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Question 1: Yeshayahu 45:7 describes the fact that Adonai created rah. Bereshit 1:31 tells us that Adonai did watch all that he had made and saw that it was tov me'od. If something like rah is created and one of the components of that which is called tov me'od then.. What is rah good for? (why was it created in the first place?) (How does rah give us free choice? doesn't it attracts us to doing bad things?)

Question 2: Why was it forbidden to take knowledge of rah if HaShem created rah; or created the tree of knowledge tov v'rah? Why wouldn't HaShem allow the first human beings to take knowledge that which is tov and that which is of rah? (why else does this verse says: 'knowledge tov V'rah? - tov AND rah). Because from a human view it would seem that this knowledge/understanding could help us to do the good/right thing and refrain from doing the bad thing.

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    woo absolutely nuthin! couldnt resist!
    – user9410
    May 19, 2015 at 12:42
  • msh210: please post a link, so i can find the answer if my question is already posted.
    – J.Levi
    May 19, 2015 at 13:10

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Evil is, no pun intended a "necessary evil". For evil allows for free choice.

This site puts it very well (cant vouch for the rest of the site):

An animal killing its prey for food cannot be accused of committing an evil act since it has no choice in this matter. It was created by God with a predatory instinct and no free will. Similarly, angels cannot be considered good because they were created to do so. Only humans possessing free will can rise above angels or fall below animals, depending upon the choices they make. Thus we see that without evil there is no free choice, and without free choice there is no good or evil. Evil allows for the exercise of good in the same sense that a ray of light can be seen only in a cloudy sky. Once we understand that evil must exist and that it plays a positive role in the scheme of Creation.

It is good for man to have free choice, for when he chooses well, he recieves more merit for his choice. Hashem tells us "Uvocharta BaChayim" Choose life. Without free choice, we could not make this decision and merit the great blessings of G-d.

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