[Avodah] Can we force Hashem to do something?

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org>
>> The Ramchal  gives a similar
explanation for the Sitra Achara's rebellion against HQBH --  it was an
error in facts. (His intent was to make bad and good equally  compelling
choices for people, and then got to thinking that this meant that  good
and bad were equal, and thus Hashem's authority and his were as  well.)<<





>>>>>
 
Where does Ramchal say this?  I thought that the idea of a Satan who  rebels 
against G-d and sets himself as an equal and a rival was a Christian idea  
(cf. Milton's *Paradise Lost*).  I thought we believed that a malach can  NOT 
rebel and that the Satan is a malach who performs the tafkid that Hashem  sets 
for him, just like any other malach.  It's just that his tafkid  is 1. to tempt 
us to sin -- hu yetzer hara  2. to prosecute us when we do  sin -- he is the 
kategor and 3-4. to punish us when we sin and also to take our  lives -- he is 
the avenger and he is the Malach Hamaves.
 
Christians read the Book of Job as being a kind of wager or contest between  
two equals or near-equals, G-d and Satan, respectively the G-d of Good and  
the Leader of Evil who rebelled against G-d and is responsible for all evil  in 
the world.  In their worldview evil does not come from Hashem but from  the 
independent, rebellious Satan.
 
In contrast, we read Sefer Iyov as a dialogue between Hashem and one of His  
minions, in which the Kategor says that Iyov isn't really that big a tzaddik  
because he's never been tested, and Hashem instructs the Satan to test Iyov -- 
 giving him precise instructions on how far he can go.  (The Satan and the  
Kategor being one and the same of course.)  Everything that is evil in the  
world -- all suffering -- comes from Hashem and only /appears/ evil to us  
because we lack the Divine perspective.
 
When we say that the yetzer hara "wants" to trap us we speak beloshon bnai  
Adam.  His JOB is to tempt us and in that sense he "wants" to do his  job.  But 
at a deeper level, at the level of emes, he truly wants us to  RESIST his 
blandishments and do Retzon Hashem.
 

--Toby  Katz
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