[Avodah] challenges

[Akiva Miller]

.
from R' Joel Rich:

> "Nobody is ever given a challenge that they can't succeed" is
> an oft stated hashkafic point. Do you agree? Does it mean that
> one can always overcome the temptation to sin? Discuss.

Many years ago, I mentioned this maxim to our recently departed listmember,
Rav Elazar Mayer Teitz z"l.

Unfortunately, I do not remember his exact words or tone, but he did point
out that the soldier who encounters an Eishes Y'fas Toar HAS been given a
challenge that he WILL fail at, unless he follows the Torah's prescription.

I mulled that over for a few days, and then I realized that I did not fully
understand his point. Unfortunately, I never got around to asking him for a
clarification, and now I never will. But for the sake of this conversation,
my question is this:

Is Eishes Y'fas Toar *AN* exception to the maxim, or is it *THE* exception?
Is it merely an example, illustrating that the adage is objectively wrong,
for it is indeed possible for a person to be in an impossibly difficult
situation? (I suspect that this is what Rav Teitz meant, but I'll never be
sure.) Or perhaps, Hashem designed us so that every challenge *can* be met
successfully, as the adage claims, except for this one isolated case, for
which He designed a specific antidote.

I suspect that Rav Dessler would side with the first option, that the
Eishes Y'fas Toar is merely *an* example. The whole idea of the Bechira
Point is that there are areas where my yetzer tov has such strong control
that there's really no challenge at all, *AND* that there are other areas
["areas" in the plural!] where my yetzer hara has such strong control that
the challenge is a lost cause. Rav Teitz might say that the unique thing
about Eishes Yfas Toar is that this particular challenge is above
*everyone's* Bechira Point.

Akiva Miller


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