The idea (from Rabbi Soloveichik) is that before Hashem created us, he consulted the angels – “let us make man in our image.”

The angels quarreled – the angels of kindness and the angels of righteousness were in favor of man because we (humanity) would perform kind and charitable acts. However, the angels of truth and the angels of peace opposed our creation because they argued Humanity would be torn apart with lies and quarrels.

The idea is the inevitability of being torn by life when faced with a situation with an unresolvable dilemma. If we follow the path of truth, we offend our fellow human, disrupting peace. If we follow the path of peace, we are guilty of dishonesty, upsetting truth.

So what did Hashem do?

Hashem “took truth and threw it to the ground.” He “gave us the the Torah here on earth, a teaching which guides us, in every area of life, in how to balance the sensitivities of truth and peace.”

My thoughts:

The issue is that truth and peace are in conflict with one another. Truth causes conflicts. Peace can obfuscate truth. But life isn’t one or the other. As humans, we are charged with daily deciding how to balance these issues MOSTLY within ourselves (how often do we convince ourselves of untruths so we can avoid inner conflicts) and then ALSO with others.

I know for a long time I have been out of balance when it comes to truth and peace. I have camped on the side of truth as much as I could. I am beginning to understand this is more out of complacency and an unwillingness to do the work every moment of every day of battling with these two concepts.

Both internally and externally.

And as we begin a new Torah cycle today, this is a great frame of reference (for me at least) in approaching the Torah!

Thank you Rabbi Soloveichik for your writings and giving me lots of thoughts this morning as I chew on the Torah!