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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>From: Micha Berger <micha@aishdas.org><BR>Due to the relative
quiet lately, I'm forwarding these two posts from<BR>R' Chaim Brown that
intrigued me to consciously try to generate
some<BR>conversation.<BR><BR>http://divreichaim.blogspot.com/<BR><BR>:-)BBii!<BR>-Micha<BR><BR>Thursday,
July 21, 2011<BR>tefilah and the war with Midyan<BR><BR>How another person's
tefilos can effect my ruchniyus (what about my<BR>bechirah?) is an interesting
philosophical question....</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>We daven every day for ourselves and for our offspring:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"Veharev na Hashem es divrei Torascha befinu uvefi amcha Bais Yisrael,
veniheyeh anachnu vetze'etza'einu...kulanu yod'ei shemecha velomdei Torasecha
lishma."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"Hashem please make the words of Your Torah sweet in our mouths and may we
and our offspring all be among those who know Your name and who learn Your Torah
for its own sake...."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Those of us on the distaff side also daven every week when we bentsh
lecht:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"Vezakeinu legadel banim uvenai banim chachamim unevonim, ohavei Hashem,
yir'ei Elokim, anshei emes, zera kodesh, b'Hashem deveikim..."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"And give us the merit to raise children and grandchildren who are wise and
understanding, who love Hashem, who fear G-d, men of truth, holy seed, clinging
to Hashem...."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Why do we have these tefillos if our children have bechira? Why not
say, "It's not in Hashem's hands, He has given His creatures free will and they
will be whatever they make of themselves"?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>One partial answer is that when our children see how fervently we daven for
them to be holy, good and G-d-fearing people, that in itself helps them to
become what we are davening they will become.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However that only begs the question, because if Hashem has nothing to do
with it, then our children could well ask, "Why are you davening? Hashem
doesn't make me good and holy, I make myself good and holy through the exercise
of my free will. You should daven to me and ask me to make myself a
G-d-fearing, holy person."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So there has to be another answer and I really think it's a very simple
one. Yes, Hashem has given us free will, with the scales of good and evil
evenly matched or with the yetzer hatov and yetzer hara equally powerful -- so
that the choice is all ours -- BUT He puts His fingers on the scales a little
bit, the choices are not really evenly matched. In reality, He makes it a
little bit easier for us to go one way than the other way. Our bechira is
not absolute because Hashem really makes it a little bit easier for us to be
good than otherwise, and He further tips the scales by always allowing us to
"undo the past" by doing teshuva. He gives us do-overs.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>To the extent that Hashem answers a mother's or a father's tefillah and
puts thoughts into their child's head, thoughts like, "I want my parents to be
proud of me" and "I really don't want to be a wild child, deep down I want to be
a good child" -- or to the extent that He puts in the way of the child a person
or an incident that inspires the child to be a better Jew -- to some small
extent there is a slight diminution of absolute free will, and my understanding
is that we are davening for this -- that Hashem make it just that little bit
easier for us and our children to make the right choices.</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>--Toby Katz<BR>================</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________
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