[Avodah] ain Od Milvado v. Bechira

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Chaim Manaster wonders:

> The bigger question throughout this line of thought is not so
> much how do "you" have bechira, but even more troubling is who
> is the "you"?  In this line of thought you are some sort of (for
> lack of a better way to express this)  chelek of HKB"H, so there
> is no "you"! (No Id). The whole thing is a stage with HKB"H
> playing all the parts. Then there IS no me. There is no one to
> reward or punish, nor anyone who desires reward (there is only
> G-d), nor any bechira etc. In fact the isur of avoda zara needs
> biur, as everything, including you and me, is a manifestation of
> HKB"H! I fail to see how tsimtsum helps answer anything, all it
> does is add another turtle (it's turtles all the way down).

I do understand what you mean about the turtles. (For those who don't, see Wikipedia, article title: "Turtles all the way down")

But I'd like to suggest another way of looking at it: It's *not* turtles all the way down. Tsimtsum is where the turtles stop.

Over the millenia, as our understanding of nature has developed, miracles are no longer violations of nature, but are natural events, albeit divinely engineered ones. The scientists are working hard to explain even Creation itself as a natural phenomenon, and our only real disagreement with them is our position that Creation was directed by G-d, rather than by random chance.

I'm not going to pretend to have any real understanding of what tsimtsum is, or what it means, but one thing which seems to be acknowledged is that tsimtsum is an impossibility, a contradiction in terms, yet real and true nevertheless. That in mind, I'd like to suggest that tsimtsum is an uber-miracle, totally beyond nature, and even beyond logic. 

Going back to RCM's post, where he wrote:
> The whole thing is a stage with HKB"H playing all the parts.
> Then there IS no me.

I did a google search to look for former listmember R"n Gila Atwood's famous tag line, "We are pixels in G-d's imagination." And I came across this post from R' Micha Berger from slightly over ten years ago, in Avodah 6:143:

> Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001
> From: Micha Berger
> Subject: Re: chelek Elokah mimaal
>
> RMMS holds that "ein od milvado" means mamash "ein od", and not
> "ein od eloha". Much like Gila Atwood's "pixels in G-d's
> imagination". According to this, tzimtzum is the illusion that
> there are a multiplicity of existances, including the possibility
> of us existing as individuals. Bekitzur, panentheism. (No, not
> pantheism.)
>
> IOW, the question asked about how our souls don't violate yichud
> haBorei could be asked about the beri'ah in general.

RMB seems to be saying that if "ein od milvado" truly means that we have no identity outside of Hashem, then it is our thoughts, our bechira, and our very selves which are the illusions. But I find that difficult to accept, because if our existence is only an illusion, then reward and punishment must also be merely an illusion.

Rather, I'd like to suggest that tzimtzum is very real, and that somehow, Hashem did perform this uber-miracle, and that as a result, reward and punishment are very real as well. When tzimtzum is said to refer to Hashem removing Himself from somewhere, I suggest that it means that He removes His control and dominion from those upon whom He bestowed free will. If we are part of Hashem, then free will is absurd; yet we believe that we *do* have free will, and my suggestion is that this is made possible by the uber-miracle of tzimtzum.

I don't mind being as minimalist as possible in this regard. I don't mind, for example, saying that our bodies don't have any real existence outside of Hashem. I don't even mind saying that our souls don't have any real existence outside of Hashem. I'm only asking for one thing, and that is bechira. When Hashem created Adam HaRishon, He found a way of doing it such that Adam could actually choose for himself, and not be restricted to instinct or determinism. Perhaps that was the ruach which He blew into Adam, and perhaps this is the tzimtzum that I've heard about - a tiny part Creation which can somehow act independently of the Creator.

Akiva Miller

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