“If we are to arrive at a valid view of ourselves, we had better recognize that man is not only ‘a little lower than the angels,’ he is, in fact, just a step above the beast.”

In his January 15, 1967 radio broadcast, Rabbi Olan invited his listeners to contemplate some weighty topics: good, evil, and human nature. He spoke with a sense of urgency driven by the conviction that if we did not understand human nature adequately, we could not hope to address the day’s social problems effectively.

Drawing from the wisdom of the Talmud, Olan acknowledged that there is a beast (force bent on evil and chaos) within each of us, but also a better side that is capable of great good. We can expect both the worst and the best to come out of humanity. While many social reformers have called for the killing of the beast within, Rabbi Olan suggested another, more wholistic approach. To discover what it was, read or listen to the sermon through the links below.

*Written by Tim Binkley*