by Ginger Betzer

Created on: August 21, 2008   Last Updated: December 20, 2010

When we give the term 'responsible" a subjective interpretation it tends  to clouds our perception and the intent of the question.  My interpretation of the question is that we are asking ourselves if G-d participates in all aspects of existence and mediates and directs actions resulting in a "good" or "bad" diagnosis  on our part.  The answer is "yes".  G-d is always there. He is always omnipresent and all knowing.  There is nothing that can be done, in effect, outside of His will or permission.  Thus, all things that happen, rather seemingly good or bad, are in the hands of G-d.  If we interpret "responsible" as a source of blame or negative involvement then we  have a problem.  G-d has set into motion certain "laws"....cause and effect..  If we subjectively ask if G-d, for example, made our car wreck, and is ultimately responsible for the effects of the wreck then the answer would be "no.".  When we choose to make wrong decisions we reap the consequences of those decisions.  But, as with all aspects of Free Will and free moral choice, the issue is a bit complicated.

Isaiah 45:7 says, G-d speaking "I form light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil. I, the L-rd, do all these things." So is this the answer? What does it mean to "create darkness". If I remember correctly, Karl Barth, an existential theologian, suggested that in creating Himself in space and time G-d created that which was "not G-d". This space or void which was "not G-d" contained in it the potential for evil. This would, in a sense, seem to support the Kabbalistic understanding of the nature of G-d and the Eyn Sof.  Although Kabbalah emphasis that no place exists where there is not a spark of the divine....G-d delights in concealment...He hides His light from the world and holds secures it revelations  for the righteous.  So we have varying degrees of connection with the divine.  WE experience varying degrees of light.   G-d created a void in which to create the universe through a process called Tzim Tzim...a contraction of Himself much like the contractions of childbirth. So in creating a space which was "not G-d", a void so to speak, the universe could exist.  And so could our Free Will....And so could evil. But in every created thing G-d interjected "sparks" of the divine. In everything we have both good (G-d), and the potential for evil. That is precisely why we must work with

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