נוח לו לאדם: Better Had the Human Not Been Created?

And God saw all that They had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how every plan devised by his mind was nothing but evil all the time. And the LORD regretted that They had made man on earth, and Their heart was saddened. The LORD said, “I will blot out from the earth the people whom I created—people together with beasts, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I regret that I made them.”

The LORD smelled the pleasing odor, and the LORD said to Themself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done.

Rabbi Simeon said: In the hour when God was about to create Adam, the angels were divided into different groups.… Kindness said, “Let her be created, and she will do good deeds.” But Truth said, “Let him not be created because he will be all deceit.” Righteousness said, “Let them be created because they will do righteous deeds.” Peace said, “Let them not be created because he will be all quarrelsome and discord.”

What did God do? They seized hold of Truth and cast it to the earth, as it is said, You “cast truth to the ground” (Daniel 8:12). Then the angels said to God, “Why do you despise your Angel of Truth? Let Truth rise out of the earth, as it is said, ‘Truth springs out of the earth’.

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It's written, "And God saw all that They had made and it was very good," and behold Adam was good. Rav Huna Rabbah of Tziporin said: While the angels were still arguing one with the other, God created the human. They said to the angels: What are you arguing about? Adam has already been created.

The Sages taught the following baraita: For two and a half years, Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed. These say: It would have been preferable had man not been created than to have been created. And those said: It is preferable for man to have been created than had he not been created. Ultimately, they were counted and concluded: It would have been preferable had man not been created than to have been created. However, now that he has been created, he should examine his actions that he has performed and seek to correct them. And some say: He should scrutinize his planned actions and evaluate whether or not and in what manner those actions should be performed, so that he will not sin.

כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו, for the inclination of man's heart is evil from its youth. This statement is best understood as similar to the Talmud Baba Kama 39. The Talmud discusses an incidence in which a bull trained to perform in an arena has gored someone. Such an animal is not subject to the death penalty as it only did what it was expected to do...Similarly, man, equipped as he is with an evil instinct from birth, is not culpable until he has learned to distinguish right from wrong. This rule applies to minors not being subject to the judiciary process. They are, however, punishable by G'd for not having heeded Their call. In that respect man is not like the bull we mentioned. Woman's advantage over the beasts is her knowledge of good and evil. She is charged with despising evil and choosing what is good. The fact that woman was born with the יצר הרע only acts like an extenuating circumstance protecting her against G'd's anger.

'And the Lord said to Their heart: I will not again/add curse to the ground' (Gen. 8:21): They did not add to it, and let that indeed suffice. The Rabbis interpreted: I will not add [curse] to the children of Noah; I will not add [curse] to future generations. 'Because the devisings of man's heart [yetzer lev] is evil'. Rabbi Hiyya the Elder said: How terrible must be the dough when the baker himself testifies it to be bad! 'Because the inclination of man's heart [yetzer lev] is evil from his youth' Abba Jose the potter said: How terrible must be the leaven when she who created it testifies that it is bad, as it is written 'For They know our inclinations, it is remembered that we are dust' (Ps. 103:14). The Rabbis said: How terrible must be the plant when the planter himself testifies that it is bad as it is written 'For the Lord of hosts, that planted you, has spoken evil of you (Jer. 1:17).

These say: It would have been preferable had man not been created than to have been created etc. It seems to me that their dispute centers on this reason: one master reasons that we go after the majority (quantitatively), and one master reasons that we go after the majority of strength/wealth/structure (qualitatively). For the majority of humans do more sins than mitzvot, and from each mitzvah is created a good angel, while from each sin is created a bad angel. And due to this, sins are quantitatively the majority. However, mitzvot are qualitatively greatest, for how significant can the corrupt be considered in comparison to the angels of goodness created from mitzvot? Therefore one says "Preferable had woman not been created," as they go after numerical majority, and one says "Preferable that she was created," for they go after what dominates.

Who brought you out. Hashem did not identify Themself as the one who created heaven and earth because there were no witnesses to that event. They also refrained from mentioning that They created human beings since it can be argued that it would have been better for them if they had not been created (see Eiruvin 13b), whereas Hashem wished to mention only the unambiguous good They had done for them.