[Avodah] "Borei nefashos rabbos VECHESRONAM"

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, January 29, 2008 6:26 am, R Michael Makovi wrote:
: Even if we are wrong about the pasuk speaking of moral evil, we have
: learned more about the Apocryphal origins of Christianity however - it
: didn't grow out of a vacuum, not by a long shot.

I do not think "oseh shalom uvorei ra" refers to moral evil.

Ra is being posed as the antonym to shalom, not tov.

shalom = shelemus
ra, from /r``/= shattered (from RSRH)

Tov is not only a moral term, it is also a functional term. Hatavas
haneiros is getting the lamps to function, not making them more moral.
"Good" works the same way:
A good boy -- morally good
A good razor -- one that functions well

The two can be brought in line if we consider morality to be
humanity's function. A morally good person is thus one who functions
well.

(On my blog, I suggest that equality in the reverse: We can avoid
Euthyphro's Dilemma if we define morality as "operating in concert
with the function for which one was created".)

HQBH has no function, He wasn't made, never mind made for a particular
purpose. Thus, WRT Hashem, we say "hatov *shimkha*", but the Aibishter
Himself performs "shalom".


We already discussed the Ri ben Yaqar and the Avudraham's position
that "uvorei ra" is like "uvorei choshekh". A vacuum. Space created
that wasn't filled. The Gra says lehefech. It's choshekh in the sense
of the created substance of makas choshekh.

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

PS: I deleted all the Apocrypha discussion because without Chazal
telling me which pesuqim are in line with Yahadus, and which got the
book excluded from Tanakh, it's not a source.

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
micha at aishdas.org        and he wants to sleep well that night too."
http://www.aishdas.org     - Rav Yosef Yozel Horwitz, Alter of Novarodok
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