuse it, but it explains the reality of how the world functions and shares that without the bad there would then be no choice, no growth, no repair. In other words, according to Judaism, it is in fact this energy of evil (the shadow within us) that is deeply needed towards creating the world as it ought to be because we need this in order to choose the good and the be the good.

As a rabbi who works with people in recovery, I live in this tension every day. Yes, the darkness is there in each of us. And yes, we are still responsible for what we choose. We are not meant to deny what is broken, but to see it clearly and act differently. What scares me is how often we are no longer doing that work, individually or collectively. How in this very moment there is a moral urgency to place blame (yes, let’s) but then to stop there and not ask questions such as- how is our society promoting and pursuing a world of yetzer ha ra? Where do I personally sit with this?

So the invitation of this moment is not just to feel the ick and move on. It is to feel that ick and ask ourselves where we look away. Where we stay silent. Where we benefit from systems we know are harmful. In Judaism, this work is called heshbon hanefesh, an honest accounting of the soul. Where did I miss the mark? Where did I choose ego over integrity? Where did I fail to act?

I write this knowing my own faults. I am not outside this story. None of us are. If we want a different world, we have to tell a different story and live it. One that protects our children without hesitation. One that refuses what degrades life. One that believes that each one of us is indeed created in the image of Divine and one where we are still capable of choosing the good, together. It is afterall, a choice.

With love,

R’ Tova

p.s. To anyone who is suffering and feeling the pain in this moment as a victim and survivor. I see you. Holding you close as we unravel this mess together. The image below is providing comfort for both/and. Thank you, Jenna Freeman for your art.