How a message for Cyrus the Great has meaning for us

Cyrus the Great (“Koreish”, in Hebrew) was important to Jewish History. He conquered Bavel, ended the Babylonian Exile, and commanded the building of the Second Beis haMiqdash.

The religion most scholars believed he adhered to, Zoroastrianism, in his day taught that there was a Creator, and He created two spirits for humanity to choose between: one associated with Light and Good, the other — Darkness and Evil. Much later, when Amoraim lived in Bavel, the religion collapsed in full Dualism, seeing the world as a battlefront between the forces of Light and Darkness. But that tendency was always there.

Rabbi Sacks said on a number of occasions that Dualism is far more dangerous than other Polytheism. To a Dualist, there are two forces, Good and Evil and “our side” is good, so if you aren’t one of us, you must be among the evil.

Given Cyrus’s importance to us and the moral danger his nation was facing, Hashem even leaves Yeshaiah a nevu’ah (ch. 45) that should be related to Cyrus, calling him “Meshikho – His anointed”, (v. 1) as thought he were a Davidic king!

What is important to Tefillah Meanings is one specific pasuq of that nevu’ah, Yeshaiah 45:7:

יוֹצֵ֥ר אוֹר֙ וּבוֹרֵ֣א חֹ֔שֶׁךְ
עֹשֶׂ֥ה שָׁל֖וֹם וּב֣וֹרֵא רָ֑ע
אֲנִ֥י ה’ עֹשֶׂ֥ה כׇל־אֵֽלֶּה׃

I form light and create darkness,
make peace and create evil (or: tragedy) —
I Hashem do all these things.

This pasuq is almost quoted at the beginning of Shema. However, Chazal thought that it took a special level of human who could praise Hashem for “creating evil”. So we euphemistically say “uvorei es hakol — and creates everything” instead.

Note that darkness and evil are created, “borei”, with the implication of something made from nothing. Light is made, there is some kind of substance to which Hashem gives form. And Peace is none of the above. It is made. Or perhaps, it is an action, something Hashem does.

The Avudraham* explains that Hashem created far more space and potential than He filled. It is humanity’s job to paint the rest of the canvas.

In his opinion (as in science), darkness isn’t a thing, it’s the absence of light. When Hashem is borei space without filling all of it with light, He created darkness. Light is an addition, something formed in that empty space.

Similarly, there is no such thing as evil. And thus no cosmic war between good and evil. There is just good, and potential good that we people haven’t filled in yet.

So the opening of this berakhah is saying:

There is only one G-d. He forms and does Good, and He creates for us opportunity.

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* Both the author and his commentary on the siddur are called “Avudraham” in yeshiva circles. Historically his name was Rav David Abu-Daraham, literally “father of the coin”, as the family included a number of financial administrators for royalty. He was close to both the Rosh, and his son, the Tur.