[Avodah] Was Esav a Rasha in the womb?

[Daniel Eidensohn]

*Nidah** (16b): *"Night" is the name of the angel in charge of 
conception. He takes a drop and places it before G-d and says: What will 
be with this drop? Strong or weak? Wise or foolish? Rich or poor? 
However he doesn't ask wicked or righteous. This is in accord with the 
view that everything is in the hands of Heaven except for fear of G-d....

*Tosfos**^ **(Nidah 16b): Everything is from Heaven except for fear of 
Heaven.* Kesubos (30a) states that /everything is from Heaven except of 
cold and heat./ Our gemora is discussing human activity and 
characteristics while the gemora in Kesubos is describing things that 
happen such as illness and calamities which are decreed by Heaven and a 
person can't guard against them as Chullin (7b) /a person doesn't bruise 
his finger unless it has been decreed in Heaven. /The exceptions being 
cold and heat against which a person can protect himself. In apparent 
contradiction to our gemora is Berachos (10a) where Chezkiyahu didn't 
want to have children since he knew they would be wicked. That shows 
that before birth it was decreed that they shouldn't have fear of 
Heaven? One can answer that he knew based upon prophesy what would be in 
the future. Alternatively one can say that many things are dependent 
upon mazel (Shabbos 156a): /One who is born under Jupiter is a righteous 
person while one born on Shabbos [Saturn] is called holy. /It also 
recounts there that /an astrologer told the mother of R' Nachman that he 
was destined to be a thief./ We can also say that the predestined 
wickedness of Chezkiyahu's children was not in the Hands of Heaven since 
G-d didn't want to change to pattern of the mazal. [Therefore moral 
qualities which are predetermined by mazal are not considered a decree 
from Heaven].

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