[Avodah] BO "My Sin Is Not A Perfume"

[Zev Sero]

Richard Wolberg wrote:
> [the difference between "chato-SI" (my sin) and "cho-TO-si"
> (I have sinned)]

I'm sorry, what has this got to do with perfume?



> A devout clergyman was asked by one of his parishioners to explain the 
> doctrine of election. His reply was: "You know what an election is when 
> we elect the president or the governor. In the Kingdom of God there is 
> always an election going on. Only three votes are cast. The Lord always 
> votes for you. The devil always votes against you. And YOU have the 
> deciding vote.

A good "vort".  This one is cast in terms of Xian theology, but a
somewhat similar one can be found in Tanya chapter 13, and is hinted
at in Kiddushin 30b.  But unfortunately for the clergyman in the story
this is the exact *opposite* of the Calvinist doctrine of Election,
which is what he's supposed to be explaining.  This clergyman may be
devout but he is not knowledgeable, and indeed it seems to me that
this borders on what both Xians and Jews would call heresy (seeing
God and the "Devil" as having equal votes, ch"v).

Discussions of Xian doctrine are of course off-topic for Avodah, but
in this case there is something similar in Torah.  Not about the
"election" of individuals, which is a Calvinist doctrine that I don't
think has any support in Jewish machashava, but in the election of
Yaacov over Esav.

The pasuk says "Esav is a brother to Yaacov [...] but I loved Yaacov
and hated Esav" (Malachi 1:2-3).  This shows that Hashem's choice of
Yaacov over Esav happened *before* there were any differences between
them, at a time when they were absolutely identical and there was no
basis at all for choosing one over the other.  The differences that
emerged between them were a result of this Election, not its cause.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas