[Avodah] Was Esav a Rasha in the womb?

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 01:04:32PM -0500, Richard Wolberg wrote:
: R' Marty wrote: 
:> Where is the free will here? Esav did not yet have a Yetzer Hara yet
:> he wants to go to Avoda Zara?
:> How do you understand this Maharal?

: So why should this be any different from the whole problem of free will?
: HaShem knows what you will choose even before you are conceived.

Actually, He doesn't. You're saying that Hashem knows *now* what the
child will choose. But Hashem doesn't have a "now". G-d's knowledge is
entirely without a "when", so it doesn't stand before, during or after
your decision.

But in any case, this is different because the medrash describes Eisav
as acting in utero based on his love of idolatry. The resolution I give
above doesn't work, because the fetal Esav has a "now". We're talking
about someone described as preprogrammed to be an oveid AZ.

And I think the resolution is the difference between having a desire for
doing something and being preprogrammed for it.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
micha at aishdas.org        I awoke and found that life was duty.
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