The
folklorist literature of the Midrash tells the thought-provoking story that
when God was about to create man, the angels came to him with different views.
Some of them supported the divine plan for man's creation, while others
supposed it.
Among the strongest opponents with the Angels of truth and peace.
"He will be full of lies," said Truth. "He will be terribly
quarrelsome," said Peace. What did God do? He took truth and cast it
on to the ground, where it shattered into many pieces. Then He created Adam.
Now
we come to the obvious question: why did God shatter Truth rather than Peace?
Or, why did he not break both offending angels?
Like every piece of rabbinic
folklore, the story is told not only because it is a good story; it is usually
that, of course, but it is told because they wish to submit a lesson and, like
all oriental teachers, they also found that the best way to teach a lesson is
through the parable.
What, then, is the point of the parable of Truth and
Peace? Specifically, why did God spare Peace and shatter Truth? The answer is
that God wanted to show that peace is indivisible; it may not be broken because
half a peace is really no peace.
Man must strive for-and he can
achieve-total peace, among nations and within himself. In fact, this is the
meaning of "shalom"; not just peace, but "wholeness,"
implying a situation which is completely filled in the achievement of that
total ideal. There is no such thing as partial peace. -Chaim Pearl
Comments