Batman vs. the Joker: Hope vs. Destruction

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Can the world be redeemed?

The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie, is breaking records in the box office. It's not only action-packed but also full of troubling philosophical and moral questions. An overarching theme of the film, interpreted through the eyes of Jewish thought, will help us better understand some basic principles of Jewish philosophy.

The rivalry between the Joker and Batman is more than the regular rivalry between a hero and a criminal. The Joker, eccentric, crazed and irrational, represents a coherent ideology. He is all about chaos. He believes there is nothing intrinsically good in this world. The final destination is always chaos or apocalypse. This world is bad and irredeemable.

The Joker believes there is no value in this world. Batman believes this world can and should be fixed.

On the other hand, Batman has hope in this world. He believes the world has order and can be good, that Gotham is constantly, yet slowly, evolving towards a positive destiny. A city which was full of criminals a few years ago is now a lot more quiet. There are even idealists who try to be superheroes themselves and a courageous District Attorney who is fighting corruption.

The Joker believes there is no value in this world. Batman believes this world can and should be fixed.

Judaism believes the world is not hurtling towards Chaos. The world is fundamentally good, and it's our job to bring out its potential. History has a destiny and the world is inching, step by slow step, towards redemption.

These two opposing views come to head during the film's climax, with the Joker betting on man's inherent drive for evil and self-interest, and Batman hoping man's fundamental drive for good and selflessness will rule the day. Ultimately Batman's belief in humanity triumphs, with some casualties along the way.

According to Jewish thought, there are two different forces acting in this world. One is called the derech habechiri, the way of choice, which is influenced by the freedom of choice of individuals. If individuals want to do good, they can. If they want to do bad, they can.

The other force is Derech hayichud-- the way of the unification, which continuously influences history to be moving forward towards the ultimate unification of God's name. Even when individuals choose to do bad, we are always moving towards the revelation of God's name of this world as a collective. As individuals, we have free will. But as a collective, whether we like it or not, we will always be revealing God's name. We will always be moving forward towards our final redemption. Ultimately this paradox can only be fully understood by God Himself.

This is Judaism's message of hope. Even if individuals choose bad, the collective will always be moving forward towards God's unification.

This is Judaism's message of hope. Even if individuals choose bad, the collective will always be moving forward towards God's unification in this world, revealing the ultimate good. Look at how the world has changed in the past thousands of years! Sure, there are some highs and lows, but who can deny that civilization today is much more moral than it was in Roman times? Even in the middle ages? Who can deny this constant progress towards a better world? Look how the Divine hidden hand orchestrated events in history to ensure that the Jewish people would return to the land of Israel and rebuild their homeland.

Rav Kook writes that the redemption from Egypt will forever stay the hope of the entire world. The whole entire world can get hope from the fact that Jewish slaves were saved from persecution in Egypt. This redemption showed the world that injustice does not last in this world. This is a world which grows towards justice. It will ultimately be good.

Judaism sides with Batman. This world is not fundamentally bad; it is not hurtling towards chaos. It is our mission to fix this world. We need to realize that even during the hardest of times, the Almighty is still leading us towards the greatest of times. We cannot always understand why through these specific means or how it is done, but every day we are slowly moving closer to complete redemption, every day is one of hope and optimism.

This is an edited version of a longer article that appears on http://www.tzipiyah.com/

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