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29 March 2024

Reb Ginsbourg – Tsav: The challenge of a depleted pocket

 

The word "tsav" is found only concerning the Korban Tamid. Why?


Rav Baruch Halevi Epstein notes that our Parasha opens with the command to Moshe Rabbeinu (6:1-2): in the unusual term:צו, unlike the previous commandments in Parashat Vayikra, and other parshiot in this Parasha - which also relate to korbanot.

Rashi brings the Torat Kohanim, on the word: צו: ‘צו always denotes urging, as to the mitzvah in question, for the present and also for future generations.

Rabb Shimon taught: this is especially so where the mitzvah involves חסרון כיס: a depletion of money.

Rav Epstein expounds:’The previous Parasha concerned voluntary offerings or sin offerings, neither of which required urging, as it may be that there were no voluntary offerings or sin offerings to be brought.

‘Our Parasha, on the other hand, concerns the tamid burnt offerings - which had to be brought daily.

‘Rabbi Shimon saw the need for urging, as they involved חסרון כיס, depletion of funds.

‘This, because these offerings were totally burnt on the altar, and the Kohanim did not receive any of their meat - as they did with other types of korbanot.

‘It was therefore possible that the Kohanim might be lax and tardy in regard to these korbanot - thus the specific need for urging in their case.’

The Levush Ha’ora, on this Rashi, adds:’In the previous Parasha, which were concerned with voluntary korbanot, there was no need for urging; but, in our Parasha which concerns the burnt offering, which is totally consumed by the fire of the altar, whilst the Kohen does receive the skins, the offeror receives no part of it - unlike other korbanot, where he also partakes of the meat.

‘The Torah therefore saw a need to urge the Kohanim to offer the korban as soon as it is brought, and not cause the offeror to have to wait for it to be offered, lest the delay causes the offeror to regret the trouble he took, to bring the offering, since he receives no benefit from it - having brought it solely leshem shamayim.

‘If he is made to tarry there, by the tardiness of the Kohanim, he might come to regret bringing the korban, from which he only has a חסרון כיס, and such a regret may invalidate the korban, rendering it unfit to be offered on the altar.

‘To obviate this, the Torah, in regard to this korban, urges the Kohanim not to delay.’

The Tzeda LeDerech - another commentator on Rashi - brings a Yerushalmi, to explain why Rabbi Shimon felt the need for urging the Kohanim, specifically in our case, by reason of it requiring חסרון כיס.

He expounds:’There is more need for urging, where חסרון כיס is involved, as we learn from that which is related in the Yerushalmi, concerning the sage, Rabbi Yochanan, who lost his purse, and, when asked a halakhic question was unable to answer it.

‘Asked the questioner: ‘Because you lost your purse, you also lost ‘your mind’? ‘Yes’, he answered:’My mind is dependent on my heart, and my heart is dependent on my purse’.

‘We learn from this, that where there is a חסרון כיס: a loss of money, there is also a loss of mind.

‘Thus, in the case of the burnt offering, where the Kohen receives no part of the meat of the korban, whilst he is engaged in offering it, he is precluded from other, profitable work, and suffers a חסרון כיס: a loss of money; and as we learned from the case of Rabbi Yochanan, we have to be concerned that he is not performing this service in an acceptable manner.

‘The Kohen therefore needs special urging on each occasion that he is required to perform this service.’

The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh alludes to the expositions other commentators have proffered, as to what the חסרון כיס the Torah may be concerned with, but concludes that they are all unsatisfactory.

He expounds:’Perhaps the חסרון כיס the Torah had in mind here, may be the wood that was needed, to ensure that the fire on the altar constantly burnt, even when there were no korbanot being offered on the altar, as the fire had to burn throughout the night, and wood was required, and this was costly.’

Rav Elimelech from Lissa brings a new insight, to our enquiry.

He first notes, that almost every mitzvah requires a חסרון כיס: an expenditure, yet we don’t find that the Torah, in regard to them, used the word צו, to require urging.

Why, then, did the Torah choose to do so in our case, and: what is the חסרון כיס that is involved?

Answers the Rav: Our Sages say: ( Menachot 110. ):’ What does the Torah come to teach, in regard to each type of korban, when it says: זאת תורת: ‘This is the Torah of..’each type of korban? That ‘one who is engaged in learning the Torah of that korban, is deemed as if he has offered it on the altar’.

The Rambam expounds that the purpose of the korbanot is to uproot idolatry - that, instead of the peoples making offerings to idols, they be made only to Hashem.

We can now understand, that one benefit that we derive from engaging in the study of the Torah of korbanot, is to uproot idolatry, and instill in the offeror emunah in Hashem.

After the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, there is an additional benefit: the offeror can obtain atonement for the transgression that his offering would have achieved.

This, says the Rav, is what the Torah alluded to, in saying that צו alludes to ‘for the present’, as by studying the Torah of the korbanot, he thereby uproots idolatry and strengthens his emunah; and, also ‘for the generations), that when we don’t merit to have a Beit Hamikdash, we can still obtain atonement for transgressions, as we would by being able to bring korbanot.

As is well known, the Kohanim are the teachers of Torah, in Israel; therefore, there is a need to urge them in performance of this holy role, as they thereby truly suffer חסרון כיס.

If the people, through studying the Torah of korbanot, uproot idolatry from their hearts, there will be no place for korbanot - for if there is no sin, what need is there for korbanot.

Yet the whole sustenance of the Kohanim comes from the meat of the korbanot, and their skins, and they may therefore be reluctant to teach the people that learning of the Torah of korbanot is as if the korban is actually brought.

This is why Rabbi Shimon saw the need to teach, that, especially because of the חסרון כיס, the Kohanim had to be urged to perform their holy vocation.

Rav Shimon Kluger also expounds the teaching of Rabbi Shimon, along the same lines, commenting:‘ Perhaps because of this חסרון כיס, Aaron and the Kohanim will be reluctant to publicize this to the people, as it will deprive them of the priestly gifts, from the korbanot.

‘Out of this concern, the Torah here ‘adds’ a word, in its command:’Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Command Aaron and his sons, SAYING: This is the law of the burnt offering.’

‘Meaning: the second ‘saying’ is linked to:This is the Torah of the burnt offering’: by saying: teaching the people, ‘the Torah of the burnt offering’ - learning this Torah, being deemed as if the burnt offering was brought on the altar.’

The Kli Yakar adds:’The Torah here is a command to the Kohanim ‘to say to the generations’, imposed an obligation on the Kohanim to teach the people that being engaged in learning the Torah of the korbanot is deemed as if they actually brought a korban.

‘This had to be without payment - as our Sages expound:(Ned’ 37.) Hashem says: ‘Just as I do teach you without charge, so too shall you do.’

‘Further, the Kohanim were likely not wealthy, as they had no share in the Land, and their daily sustenance came from the offerings, there was therefore a concern that their חסרון כיס might lead them to ‘lose their minds’, as happened to Rabbi Yochanan, this being dependent on their pockets, and not perform their duties properly.

‘Therefore, the Torah, by choosing the word צו, came to teach that the Kohanim needed urging, in performing this holy task of teaching the people.’

Here we ask: If the learning of the Torah of the korbanot is deemed as if the korban was actually offered, why should the people go to the cost and travail, of offering a korban, and not, simply, learn the Torah of the korban they are required to bring?

The Yismach Moshe answers:’When a person actually performs a mitzvah, it has the special virtue of finding Divine favor Above, even if not performed in the most complete manner.

‘On the other hand, if it is not actually performed, but the person relies on an ‘as if’ device, though he may be deemed to have fulfilled his obligation, this requires that he performs the ‘as if’ in purity and perfectly, to be accepted Above.

‘Therefore, in our case, when one actually offers a korban, it can be offered ‘all night till the morning’; but if one does not actually offer a korban, but utilizes the ‘as if’ substitute, there is a condition:’the fire of the altar must burn in it all night’ - he must learn the Torah of the korban with such intensity, as if the fire of the altar burns in him - only then, will it truly be accepted Above, as if he actually offered a korban.’

A beautiful parting gem from the Olelot Ephraim - authored by the Kli Yakar:’One who puts his trust in Hashem, never has a חסרון כיס, as he is always happy in whatever Hashem has blessed him with, be it a little or a lot.

‘However, one who leaves the shade of trust in Hashem, and puts his trust in material objects, will always feel a lack - a חסרון כיס -as he will never be satisfied with what he has, in his never ending pursuit of more.

‘Those who put their trust in Hashem are the truly wealthy, as they never have a חסרון כיס.’

Source: 7


Shabbos is Coming - ס’קומט שבת | Dovy Meisels - דובי מייזעלס | TYH Nation

 

Reb Ginsbourg – The offering of self (2023)



The wondrous burnt offering and what its purpose is. A selection of renowned commentators.

Parashat Vayikra, that we read yesterday, describes the various kinds of offerings to be brought, the first being the Olah: the burnt-offering. Unlike all the other offerings, it is completely consumed by the fire of the altar, and no part of it is consumed by the Kohanim, or by those who bring this korban.

Our Sages teach, that the burnt-offering is brought to atone for הרהורי עברה: thoughts of transgression, as we read of Iyov(1:5):’He would rise early in the morning, and bring as many burnt-offerings , as the number of them all, for Iyov said to himself: "Perhaps my children have sinned and blasphemed Hashem in their thoughts’. This would he Iyov do all the days.’

Our Sages base their teaching on the admonition of the prophet, Yechezkel (20:33):’As for what enters your mind - it shall not be.’

The Ramban comments:’Since it is a transgression of which only Hashem is aware, therefore it is offered all, to Hashem.’

Rav Zalman Sorotzkin expounds:’The Torah started with the burnt-offering, not because it provides the ‘greatest benefit’ to the altar - it is completely consumed by it - but because ‘the thoughts of transgression are worse than transgression itself’ (Yoma 29.).

‘This is because, whilst actual transgressions ‘harms’ the sinner’s body, thoughts of transgression ‘damage’ his soul. The Torah therefore is first concerned with repairing the damage to the soul.

‘And since it is the soul alone that is harmed by thoughts of transgressions, there is no הנאה: ‘benefit’ to the body in the offering which is brought as atonement - it is consumed completely by the fire of the altar.’

Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger proffers a different explanation.

He first asks:’Since the burnt-offering comes to atone for thoughts of transgression, why for a transgression that was ‘just’ thought - and not acted upon - is the offering completely consumed on the altar, whereas, for inadvertent transgressions - which are actually performed - that the sin-offering which must be brought for atonement, only partly consumed by the fire, AND also partially eaten by the Kohanim?

‘Would we not have expected the opposite, as the sin offering is brought for inadvertent transgressions, even those for which intentional transgression would be punishable by death by the Beit Din, or even the extreme punishment of כרת: eternal excommunication.’

Answers the Rav:’This teaches us the Torah’s perspective on our daily life. It differs in its demands of us in the world of ‘doing’, than in matters of our thoughts.

‘It accepts that, in our daily lives, in the inevitable pursuit our basic needs, man cannot be totally divorced from the physical world.

‘However, his thoughts can - and are required to be - totally in the realm of sanctity; even when he is engaged in his physical pursuits, his thoughts should be that he is only engaged in them, so as to be able to completely serve his Creator. Thereby his physical activities, in themselves, are also service of Hashem.

‘This is why the Torah obligates us to bring the burnt-offering which is completely consumed by the fire of the altar, for thoughts of transgression: to teach us that our thoughts should be completely pure and directed to Hashem.

‘On the other hand, the sin-offering, though brought to atone for actual misdeeds - even very serious ones -is cognizant of the need for man to engage in the physical world, which cannot - by their nature - be completely ‘spiritual’.

‘Nevertheless, it should always be performed with as much kedusha, as possible - just as the Kohanim eat from this offering, in purity.’

Rav Chaim miChernowitz offers a beautiful different view of this offering:’ If one who has transgressed in his thougts, yearns to, from then on, be totally connected to Hashem, and that all his being should be ‘an offering to Hashem, be it in deeds, in his speech, and even in his thoughts, then his burnt-offering atones for the thoughts of transgressions which his desires had caused, previously.

‘His burnt-offering must be תמים:‘unblemished’: to signify that he has taken upon himself henceforth, to be, in the words of the passuk: תמים עם ה׳: whole-heartedly with Hashem.’

Haktav veHakabalah adds:’When this transgressor sees all that is done to his burnt-offering, he should have in mind that all that was done to it, should have, but for the grace of Hashem, been done to him.

‘This should make an indelible impression in his soul, so that, from then on, all his deeds and thoughts should be solely in accordance with Hashem’s Will.

‘As the Abarbanel expounds:To ‘offer’ his whole being, all his desires and thoughts to Hashem, and to accept to offer on the spiritual altar his very being, just as his offering is offered on the altar of the Sanctuary’.

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch first notes:’Whilst the term עולה: burnt-offering, is commonly understood to describe something which is totally consumed, no-where in the Torah is it linguistically so understood. Indeed, when we look at the names of the other types of offerings, we do not find that any of them allude to what is done with them.

‘Therefore, it appears to us that the name, in fact, alludes not to something which is completely consumed, but to the exact opposite: it refers to the yearning of the person לעלות: to ascend.

‘It is, in essence, the offering of advancement; the person acknowledges that he needs - and is capable of - ascending towards the ‘real’ good: closeness to Hashem.

‘This is the purport, and purpose, of this offering, as its name implies.’

A final insight from Rav Yechezkel Abramski:’If you want to truly appreciate the standing of man in the eyes of Hashem, contemplate the burn-offering. 

‘The demands that Hashem makes are commensurate with each person’s abilities and stature. Therefore, when man is required to make atonement even for his improper thoughts, we obtain a glimpse into man’s standing in Hashem’s eyes.

‘Who would have imagined that a person would be called to account for his thoughts? He would have surely have protested: I am but flesh and blood, and I have no control over that which flows into my mind from the world in which You have placed me!

‘However, when the person sees that he is required to atone even for his improper thoughts, he is given irrefutable proof of his importance in Hashem’s eyes.’

Might we not suggest, that the Torah gives us an allusion to this, by using the title of אדם to describe the person offering a korban.

The Zohar Hakadosh expounds that there are several names used to describe a person, but אדם is the loftiest of them.

Thus, in choosing this appellation for a person offering a korban, it is teaching us of his stature, in Hashem’s eyes.

Rabbi Weissman – We Return to Israel BEFORE Moshiach Comes

 

This week's Torah class is available here.

Many Jews will continue to make every excuse under the sun to stay in exile until the bitter end. Beneath the rationalizations, justifications, and contortions, they remain excuses because deep down they WANT to stay in exile. 

They make a religion out of one source about "three oaths" that they take completely out of context and misapply.  

They fabricate a halacha that we must stay in galus until Moshiach comes in a limousine to pick them up, while ignoring mountains of Torah sources that contradict them.  

They resent when people warn them about history repeating itself one last time in galus, and foolishly retort that ISRAEL might be destroyed one last time.

They gleefully point to terrorist attacks in Israel to downplay the warnings and mock those who feel safer in Israel.  

They make kefirah-ish arguments.

I didn't dedicate the entirety of this week's Torah class to this topic, because I've already written many articles about this and an entire sefer (many links at the end of this email).  It's not really a debate.  But I did share yet another straightforward source to supplement what should be obvious to anyone who is intellectually honest -- it was and is Hashem's will for Jews to return to Eretz Yisrael en masse, even though Moshiach has not yet come, and even though Israel is an Erev Rav state.

Also: 

Why were Calev and Pharaoh's daughter a match made in heaven?

What did Chazal say about a Torah scholar who lacks common sense and manners?


Related links to my sefer and articles:










"And he sent the dove...and it did not find rest." Yehuda the son of Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Shimon, had it found rest it would not have returned.  Similarly, "she dwelled among the nations, she did not find rest" (Eicha 1) — had she [the Jewish people] found rest, they would not return.  Similarly, "and in those nations you will not find repose, nor rest for the sole of your feet" (Devarim 28) — had they found rest they would not return (Midrash Rabba Noach 33:6).  

In light of all that I have written previously and all that is happening in the Diaspora after another respite, no further commentary should be necessary.  

__________________________

chananyaweissman.com/

rumble.com/c/c-782463

Buy my books on Amazon here or contact me to purchase in Israel.

Download Tovim Ha-Shenayim as a PDF for free!

If you received this from someone else and want to receive future articles directly, please send a request to endthemadness@gmail.com.

Rabbi Weissman – Explosive Oct 7 Recording and Obvious Lies

 Check out these two screenshots side by side.













The Pravda disinformation artists really need to get their lies straight.

  • How do they know to expect 14,000 more soldiers to be maimed in the coming months?  Don't ask.
  • How do they know how long the "war" is supposed to last?  Don't ask.
  • Instead, clamor for yeshiva students to be thrown into the meat grinder by kofrim, "incompetent" people, sellouts, and worse.  It's their religious, moral, and civic duty.
  • This death cult is brought to you by the same people who brought you masks, lockdowns, poison shots, and Molech propaganda.  Don't be selfish!  Do your share!  Do it for the greater good. Make painful sacrifices.  Save grandma. 
  • If you'd like to sign up yourself or your child for a chance to be one of the 14,000 new members of the permanently disabled club, go to https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/how-to-join-us-and-voluntary-programs/.  
  • Worried that you might not be one of the lucky 14,000 new members?  Don't worry, the official numbers are downplayed to keep the citizens from rioting.  Your actual chances are surely much higher.*

Explosive recordings of Roni Eshel, an IDF surveillance girl (Tatzpitanit) stationed on the border with Gaza on October 7, were just released.  For nearly 6 hours she sent report after report of the hordes of terrorists surging across the border that she witnessed with her own eyes, until she was brutally murdered.  


Anyone who still believes this was an intelligence failure is demonstrating an actual intelligence failure, and might as well board the next train to Auschwitz.


Read and listen here.  


(Notice the "with unity we will win" propaganda embedded in the video.)  


May Hashem avenge Roni's blood not just from the people who actually murdered her, but from all those who deliberately let it happen.


If you disagree, your daughter can sign up to become a Tatzpitanit at https://www.mitgaisim.idf.il/%D7%AA%D7%A4%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D/field-observer-tatzpitanit/.

*

Finally, the following was shared anonymously.  The historical facts from pre-state to present times speak for themselves, and anyone who wishes to argue that it's all different now, and it could never happen again, is adopting an indefensible position merely for his own comfort and convenience.  The wise will draw more reasonable conclusions:


 [omission of spicey biting powerful text: contact Rabbi Weissman to send you a copy]


Honorable mention also to Jacob Israel de Haan, who they whacked even before they got their Erev Rav state, and surely so many others.  We just know the tip of the iceberg.

Remind me again why yeshiva students or anyone else should trust these same people with their lives and limbs.  If we remain safe, it is in spite of them, not because of them

__________________________
chananyaweissman.com/
rumble.com/c/c-782463
Buy my books on Amazon here or contact me to purchase in Israel.
Download Tovim Ha-Shenayim as a PDF for free!
If you received this from someone else and want to receive future articles directly, please send a request to endthemadness@gmail.com.

Rabbi Winston: TZAV & Parshas Parah


THIS SHABBOS IS also Parashas Parah. As we learn in Parashas Naso, a person who has become defiled by contact with the dead (no, not through a séance) is ineligible to eat from the Korban Pesach. By being sprinkled with the water of the Parah Adumah (Red Heifer) was the process a person underwent to become ritually pure again. Hence, we recall that halachah in advance of Pesach


The Parah Adumah is the quintessential chok—statute. This means there is something about the mitzvah that defies human logic, but apparently not why a red heifer is the animal of choice, as Rashi explains:


A red cow: This can be compared to the son of a maidservant who dirtied the king’s palace. They said, “Let his mother come and clean up the mess.” Similarly, let the cow come and atone for the calf. (Rashi, Bamidbar 19:22)


Thus, the red heifer is the Divine response to the golden calf. Had they not built and worshipped the calf, the Jewish people would have remained immortal. The calf caused death and the impurity that results, so its “mother” has to clean up the “mess.”


It’s a nice explanation. It’s also problematic. It sounds as if the mitzvah of Parah Adumah would not have existed had the Jewish people not sinned with the golden calf. But that is not the case since every mitzvah is eternal by definition, which means there always had to be such a mitzvah. How does this work with Rashi’s explanation?


The Leshem, when talking about the eternity of mitzvos, deals with a similar question. According to the Gemora, mitzvos will be battel—nullified—in Yemos HaMoshiach, the Messianic Era (Shabbos 151b). But how can eternal mitzvos ever not exist? 


What the Gemora means, the Leshem explains, is not that the act of a mitzvah will no longer be performed. Rather, a mitzvah won’t seem then like a mitzvah seems now, like a yoke and an obligation. With the yetzer hara gone completely (Succah 52a), a mitzvah will become second nature (Drushei Olam HaTohu, Chelek  2,  Drush 4, Anaf 12, Siman 12).


The yetzer hara is basically bodily instinct, and mitzvos tend to go against it. This is how mitzvos help to spiritually refine a person. It’s the Torah’s way of taking a person’s life’s steering wheel out of the hands of the body and giving it to the soul, so they can become a Tzelem Elokim and live in the “image of God.” 


But the opportunity to achieve such refinement through our free will choices will end with the death of the yetzer hara and bodily instinct. At least the kind of instinct that tends to make personal comfort a priority over spiritual growth. 


RASHI ALLUDES TO this same idea at the beginning of this week’s parsha, on the verse:


Command—Tzav—Aharon and his sons, saying, “This is the law of the burnt offering…” (Vayikra 6:2)


Rashi comments:

The Torah especially needs to urge [people to fulfill mitzvos] where monetary loss is involved. (Rashi)


The fact that money is involved in a mitzvah instigates the yetzer hara of a person. The yetzer hara will spend all kinds of money on things that give the body instant gratification. But why spend money on a mitzvah, for which the reward won’t follow until the World to Come? Not an easy sell to the yetzer hara.


That creates bodily resistance. It can be subtle, so subtle that even the person themself doesn’t realize they are being affected and held back. But on some level, a little less of the person is used for the mitzvah than is ideal.


Even for someone like Moshe Rabbeinu. There is a Shalsheles cantillation note above the word for, “and he slaughtered it” (Vayikra 8:23) towards the end of this week’s parsha. In the three other places it occurs in the Torah, it hints to some kind of hesitation in the heart, something not recognized on the outside of the person. 


Like Lot not wanting to leave Sdom with the angel despite its impending destruction. 


Like Yosef not wanting to run from the wife of Potiphar despite the sin involved. 

But what reason did Moshe have at the inauguration of Aharon and his sons into the Temple service, to hesitate?


Because he had known, ever since Parashas Tetzaveh, that great people were destined to die on that day to sanctify the Name of God. He had assumed, until next week’s parsha, that that was supposed to have been himself and Aharon. Could that not have easily been somewhat of a distraction during the mitzvah, a subtle one that we could only know about because of the Shalsheles?


As the Leshem explains, we learn Torah and perform mitzvos primarily to spiritually refine our bodies while rectifying our souls. This means training the body to stop resisting both, like teaching a child to grow up and do the more responsible thing for their own good and development. That takes will, lots of will. 


But it won’t any longer the moment God dispenses with the Sitra Achra and yetzer hara in Yemos HaMoshiach. Then the body will be happy to do any mitzvah. It will no longer have to be commanded.


THIS RAISES A question: If the Parah Adumah was always meant to be a mitzvah, was the golden calf destined to occur? This could suggest, yes: 


Go and see how The Holy One, Blessed is He, when He created the world created the Angel of Death on the first day as well…Man was created on the sixth day, and yet death was blamed on him. What is this like? A man who decides that he wants to divorce his wife and writes her a document of divorceHe then goes home with it and looks for a pretext to give it to her.


“Prepare me a drink,” he tells her.

She does, and taking it from her he says, “Here is your divorce.” 

She asks him, “Why?” 


He tells her, “Leave my house! You made me a warm drink!” to which she replies, “Were you able to know that I would prepare you a warm drink in advance that you wrote a divorce document and came home with it?”


Similarly, Adam told The Holy One, Blessed is He, “Master of the Universe, the Torah was with You for 2,000 years before You created the world…yet it says, ’This is the law when a man will die in a tent’ (Bamidbar 19:14). If You had not planned death for Your creations, would You have written this? Rather, You just want to blame death on me!” (Tanchuma, Vayaishev 4)


In other words, the Midrash says, as much as Adam HaRishon seemed to have the choice to avoid sin and death, he didn’t. He was destined to eat from the Aitz HaDa’as and to bring death into the world. 


Not only this, but the Midrash continues: 


It was similar concerning [the sale of] Yosef…Rav Yudan said, “The Holy One, Blessed is He, wanted to carry out the decree of, ‘Know that you shall surely be (strangers)’ (Bereishis 15:13), and set it up that Ya’akov would love Yosef [more] so the brothers would hate him and sell him to Arabs, and they would all [eventually] go down to Egypt…” (Tanchuma, Vayaishev 4)


On one hand, this information is a relief. It takes away the need to find a good explanation for, how such great people could commit such not-so-great acts. On the other hand, it is disturbing because it implies that we can be railroaded by Divine Providence down the wrong path…against our will.


One could argue that perhaps this idea only applies to specific events with great impact on Jewish history. Or, perhaps it is a deeper insight into free will itself, and how we’re meant to use it.


ONE THING IS for certain, we have free will. God told us so, and tradition teaches that we will be judged for our choices. You can question what free will is, or wonder if we have any. But when it comes to life, it would be wise to assume you have it and use it responsibly. 


Something else we can be certain about is that though we have free will, we do not have absolute free will. Many choices are made for us by life itself, imposed upon us since so many things are out of our control. But then again, does that take away anything from the choice I made, as long as I believed at the time my choice could make a difference?


Let’s face it, history is not random. God made it with a specific purpose in mind, and with a master plan to be fulfilled. He knows the future and doesn’t make mistakes, so whatever He had in mind was as good as done once He started to think about it. This is true right down to every person who will ever exist and every decision they will ever make. 


At the end of the day, though a person makes all kinds of plans, there is a good chance that they will not turn out as anticipated. We don’t know the future, which allows us to live with the perception that our decisions can make a difference and direct the course of history. It’s all we need to be able to make choices for which we will be held accountable.


This does not completely solve the mystery of free will, but who says we can at this time, or that we should? The Parah Adumah is a mitzvah with a message, and it reads: Some things you can understand while others you cannot. Understand what you can, but don’t get bogged down and distracted by what you can’t. Recognize the free will opportunity of every moment, and utilize it meaningfully. It will save you in this world and reward you in the next one. 


For essays on the current situation, go to www.shaarnunproductions.org

Good Shabbos,

Pinchas Winston

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