[Avodah] Apikores?

[Marty Bluke]

R' Zev Sero wrote:
<Because now we know better.  Many rishonim lived before the discovery
of the Zohar, and all lived before the AriZal and the Baal Shem Tov,
so they were missing information.  The AriZal was taught by Eliyahu
Hanavi, and the Baal Shem Tov by Achiyah Hashiloni, and therefore knew
<things that had been completely forgotten in previous generations.

When the brothers are planning on killing Yosef, Reuven saves him by
suggesting throwing him into the pit. The mefarshim ask what did
Reuven accomplish, the pit was very dangerous (full of snakes, etc.),
even life threatening. The Or Hachaim and the Alshich both answer as
follows. A person has bechira chofshis and therefore the brothers
could kill Yosef even if he was not supposed to die. However, animals
since they have no bechira chofshis they cannot kill someone if he is
not supposed to die. In other words, bechira trumps hashgocha pratis.
The Netziv gives this answer as well, however he qualifies it by
saying that this only applies to someone who is not a tzadik gamur,
but a tzadik gamur cannot be harmed even through bechira.

The Or Hachaim was a Kabbalist from the school of the Ari and yet he
still says this. The Alshich was a talmid of the Ari. And last but not
least the Netziv quotes as the source for this  pshat the Zohar.