Are some of us born evil?
Let’s look at two nuances in the Torah’s Book of Genesis: Once Scripture describes creation of the sky, land, trees etc., it individually describes the creation of animal life – reptiles, fish, birds and land animals – which are each called “mobile, living creatures (Nefesh Chaya in Hebrew).”
A second notable point is that the Torah caps off each stage of creation – including creation of the animals - with “And G-d saw that it was good”.
The creation of humans is treated differently: On the one hand, there is significant drama – we’re told that G-d ‘blew a [Divine] living soul’ into the human, and that we are “created in G-d’s image.” Humans are unmistakably described as the crown of Creation.
On the other hand, the Torah goes on to conclude with “and the human became a mobile, living creature.” Just like the animals. After all the hype of the human’s uniqueness, we are described as just another category of animal.
A second curiosity is that the Torah doesn’t give us humans its final flourish of “And G-d saw that it was good.” Didn’t G-d see good in creating the human being?
With these two nuances, the Torah is addressing our fundamental question: Are we animals or are fundamentally G-dly beings? In other words: Are we, or are we not, a ‘good’ creation?
The Torah narrative shouts that humans have an otherworldly capacity for goodness and G-dliness. But capacity – potential – is the pivotal word here. While we can reach incredible heights, we each face a natural obstacle: Our self-oriented and impulse driven baseline. We’re fundamentally animalistic. Whether we activate our inner G-dliness depends on whether we struggle against our natural inclination, upbringing, conditioned biases etc., or just acquiesce to – or even amplify - our own animalhood.
But caving in to selfishness isn’t being an animal; it’s worse. G-d described creation of animals with a blanket “it was good,” because they can’t be evil. A leopard in the jungle isn’t ‘evil’ for killing its prey; it can only follow its G-d-given nature. So let’s not insult animals.
When sane humans cold-bloodedly murder, torture, abduct, etc. they’re morally lower than animals. That’s why G-d wasn’t ready to give a blanket ‘it was good” for humanity. We need to earn it.
So, no, G-d doesn’t create evil people. People do it to themselves.
We can do better