Yesterday afternoon I watched the movie Hannah Arendt, about the German-Jewish philosopher, historian, political theorist, and journalist who covered the 1961 Nazi war crime trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem for the New Yorker.  Her conclusions and thoughts were published in a seminal work titled Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963). Here she raises the question of whether or not evil has to be radical. She concluded that  evil can stem from thoughtless, banal behavior—bureaucratic maneuvers, the goal of which is to complete a task; neither thinking nor emotions involved. Hannah Arendt coined the term, ‘banality of evil’ based  on  Eichmann, a man who helped carry out the most horrific crimes against humanity yet denied this and said, he was only following instructions.  In the last seven minutes of the film we listen to Hannah Arendt (played by Barbara Sukowa) defend her theory that evil need not be radical, that the world would have less evil in it if we had more ordinary people thinking for themselves.  If people would only believe in something, if they could feel, have courage, develop a sense of self, and of caring about something….in the movie, Hannah Arendt concludes,

“This inability to think created the possibility for many ordinary men to commit evil deeds on a gigantic scale, the like of which had never been seen before. The manifestation of the wind of thought is not knowledge but the ability to tell right from wrong, beautiful from ugly. And I hope that thinking gives people the strength to prevent catastrophes in these rare moments when the chips are down.”

Too often do we see ordinary people do nothing.  May this New Year of 5774 be a year where we think for ourselves.  May we care enough about each other to do something; To make this world a better one for those we know and for those we will never know.   

Shana Tovah and Blessings for A Sweet Good Year.