[Avodah] ad hayom hazeh

Micha Berger micha at aishdas.org
Sun Nov 29 10:11:47 PST 2020


On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 03:14:05PM -0600, Brent Kaufman via Avodah wrote:
>> Both.  The original desired end state was to go immediately, and that
>> would have been good.  But the end state that we will eventually achieve
>> after thousands of years of work will be better.

> But that is saying that HKBH's original way was less, or, not the best way;
> rather, Adam's way was better..

Which is why I tried to suggest that had Adam not sinned, Hashem's
response would have been the best way for for one kind of creature, since
Adam did sin, Hashem's response was the best way for our kind of creature.

And on the meta-level, the best meta-way was to let Adam choose which
kind of creature he wanted for himself and his descendents to be.

With neither plan being "better" because HQBH choosing one of the
other would have been less bechirah than He Wanted to bestow due to the
"best meta-way".

>> Yes, but theoretically if each individual made decisions that in total
>> did not get to the desired end state, doesn't this imply that HKBH would
>> have to limit someone's bechira to reach the end state?

> We do not have free bechira at all times. I don't remember the source but I
> was taught that only in those things which are regarding yiras Shamayim, we
> have bechira, but not necessarily in other things; i.e. moral choices,
> mitzva dependent decisions...

I suggested an easier way in which free will is limited: we don't have
bechirah whether or not to fall if we walk off a cliff.

My earlier example of eventually reaching yemos hamoshiach is of this
sort... We could take the path of kulo chayav, and having made ourselves
incapable of redeeming ourselves, Hashem forces redemption on us.


But REED's concept of nequdas habechirah limits bechirah in a way
different than either of our descriptions so far. He says that bechirah
chofshi is only when we have choices that compete. When we are balanced
enough pro and con for the decision to come to conscious attention and
decision-making.

So, for example, I hope none of us see a watch in a store and think
about whether or not to shoplift it. The thought doesn't cross our minds,
so it's not the subject of bechirah chofshi.

However, for many of us the question of whether to rip off the government
(by far more than the value of that watch) by lying on tax forms may very
well become the topic of conscious deliberation.

>From R Aryeh Carmel's translation in Strive for Truth:

   When two armies are locked in battle, fighting takes place only at
   the battlefront. Territory behind the lines of one army is under that
   army's control and little or no resistance need be expected there. A
   similar situation prevails in respect of territory behind the lines
   of the other army. If one side gains a victory at the front and pushes
   the enemy back, the position of the battlefront will have changed. In
   fact, therefore, fighting takes place only at one location.

And:

   With each good choice successfully carried out, the person rises
   higher in spiritual level; that is, things that were previously in
   the line of battle are now in the area controlled by the yetzer hatov
   and actions done in that area can be undertaken without struggle
   and without bechira. And so in the other direction. Giving in to the
   yetzer hara pushes back the frontier of the good, and an act which
   previously cost one a struggle with one's conscience will now be done
   without bechira at all.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Every second is a totally new world,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   and no moment is like any other.
Author: Widen Your Tent              - Rabbi Chaim Vital
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF


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