[Avodah] "Borei nefashos rabbos VECHESRONAM"

[Michael Makovi]

> This brings to mind Isaiah 45:7  "I form the light, and create darkness: I
> make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord Who does all these things."
> Actually, the term evil (ra) here denotes calamity and suffering. These
> serve as means of punishment for the sins of man. Moral evil, on the other
> hand, does not proceed from God, but is the result of man's actions. Moral
> evil is an absence of God's morality. In most Siddurim, the phrase is
> changed to 'create all things.'

Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits in God Man and History makes an interesting
interpretation on how Hashem created moral evil too: He created the
possibility for it when He gave us free will. He ties this into Hashem
creating all the creatures we see today via evolution - He didn't
actually create them, but He creatured their possibility.

Mikha'el Makovi