Free Will (Pt III) | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | January 27th 2026

anonymously >> for the refor of may she have a refor of Israel and once again dedicated anonymously nishat every nishama from adam harishon until today um okay um so uh this will be we've been talking we've been digressing a little bit because in one of the Rambam's letters he discussed free will so I took the license to look at the Rambam's teachings about free we will generally uh and you'll recall that in Hilos Chuva the Rambam asks two questions and one of them we talked about last week and the other we'll talk about this week uh to remind you the question that he asked last week was the Brisbane Absur meaning to say if it's true that one cannot be responsible for what they didn't have free will over then since Hashem decreed that the Jewish people would be enslaved in a land that is not theirs then how could pyro de mitim be punished for carrying out the divine decree of the almighty. So on that and we looked at this last week, the Rambam answered, "Hashem may have decreed that we would be slaves, but Hashem did not decree that Egypt would be the one and certainly there was no decree against any particular mitz that they should be mishabed." So as a result, they are accountable for the bad choices, the evil choices that they make. In other words, the Rambam is differentiating here between the events and the perpetrators of the events. In a sense, events may be decreed by God for all sorts of reasons, but the individual perpetrators are acting on their own vition. Now again that's a very difficult idea because if the perpetrators themselves had volition not to act in that way and but God has a decree that something is supposed to happen then beh somebody else would be doing it and of course God knows the future uh and that's where I threw in the uh quantum mechanics versus Newtonian physics in which the individual particles kind of have a mind of their own although in the aggregate that there's a certain predictability and stability that's coming uh coming uh going to uh come out. Now that is only the first question, the first of two questions the Rambam asks. The Rambam then asks a second question and that is the famous Hashem hardened parro hearts. We read about this in paraser paraso last week's para. Now god hardening pyro art seems to be a direct interference with the free will of an individual. Meaning you can't give the Rambam's answer. The Rambam's answer for the brisarim was that Hashem didn't decree anything about individual choices. Hashem just decreed there would be a given result. Okay, so that's a good answer for that. Uh but when you're talking about God hardening Pyro's heart, the implication of that is that Pyro on his own would have let the Jewish people go because he would have been broken by the makos. But God didn't want to let him make that decision because God wanted to show his mastery, his wonders, his powers. God hardened Pyro's heart. So the Rambam asked the question, how could Pyro possibly be punished for doing what he did if God hardened Pyro's heart? Remember that the the core argument that the Rambam made in favor of free will was that a reward or punishment system can only exist if there's autonomy and free will. Without free will, why are you accountable for the evil that you do? So that's the Rambam's second question. And the Rambam says the following. The Rambam says, and by the way, this is a this is an answer. This is an approach that he repeats in many places. You know, he actually uh wrote about it in Shona Prakim. The Shona Praim uh the eight chapters are the Rambam's introduction to Perkyo. So, it's part of his commentary on the Mishna. So, he wrote that before the age of 30. The Mishna Torah is more than 20 years later and he incorporates that in the Mishna Torah as well as the guide to the perplexed which is even after that. So this is a theme that the Raman returns to many times. He's also kind of proud of it in the maybe it's the pride of youth but in the praim he actually says many people ask the question about god hardening pyro heart and the ram says if you compare my answer to any other answer you will surely see uh that this is the best answer okay again the maybe the self-confidence of youth but here is what the Rambam says the Rambam points out that the phrase hash Shem slave pyro. God hardened Pyro's heart only appears in the second five makos. The second half of the makos. With respect to the first half of the makos, the first five makos, it says pyro himself hardened his heart. It does not say God hardened the heart of Pyro. And here's what the Rambam says. We know that created a system of punishment in the world to hold us accountable for our deeds. And why a specific punishment happens and not another punishment is beyond our comprehension. Sometimes the punishment might be death. Sometimes the punishment might be loss of functionality, paralysis. Now again, the Ram is not saying, by the way, I I want to eliminate this misunderstanding. He's not saying that every bad thing that happens to a person is because of a punishment. We're not saying that at all. Uh obviously sorrows can happen to a person for reasons that are not connected to punishment. That is the story of Job, the story of Eov and the like. Uh so he's not going he's not going in the direction that every time something bad happens it's a punishment. But he is saying that sometimes it is a punishment. that one of the ways uh that God keeps justice in the world is by a system of divine punishment. Sometimes the punishment is sometimes the punishment is haz within maz. Sometimes it's death. Sometimes it's injury. Sometimes it's loss of function. Sometimes it's loss of money. Many different things. And to specifically ask why this punishment and not something else, that's kind of beyond us. The Rambam says it's like asking, you know, why do some people have blue eyes, some people have brown eyes? Uh why our eyes? uh in the front and not on the side like some animals have. Meaning the Rambam says there are certain aspects of divine justice that we're not going to be able to understand but there is a system of divine justice. Now seen in this way the Ramba makes the following argument. The same way that because of habitual aos a person might lose their health or lose their life or lose their functionality or lose their money. One of the punishments that is in God's toolbox is they lose the capacity to exercise free will. But that is a divine punishment for the volitional decisions that they made over and over and over again to defy God. So the Rambam says God hardening Pyro's heart came into being as a consequence of the free will of Pyro hardening his heart over and over and over again. So why does God harden his heart? The Rambam writes so that he will not repent. Meaning to say normally boru gives people opportunity to do chuva. But pyro's punishment was by hardening his heart. Hakkadesh boru prevented him from doing chuva. So here's what the Rambam says. All of the punishments that were received in the second five makos were actually punishments for the first five. Pyro is not being punished for the second five. Rather, Pyro, when I say Pyro, I mean all of the Egyptians. They deserved the total accumulation of the 10 mos. God wanted to stretch it out to make his point how much he controls the world. But Pyro was not punished for the decisions he made when he didn't have Bakira. He is only punished for the decisions that he made when he had bak and the punishment was by being Mona from him by withholding from him the kak of doing chuva that enabled god to give the Egyptians their full measure of punishment. This is this is what the raom says. Now, another way that people sometimes interpret the Rambam, although I don't think that's what the Rambam is saying, is they look at it in terms of addiction. You know, a person can create certain addictions. They can become an alcoholic. They can become a drug addict. And once they're in that situation, they realistically may not have the free will to get out of that situation. But they're accountable because it was the exercise of their free will that put them in that situation. You know, think about someone even on a non-addictive situation. Think about a drunk driver, right? So the drunk driver kills somebody when he's drunk, when he's intoxicated. So he's he's going to be tried for murder or manslaughter, whatever the technical crime is going to be. His defense was, "How can I be accountable? I didn't know what I was doing. I had no control over the car. I was drunk. What do you expect of me?" And the answer that the legal system is going to give is, "Well, yeah, it is true that when you were drunk, you had no control over yourself, but you had control to put yourself in that situation or not put yourself in that situation." So some want to say that perhaps that's what the Rambam means that parro indeed is accountable even for the decisions he made when he lacked free will because he put himself in that situation. Uh that is a thought and I think that's a legitimate thought but I don't think that's what the Rambam is saying. I think the Rambam specifically is making a different point and that is parro is not getting punished for heart for God hardening his heart. Rather God hardening his heart means God took away his ability to do chuva so that he could be punished for the first five maros to the fullest extents of the of the punishments. And the Rambam says this is a rare punishment. Most of the time that's not the case. even big rash God does not harden their heart. They're given the opportunity to do chuva. So the Rambam frankly says we don't really know why this Russia gets that punishment and that Russia gets that punishment. But one of the punishments in Hashem's toolbox so to speak is one losses the capacity of free will. And that's why it's so important that Hashem didn't harden Pyro's heart initially. If that would have been the case, that would have been unfair to punish the Egyptians for that. But this was a consequence of the repeated choices of defiance that they made. And really, God could have brought the 10 mos on them in the first five or right away. But Hashem had a to stretch things out as the Torah itself says because Hashem wants to demonstrate his wonders. I mean obviously you understand that Hashem didn't need 10 macos to take the Jews out of Mitzim. Hashem could have taken us out of Mitraim in a second. Obviously the purpose of the macos is not to set the Jews free. The purpose of the macos is to demonstrate to the world both to the Jews and to the Egyptians and to all the nations of the world that God is the infinite master of the universe. that he controls and directs and even people can be marionettes can be puppets on a puppets on a string. >> Um I learned once that after the first five makers parro didn't have any bash anymore because it was so clear to him that Hashem was ruling the world and Hashem gave him back his bash. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's a good point. Again, this is not the Rambam's point, but the Maharal says what you're saying. The moral says the following idea. The moral says Hashem hardening Pyro's heart was not taking away his free will. It was giving him free will. Because the basic idea was the macos were such an overwhelming demonstration of God's greatness as well as the calamities that Pyro knew was coming that that would have broken his will and he would let them go. And normally that's a gift because normally God allows our rebelliousness to be broken by suffering. is kind of a gift but really it is kind of taking away our free will in that sense. So pyro was a free agent. Hashem made pyro impervious to pressure and as a result he had the unfettered power to decide one way or the other. So pyro was the freest of all people in making those decisions. That's the Mara was punishing the Egyptians. He was punishing to remain in enslaved. >> Yeah, that that's that that's an interesting question. But remember remember that in you know what whatever well first of all the whole process was a year basically. I mean you're talking about a year the whole macOS were under a year. Um but the basic idea was the Jews should have been in Egypt 400 years. So either way, we're getting out a lot earlier. Uh we also needed that purification process a little bit a little bit longer. Um remember the makos from the time that Mosher Rabenu came to Pyro the very first time till yeat the Mishna says is 12 months although the chronology is a little hard to fit into the but it's 12 months and 6 months before the Exodus we were no longer slaves that that's the rash says on Roshashana we were liberated from servitude a lot of people don't know that rash is also uh it says that so the niv points out that the makos are not an all or nothing thing when you read the ksh you get the impression you know pyro was no no no no no no no no he never gave in I mean sometimes he he would say he gave in but he never gave in the actually is mediaim very very nice without a powerpoint it's a little hard to point exactly shows but he does point out that there were transitional uh phases throughout that year. Rashashana the adut stopped leg and before that the abodat perk the backbreaking labor stopped. So in truth the last six months the Jews were not enslaved anyway so it was not necessarily that bad. Yeah. >> Are we believe that every time something terrible happens to us it's as a punishment or Okay. So, so, so, so here we have to be very careful in our terminology. You your question could be asked in two ways and it depends uh what you mean to ask. If you ask the question, are we to believe that every time something happens? It is punishment. The answer is no. For sure not. And and I think I made that point explicitly uh that God may have many many reasons why things happen. punishment is one of them, but it's only one of them. Right? We're not suggesting that every Jew that died in the Holocaust was somehow being punished by God. Now, there is another version of the question that is more problematical. And that is are do we believe that everything that happens to us is a decree from God? Meaning punishment or not for punishment? Does it all come from God? So, here we do have a huge controversy a little bit. The Rambam seems to suggest in a number of places and as does the Ramban that yeah above us in fact the mainstream theological position is everything that happens to you comes from God. Now, maybe not for punishment. Again, don't don't confuse that. We're not saying it's because of punishment, but it it comes from God. Theavos is the outstanding exponent of that view in which he actually says no human being can inflict harm on another human being unless it is God's will for whatever reason. We're not going to the reason that that happened to you. He says basically, nobody can hurt you unless it's God's decree. Now that is I would say the mainstream position of hashkahaka pratis divine uh providence but I do want to share with you and I think I've mentioned it before maybe you've heard it before uh a very amazing thought from the commentary the orim is often called or hakadosh it's an interesting question who gets the appalachian kadosh I mean we normally don't say rashi kadosh raam hakadosh some people actually say most of us do not but is also I'm not really sure why uh some get that title and some do not obviously rashi was kadosh even if we don't say rashi kadosh but the orim was benatar uh he was a rav a great r in Morocco and he came to and he is buried in Harim. Um I believe his yard site is Tess Zion Tamos. I think you you you may notice that Tessian time is right before the fast day tens of thousands of people uh actually go to the Oraim's Kev uh Miss Paulo by the by the Kev uh and and the like and the Oraim wrote very well-known pay on the Torah that is printed in most almost all every mcro gadol and let me share with you something says and this is such a controversial orim that many people say it was a forgery. It was not. That's a kind that's always a good answer, right? Whenever you have something in a classical commentary that doesn't seem to fit with normal theological rules. So, one of the stock answers is, "Oh, it's a forgery." Okay, but probably it's probably not a forgery. But anyway, here's what the says. Let's go back to Yoseph. So by Makas Yoseph. So the brothers originally wanted to kill Yoseph. They wanted to kill Yoseph. But Ruvane came up with an idea. Let us throw him into a pit so we shall not be guilty of murder. And the brothers listened to Ruvane. They threw him into a pit. Ruvane then disappeared. They say he was doing chuva for switching uh his father's bed. And while Ruvane was gone, Yehuda came up with the idea, let's go sell him. Okay, be it as it may, but let's just look at Ruvane. Ruvane came up with the idea, let's throw him into a pit so we will not be guilty of murder. So the orim asks an obvious question. The pusk says the pit was empty. It had no water. So everyone knows Rashi brings it. It's freely from the Gomorrah. Well, if the if the pit was empty, it had no water. Why does it have to say there was no water? Ah, the answer is it was empty of water, but it did have it did have snakes and scorpions. Ah, so Ruven is saying, let's not kill Yoseph. Let's throw him into a pit of snakes and scorpions. that's not killing him. In fact, the Gomorrah actually says in Yamos that if a witnesses testify that a man fell into a pit of snakes and scorpions, that is enough evidence for his wife to remarry because the even though theoretically a guy might survive it, but the the probability of death is so high that that permits an assh if Ruain's making the argument that let's not kill him, let's just throw him into the pit. that snakes and scorpions are going to kill it. Now, now the simplest answer, I mean, you know, the balabates answer, as we say, is yeah, it has snakes and scorpions, but Rub didn't know that. I mean, you know, I mean, that would be a punch shot. Ru didn't realize that that was the case. Okay. But the orim says the following idea and the genesis of this idea is actually based on a soporno which is earlier than the orim and that is what's going on with the brothers that the brothers want to kill Yoseph are the shift murderers are they they just want to kill their brother so the sopo says the brothers actually convened so to speak a baston and they determined that Yoseph deserved deserve to die because Yoseph was a rodeave. What's the law of a rodeave? Somebody's trying to kill you. You kill them. That's why we we shoot terrorists before they Right. As you know, it's a little complicated. Uh just to digress for a second, do you remember a few years ago, this was actually before October 7? This was um earlier than that, but there was a very controversial situation of a terrorist who who who was thought to be immobilized already in custody and a went by was on YouTube and took out a gun and shot him in the head and that was was tried for uh for the crime. Uh now again I I can't express an opinion on that particular case because the actually claims that the terrorist was reaching for a weapon. So yes but but but the principle is actually fairly clear. I can kill a person that is threatening my life or someone else's life as long as they are a threat once they are in custody, once they are immobilized, once they are no longer capable of killing. I cannot kill them as punishment for what they did. That you need a based in a court and I can't kill them as an example to other terrorists. Right? You understand the law of rodeave is not a punishment law. The law of rodeave is a preventative law and as a result once the damage has been prevented because the terrorist is in custody you're not allowed to kill him. In fact until of course he's sentenced by a basin or a court for the crimes that he committed. In fact, uh even when you can shoot the guy, if you could disable him by shooting his arm, shooting at his arm, you have to do that. You cannot shoot to kill if you're able to avoid it uh in another way. Now, the brothers pasc that Yoseph was a rodeave. Why was Yoseph a rodeave? Because they saw a certain pattern that was repeating itself. They saw a good son, bad son pattern. Raavinu Ishmael and Aditzk. And the special covenant, the special brisk that Hashem made with Abramu was passed on to Yitzk and Ishmael was expelled. although he had his own braus. And then with Yitra, Yitra and Rifka had the twins of Yakov and Asov. And more or less the same type of process took place in which Yakov became the founder of Ami Israel and Asov went to Mount Seir and etc. And Asav was separated from the eternal destiny of the Jewish people even though As was the son of Yitzk and the grandson of of Ramav. Now the brothers see that Ya is bringing lot about them to their father. He's saying whether it's true or false is another question. But there he's accusing them of different aos. And of course, Ysef as well as Banyamin is from the wife that Yakov loves the most, Rael. So they see that Yisf is driving a wedge or is attempting to drive a wedge between Yakov and them. And they see that this is going to replicate the the Yakob and Asaf. Now this is not just a personal affront to them. This will affect the destinies of all of their descendants to the end of time. The end of time they are going to be excluded. So the brothers thought from being the nation of Hashem. Those who are going to be Makab the Torah because the others were aware of the Torah etc. And therefore they felt Yseph is even a greater rodeave than somebody who threatens your physical life. As I'll say, the one who causes you to sin is even worse than the one who kills you. So they we got to get rid of Yoseph. Yoseph is a rode. Yoseph is of Misa. Now again, just [clears throat] to skip to Yehuda, Yehuda's is actually very good. It's very consistent with the laws of Rode. Well, listen. If we have to disable Yose from creating a wedge, we don't have to kill him. We can sell him into slavery and he's not around. Right? That's Yehuda's. But what's real? So listen to what the says. This is a very so far [snorts] what I actually said is is mainstream understanding of what the brothers were doing. But this is Ruvane's hashman. Ruvane says well listen maybe we are right and maybe we are wrong. Maybe Yoseph is a bonafide rode and deserves death or maybe we're just acting out of our jealousy out of our envy out of our hatred. Meaning nobody has a habamina that the brothers would kill Yoseph if they didn't have some logical reason. But you understand that very often the logical reasons we give don't emanate from unbiased judgment. They emanate from our own agendas, our own hatred. Meaning if you hate somebody, you will tend to see things in a different light than you would see it otherwise. So Ruv says we shouldn't kill him because maybe we're wrong. Ah so here's what the orim says because Hashem gave human beings and this will be a direct answer to your question. Because Hashem gave human beings, it is possible the this is exactly the opposite of it is actually possible for one human being to harm another human being even if it's not God's decree. So the harm that happens to me from another human being is not necessarily because Hashem decreed that I should suffer. But that is the inevitable fallout of human choice. But says the animals do not try this at home. Animals are not given bak. Animals only act the way God programs them to act. So an animal can kill only if it's God's will that the person dies. A human can kill even if it's not God's will. So Ru says the following. If we kill Yoseph, that is no proof that our judgment is correct. Because even if our judgment is incorrect, we are exercising free will. But if the snakes kill Yoseph, that would be proof that he is deserving of death. Of course, you see how personal bias distorts your judgment because it turns out that Yoseph was not killed by the snakes and they still sold him. I mean, that should have been the proof, right? Okay. Now, laavd a gazillion havedos. This is actually the basis of those Christian charismatic groups that play with snakes. Ever seen them? You heard of them? They they actually take poisonous snakes and they basically say if we are pure in the eyes of God, the snake will not be able to harm us. Well, there's a fairly high rate of uh of fatalities in those situations, but once in a while they get lucky and nothing happens. But this is the the animal can only kill if it's God's will. The human can kill even if it's not God's will. Now, as I say, there are many many uh people today that consider this to be aus. They consider this to be kafira and they say it's not possible that the oraya means it and if the oraya means it so we shouldn't study this even but it is a whole perspective on a whole variety of things. The Holocaust. Is the Holocaust about why did God kill six million Jews? Or is the Holocaust about how could human beings be so evil to perpetrate that that evil? Meaning people ask where was God in Ashvitz? The real question is where was man? Where was man? It's a whole different perspective on evil. It's actually it's a radically different perspective. in which of course God can always intervene. That's a separate issue. But then why didn't God intervene is another question but the orim says the world of free will is so broad that human beings can perpetrate all sorts of havoc that perhaps God did not intend but that's within their free will. So this is a very long answer to your question. Uh are we to assume that everything that happens to me was decreed by God? Mainstream answer is yes. Alabas suggests perhaps not. There is a role for human free will in perpetrating uh evils that are beyond Boru's decree. Um obviously the Ramom did not maintain that because then the Ram wouldn't have the question of how could parro be punished etc because everything was free will. I'm sorry. Was there a question in the back? Uh, yeah. >> Say again. I didn't hear >> that question. >> Yeah. >> Why did >> Yeah. >> Or where was Hashem? >> Yeah. >> Both. >> It's not one or the other. It It is both. >> Yeah. Well, well, it is it is true. Okay. But again, there there are certain subtleties here. Meaning obviously where was God is a legitimate question in the sense of why didn't God intervene to protect us. That certainly is always the question. But that's not the same thing as saying God is an active actor who decreed these particular consequences. The orim is saying God gave human beings free will and within the ambit of that free will they can do things that Hashem will sometimes not stop. Now again uh sometimes Hashem does stop them for sure and of course even in the Holocaust even in the Holocaust eventually again we don't understand why not earlier eventually it was stopped uh things get stopped but nevertheless you you see there's a very big difference between saying God decreed the negative consequences versus God elected not to stop the exercise of human free Well, th those are two very very different uh propositions. One is a passive non-involvement versus an active an active decree. So again, I'm not here obviously, you know, I I I I I don't know the the ways of Hashem myself. I cannot give you a on this type of of question. Uh but uh it is a very interesting point that you see that this is what is being debated. Meaning to say how do you reconcile free will with divine omnipotence and is this a partial answer to the evil that exists in the world because much of the evil is a product of human free will and God does not always restrain that free will. Now again this is not remember this is not the alavas actually apparently says and I frankly don't understand how this would work that if Hitler wouldn't have killed 6 million Jews those 6 million Jews would have died through a plague in other words it would have happened anyway has that kind of fatalism in which everything is decreed by God uh Hitler and the Nazis chose to be the evil actors and that's why they're responsible but the actual consequence was inevitable. This is the or says no uh the evil consequences of something like the Holocaust are a direct result of the choices of bad people of free will run them up. By the way, as a little aside, I I know that many of you are probably very familiar with the uh the very infamous Mgrim experiment in the 1950s. This is a very very fascinating issue because one of the puzzles you know Nazi Germany or the Holocaust as all is still among many historians it's still a real puzzle because superficially uh Germany was a very cultured society in science and literature music poetry a very civilized society all right so we can understand Polish anti-semitism we can understand Ukrainian anti-semitis ism. These were backward societies which were absorbing and maybe that's no accident that the bulk of the concentration camps were in fact in Poland. So we understand uh you know the I don't want to get in trouble with the the Polish people but we we've had some problems with that. We understand the brutality coming from kind of less civilized people. Uh but Germany was a bit of a mystery uh because it was a highly civilized society. And how do you degenerate into doing these types of things? In fact, you even see pictures sometimes that these uh people who ran concentration camps, you know, in the evening they would go to Mozart and Bach and uh you know, very civilized events and until the [clears throat] next day they would resume their their brutality. So how do you explain that? So do we talk about amalik there's something? So the Mgrim experiment tried to illustrate how human beings give into authority. Uh and maybe that's more of the German German personality as well. Uh this was a situation where people these were actors but they were hooked up to uh machines that were supposed to give them electric shock. The whole thing was was fake. There was no electric shock. And students were told uh they were given instructions to raise the current or not raise the current and they would turn a dial and the people at the other end would be screaming in pain acting they'd be screaming in pain screaming in pain and Dr. Mgrim would say raise it raise it raise it and people were reluctant but eventually everybody raised it raised it raise it even though they could see the shrieks and the screams. Now bashem this was not a people were not really suffering but Mgrim tried to demonstrate that even normal civilized people when they have an authority figure who tells them this is the right thing to do they could be led led astray I think Mgrim was severely sanctioned for this and he may have lost his tenure uh this was considered to be uh an immoral experiment but it's a very fascinating experiment and nobody actually got hurt but it just shows do something. Now there's a makus. Some say that this actually means that the Germans were normal good people but like anyone else authority overwhelms them. Others look at it as an Amalik thing. There is there was this core of evil. Right? In many ways the Amalik explanation is easier for us to absorb because it doesn't indict us. Meaning it's much more frightening if a normal otherwise decent human being could become an animal than somebody who's simply born to be an animal. >> No animals. >> Again, you're correct. Yeah, you actually are correct. >> No, that that is a very good that actually is a very good point. That's a very good point. We should not describe barbaric human behavior as like animals. Animals are actually uh much more decent. Um, that's the saying, you know, I come from the Washington DC area and, uh, it, you know, everyone's always stabbing everybody in the back. Uh, so they say in Washington, if you want a friend, get a dog. Uh, you're not going to find you're not going to find any human beings. Uh, that will be good that will be good friends. But this was the Mgrim experiment. Yeah. >> Could this have to do with hester ponum that the more hester ponum there is, the less Hashem involves himself. Let's say >> yes. So, so there's a p in parasite. Remember, we have the to all of the awesome curses of the Torah and we have two versions of the to one at the end of a parasite and one in paraso before Mosher Rabenu's death. Uh and in pari there's a constant refrain if you walk with me. Now the word carry is mikra happen stance you don't really believe that hashem runs the world then I will behave towards you as if I'm not running the world which is hester panim. So it's kind of reciprocal. The less amuna you have that Hashem runs the world, the more you'll be a victim of the of the hester. Uh but again uh that's not a full explanation because obviously there were many many many many great great sadikim who had complete amuna in Hashem and yet they suffered the hester padim. So in some ways that sad can suffer for the generation as well. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if we sort of believe that Shen is in charge of all these details, why did he choose the Torah, he could have just arranged for them to follow everything he wants? There's no evidence that Hashem is in charge of it. >> Well, >> yeah. The question is if Hashem is in charge of everything, why did Hashem give us the Torah? Uh again though, I I think the answer is uh this goes back to the idea that everything is in the hands of heaven except for the fear of God. So uh God didn't want to make us robots. God wanted us to be autonomous free agents. And I think everybody would agree to that. the the the particular controversy I'm alluding to is what is the scope of your power? Meaning, you're a free agent to decide to do good or to do evil. But if you choose to do evil, can you inflict harm on other people beyond that which God intended? I mean, that that's the issue. But you can certainly make your choice. Uh there's no question about it. the Torah was given to us. So we should choose uh uh to do good as opposed to God making us good. Because once again it goes we go back to the basic idea of the Rambam in the first place. Uh and that is goodness is goodness only if it's chosen and not if it results from automatic pilots. Automatic pilot is simply a Skinner's box. uh a pigeon uh will just be trained to go in a certain direction. One lever it gets corn, another lever, it gets an an electric shock. Even a dumb pigeon, again, I don't want to insult pigeons, but pigeons are not crows, by the way, are very bright. You should know crows are extremely smart. Pigeons are not so smart. Uh but even a pigeon will choose the right lever if there's an immediate reward and punishment system. Okay. So this is kind of uh the the Rambam's points. Again, obviously these are things to ponder and things to think about. We have not exhausted uh the issues of free will, but this is at least a relatively quick overview uh regarding uh the concepts of of uh free will. And again as I indicated just to review this a major major commentary on the Rambam is Rabb Desler's and that I think is very important that the free will that God expects of you is going to vary on your circumstances in life. So Hashem does not expect the alcoholic in the street to go to mere mere Yeshiva for two sedara a day. uh but he expects the alcoholic industry to go into a rehabilitation program. So what that means is there's a certain fulcrum, there's a certain tipping point, there's a certain expectation that Hashem has of you that you will make a virtuous choice, but it's not going to be the same choice throughout your life hopefully as a person gets better and stronger. So, a lot of struggles are going to be behind us and they're no longer the issue that we're struggling with, but there'll be new issues. Some issues are ahead of us. We're not there yet. So, in any given moment in time, there may be a relatively narrow band of issues where you can go either way. And that's where Hashem will hold us accountable. This is a very very important point because because the problem with many people have with the Rambam's description of Bakira is the Rambam seems to say any moment at any time a person can decide to be totally righteous. I mean that's how the Rambam seems to describe it and that seems a little unrealistic. uh surve kind of modifies the Rambam with this notion of what is the critical choice that you have at any given at any given moment. So, Hashem doesn't expect you to be at Saddic this moment, but he expects you to make a virtuous choice that will put you on the right road because life is really a series of infinite forks in the road, right? There's infinite ways you could go at any given point and bibra is the choice to go on the road that is best for you at that particular moment in your life based on these circumstances that you are facing. And of argument is everybody I'm not sure everybody a person might be severely mentally ill. I'm not sure exactly if this is 100% mamach, but for the vast vast majority of people, there's always going to be a virtuous choice uh that a person that a person makes. Um, okay. So, that's kind of uh kind of uh let me just mention a little bit of an aside u because I'm not going to see you before tubisha. Let me just talk a little bit about tubishva. Total digression. Uh but I kind of finished what I wanted to talk about for the Rambam today. Uh and uh Tubishvat of course is called Roshashana leot. It is the new year of the trees. Now in the gamar itself uh this is a very narrow halic construct. There's nothing spiritual about it per se. And that simply means that we know there are different tithes trumas and masros that you give. And the is you cannot combine the produce of one year with the produce of the other year. So if for example truma truma in the time of the ba mikdash you had to give 2% to the coate 150th. Now let's assume I have 100 bushels from year 1 and 100 bushels from year two. So my total truma obligation uh is uh four measures four out of 200. I can't just mix the two years and take out four. I have to separate it year by year by year by year to be sure that I'm taking two out of year 1 and two out of year two. I cannot give four out of year two and cover year one. So as a result requires that we need to know what is the beginning of a year for agricultural produce. So for vegetables and grain the year begins roshashana of tish. For fruit, the year is Tishvat, which means I can combine anything that grew before Tubishvat even after Tish with things that grew before Tish because it's all one year and stuff that uh blossomed after Tishvat belongs to a new year. So again this is a very technical concept and yet we find in among the makubalim uh that tubishvat did acquire a very very mystical significance based on the idea that a human being is also called a tree and we are called an upside down tree because a regular tree has its roots in the earth and it goes towards the shamay. our tree. We our nishamos are rooted in shmayim and we are growing upside down into earth. Maybe that's why we're so confused. We are upside down all the time. And therefore when you say that tishvat is rashash lean it is also a rashashana for a person. Now the question is what does that mean practically? I mean after all rashash shana for people was rashash shana right in what way is this rashash shana for me. So the kadushi harim the first gerbi uh brings a passage in the tal shami that says that any fruit that blossoms before tishvat got its nurturance mainly from the rain of last year and anything that blossoms after tishvat got its nurturance from the heavy rains of this this year heavy rains this year. So the says the following on Roshashana God gives us the potential that we can achieve that year spiritually. Now maybe we'll achieve it, maybe we won't, but we're given a potential. How much can you grow? How much can you accomplish? And that's decided on rashashana yam kipper. But we don't draw on that new potential which is called gishm until tishva which actually means from rashashana to tishva we are living spiritually off the potential that was given to us in 5785ish we are drawing on the new reign. of 5786. Now maybe that'll be better and greater. That's the hope. Or maybe it'll be worse. You know, you don't know. But it's different. The the senor the the pipeline of divine potential is switching. Until now, we were living off the braot spiritually of the last year. That's the meaning of the old reign and we're living off the braot of the new year and the says that a person that is spiritually sensitive would be able to tell the difference in the raod prevat and after tishvat. But be it as it may, whether we can feel that or not, the ribb says that that is a reality. And of course on the simplest level, the human being uh being a tree highlights the notion of potential that think about I mean most trees today are not planted from seed. You don't go to a nursery and say I want to buy some apple seeds and plant the tree. That would take a little long. Uh but the origin of trees are from seeds. And you look at a seed and a seed is little, tiny, insignificant. And yet in that seed is all of the tremendous potential of the apple tree, the oak tree, the pine tree, the cedar tree. And that's what a human being is. We may feel insignificant, small, but within each and every one of us there is that tremendous potential. But that potential needs to be nurtured in a proper way. Just like we nurture a tree with water, with sunlight, with fertilizer, with cultivation, whatever, whatever it is. So too when we raise our children, we need to provide those factors in their lives that can bring out the tremendous potential that is within them and that is within us. So looking at the tree is a very very important mushel because that which appears to be insignificant carries within it a tremendous tremendous potential and that's how we have to view each other view our children view our students and the way so again a happy rash leave our notes and we'll see you next week. Thank you.