Parashat Va'eira - Is there free choice? - Rabbi Alon Anava

[Music] you had a beautiful Shabbat and today is a very special day every day is a special day but today is also a very special day it's the yard site it's the hilula of the alter the balat and every time that a sadic passes from the world means he completed his work therefore it's a very powerful day so since we can't fly to meus and to the Grave it's good to take on ourselves good decisions take on ourselves a good start we're going to learn about it in the third class but the balatan was a very very very special sadik so without further Ado our first class as usual is going to be about the parasa later on we learn we started learning the course about theot refinement of character we started last week so this is going to be the next class and the third class we're going to we're going to learn a discourse by the balat and as our habit on Sunday we start first with a class about something that we can apply for and last week we started a new book the book of schot we started a new era up until now we went through kind of the history of the beginning of our nation and now last week we started the book of schot where we see that we go down to Exile and now we have a whole new thing going on in the next couple weeks about the Exile of MIT that this was the first Exile and up until today every day we keep mentioning the whole Exile of M and the the going out of Exile but of course every question every Paras arouses different questions and this arouses a very big question before we go to the question about 60 years ago on a very bright day something happened that kind of changed the history of Israel and that was the day that the Israeli government announced that they caught akman hman was one of the highest ranking SS officers in the Nazi regime and it took a while but he was the first one that the Israelis were actually able to to catch him and of course there was a big big scream in the world wow now we're going to see what the Jews are going to do after they were slaughtered and tortured and burnt and murdered in the death camps they got their own country took them a a short while and now they caught one of the first ones now the whole world was waiting to see what the Israelis are going to do how are they going to Revenge so to say so it was a very big thing you know for many they wanted just to push this whole uh story under the rug and here it comes back again by catching one of the one of the top ones now why why was so a so a special so to say in a negative way because aan took a very good lawyer and for whatever reason Democratic company country they gave him a lawyer instead of shooting him in his head right away and they gave him a lawyer so he took a very very good lawyer and he had a very strong T strong fight and you know what he said I was just following orders what do you want for me so of course the defense they showed all sorts of letters and all sorts of recordings where he's there was one there was one situation where Hitler marimo actually wanted to release a group of Jews in in in return to in change or to money or to access somewhere I don't remember exactly the story and they found the letter of kind of rebuking Hitler by how dare you release these these group of Jews anyways the point was that he was argu his argument was that I was just fulfilling orders the reality was that he wasn't really fulfilling orders he did what he wants he had an agenda of himself and he did everything from his hate but the defense was fighting the the fight that he was nothing he was just a screw in the system so the same exact thing we can uh kind of fight for par in this par because a lot of people might say wait a minute why why you blaming par for this entire Exile and for all the massacre that he did par can say I was fulfilling orders I didn't do anything wrong and why would he say something like that because 200 years before that it was already told to abaho that your children are going to go to MIT they're going to be slaves they're going to be tortured that was already predicted hundreds of years before so par could say wa what do you want from me I'm just fulfilling orders I'm not a mean person K said that you you going to go to Egypt and you're going to be slaves I'm just doing my job somebody has to slave you somebody has to torture you so with this question it arouses even a bigger question it means that par didn't didn't have free choice cuz he so to say was decreed by the Kosh that that's what he has to do now if didn't have free choice it means that we also don't have free choice so this is arous a big even a bigger question about the whole concept of free choice of because we know that we have so if we have free choice that it means kind of doesn't know what I'm going to do but if I don't have free choice because it says that every everything is predicted and hasem knows everything so I don't have free choice meaning though how can I be punished for anything how can you hold me accountable for anything that I do if I don't have free choice so it's like a catch 22 if I don't have free choice how come you how can you punish me how can you tell me the entire Tora is full of punishments and if you don't do this you're going to get punished for that but if I do have free choice then what do you then then then Hashem knows hasem knows everything so it's kind of like a circle that there's no answer and that's a very big question in Judaism about the concept of free choice that if I don't have it then don't punish me and if I do have it then how can you tell me that everything is predicted exactly so the answer is kind of in our parasa and that's what we're going to talk about today even though the whole concept of free choice is explained in depth in many different types of teachings whether it's the teachings of cabala teachings of but there is a very deep answer to it but today we're going to talk about a Sim one of the answers how could it be that if this's free choice that par was punished we see even in the Paras it says very clearly that I will harden his heart so if you harden his heart why are you punishing him and if somebody wants to argue power wasn't punished he was punished cuz his country was Destro destroyed his kingship was taken and he was drowned in the ocean so so he was punished so on that the ramban comes and asks two big questions first of all par did the will of hem so why are you punishing him that's one big question that the ramban asks the second one is let's say hypothetically will do cha and says listen I don't want to do do this anymore leave me alone would he had the option of releasing the Jews let's say he would do Chua because hypothetically he could say listen hasem leave me alone I I I don't want to be part of this you know there's a f very famous story at the time of the destruction of the second temple then there was a certain Caesar that came and he got orders to destroy yush and when he came to destroy yush his name was nonon he was like I don't want to destroy I need to come now into a problem with the master of the universe the king of the of the Jews and the king of the world I need to now get into an issue with him so he was trying to find out if it's really the will of the kadh there's a whole story I don't want to get into it but you know the first part of the story that he caught a boy coming from and he told him tell me a p what you learned today in school and then then the P it says that yam has to be destroyed then he took an arrow and he started shooting arrows to different directions and all the arrows turned around and went into that direction to and the story is much much longer but he got the point that it's the will of hem to destroy bet mikdash and he's like I don't want to have a part in it and he turned around he disappeared later on we know that he made chuva he he converted and he became one of the sages and because of him he ran away from the Army so instead of that came even a worse a worse guy and came to destroy but the story was that he was like I don't want to be now still coming to to to be the Destroyer now now I'm going to have an issue with with AEM so he ran away so the same thing with par par could have said listen I don't I don't need this headache leave me alone and if hypothetically he would do that would he be able to release the Jews of course the answer is no because it was the will of the koshu that we're going to be in Exile we're supposed to be in Exile 430 years that was the prediction it was Sweden and we end up being in exile for 2 years but it was predicted already to AB at the time of that your Generations your offsprings will go to Exile and they're going to be tortured so first comes this big question how could it be that par would get punished so from that first of all I want to understand forget about Paro he less cares me I want to understand that if I don't have free choice then why do you punish me so to say cuz we know there's a concept that is called I do something good I get a reward I do something bad I get punished so if everything is predicted then how can you punish me and if it's not predicted and I have free choice then what do you want from me so of course like you said it arouses a very big question the thing is that the constantly puts us in situations that I do have free choice but I don't have much of a choice now sometimes I do have situations that I do have a lot of free choice and I can choose right now if I'll have this cup of tea or if I'll have this cake or if I'm not going to do a certain thing that the toora commands me to do or if I will do it here the free choice is pretty pretty obvious and I do have a very wide range of choices so to say but some situations I don't have a choice I'm really stuck to a to a corner and the the decision that I have to make is against the Torah so I'm so to say forced to do something against the Torah and there's many different situations we're not going to start getting into different examples but each and every one of us can find that there are many times in my life that I I I I go into a situation one of the obvious ones is when somebody drags me into a fight I didn't know anything what do you want for me why are you getting into an argument with me and that person is upset at me and I'm like okay now I have to apologize but I don't have to apologize they didn't even do anything and that person is upset with me and he's talking about about me and I want I don't want a Jew to be angry with me so I have to go and somehow a him and I'm kind of like forced into this argument I I didn't do anything what does this person want for me and many others there are many situations that in in general I have a free choice but I'm forced to do a bad choice so that's not fair and there are many choices like that I had like not too long ago I heard a question one of my students come and told me listen I I my business I work with all the people that I work with are not not Jewish so you know when we go out everybody it's a big group of they want to go out to a restaurant I have to go with them it's the business I don't eat anything but I'm sitting in the restaurant and I have to start like saying listen I'm I'm I kosher I can't take this I can't take that and I and I bring my own juice or whatever it is and then it says and all that they talk about there's a convention all they talk about is nonsense I'm kind of like forced to talk about what's called I mean when we talking business it's business because after that everybody's hanging out I have to like so to sayoo so he's like listen I don't have an option so this is one example out of many I don't want to start repeating giving examples but the point is that each and every one of us finds ourself in situations that I'm kind of forced to do something against what theem wants me to do and I really don't want to do it sometimes I'm forced to say a lie I have to and and and many other situations and a lot too long ago also we were traveling and we were in a situation I had to not say the truth you know sometimes when you travel especially to certain countries you can't say you you say something you're get in trouble so and you don't want to lie but you're like stuck in a situation and the the point is that Hashem puts me in situations sometimes and then I'm forced so to say to have a bad decision so the answer to that first of all is that even in these situations I can still do what theem wants me to do and even if I forced so to say to do something that there is still one point I mean I would say 90% I can say listen it's not my decision but there is still a point that one can say oh you still could have done done it differently so first of all to understand what's going on in the Paras the parasa starts after 86 years of torture of a holocaust that's going on in MIT amazingly exactly 86 years was the age of Miram but that's when the par starts Moshe Renu gets his Revelation last week we saw that he got his Revelation he comes to MIM he gathers the old people Aon his Aon his brother and then they go to Paro and they come to Paro imagine the scene this 80-year-old guy another guy coming with him 83 year old guy one of them stutters the other one barely talks they're walking into the palace and they're telling him let the Jews go par was like this kind of a joke is that said go go away from here and of course they start the argument they start the negotiation so to say and far thinks it's a joke and he says go go back to your job what are you coming to bother me even didn't take them serious and of course after that starts a little bit of a show with all the special effects with turning the water into blood and for turning the staff into a snake and and then starts the first plagues now a lot of people ask how long was these plagues because the Torah doesn't go and explain to us how long these plagues took place a day 3 days a week how long did it take so our sages teach us that the plagues took exactly a year from the day that Moshe Renu came till the day that they left it took exactly a year of negotiation now one opinion that explains this comes from the town how do they know a year because if you remember last week then mosenu came and he negotiated so to say with Paro then Pon got upset and he said not only that I'm not going to let you go I'm going to make your job now 100 times harder you go and get your own H straw right in the beginning they we the the Egyptians would deliver would give them the straw and they had to make the bricks and and and build what they whatever cities they had to build now Paul says no now I'm going to make it hard on you you get your own straw so our sages learn when do they get the straw when is it time for the Harvest to cut the straw in the month of Y right meaning that after that in the Tora it says that a year later they went out which means that they started this period of the of the plagues in and they left inan meaning that they took a whole year but we know that how it worked that there were 10 plagues each plague took exactly a week which means the plague of the frogs the plague of the blood whatever it was took a a week and then three weeks of negotiating between MOS and Par so 10 plagues that's 10 month and the midash explains that after the disaster of last week that par made it worse Moser got very very upset and he says because of me not only that I didn't take them out of Egypt I actually made it worse on them so got very upset and he ran away and he left for two months and for two months hem was negotiating with Moshe come and take them out and don't worry and everything will be okay so it was exactly a year the period from the first time mosu came to till they left MIT so a whole year the Egyptians were going through torture the punishment was not only for Paro the entire nations of Egypt got got punished first they had one week no water just blood then another week frogs then another week a mixture of dangerous animals then the Locust then the every plague the entire nation got punished so why you punishing the Egyptians what do they do what do you want from them punish Paro or do whatever you want but why are you punishing an entire nation now that's arouses arouses another question what what did the Egyptians do now we learned that that the whole entire punishment was an entire year we we see from that that also it it kind of History kind of repeats itself because also the punishment of the generation of the of the flood was a whole year it didn't right away came the flood it took a whole year that the ark was already built besides the 120 years that it took him to build it and everybody came and looked and said what are you doing and Noah kept saying there's going to be a flood but right before the flood was a whole year that Noah was already screaming here's the flood it was already raining constantly raining so we know that a mishpat a trial of aash is 12 months like now we know that if somebody passes away then a trial in sh of the is 12 months and it's called Mish a child of a wicked person is 12 months that's why we say Kadesh for only 11 months because a 12 months is for a rash and 11 months is for a sadik so we say months so we see that hasem judged them judged MIT for the entire year now of course it brings another question like I said that why would the Egyptians get punished par is one thing why the Egyptians now more than that we know that hasem didn't even give the option of doing Chua because it kept repeating in the parasha and I'll Harden his heart and I'll Harden his heart so the second question of the rambam that already goes out the window because he wouldn't even if he want to do chuba Hashem took away his option of doing chuba which that's already another question maybe sometimes hasem is kind of taking away my option of doing Chua when I repeat something over and over and over maybe hasem already took my option of doing Chua that's already even a bigger question so so answers to that in the tal there's a part in page 16 that it explains that when a person before he's born when the parents are conceiving the child there's a certain angel that is is is in charge that it comes and it takes the drop that is about to make the wound pregnant he takes this drop in front of the kadosh and he says to the K this drop what's going to be with her what's going to be with this drop what's going to happen to that person who is he going to be and the angel asks three questions and these questions are the acronym of the word and this Angel asks the what's going to be with this first he asks about G is that person is going to be tall it's going to be short it's going to be handsome it's going to be beautiful going to be ugly going to be brave going to be a wick a pan a person who's afraid that's the first question then the second is Bina how is going to this person going to be smart it's going to be not smart it's going to be wise and the third question is rash is the person going to have money it's going to be rich it's going to be poor what's going to be the financial stat of this of this drop so of course comes a big wonder and a big question what that's what the Jewish religion is about if he's going to be handsome or not if he's going to be rich or not if he's going to be smart that's what you care about and the last one of course he's going to be rich that's what you care about why don't you ask if he's going to be a sadic or not that's a right question that's what you would expect to be the question so comes RAB and he says no everything is in the hands of the heavens besides the level of What's called the God-fearing meaning that if he's going to be handsome or not or pretty or not that's in the hands of theh whether he's going to be smart or dumb that's in the hands of the is going to decide whether he's going to have money or not it's all sh in the hands of the heavens but if he's going to be a sad or not that's in his hands that's our decision which means it's already decided for us if I'm going to be rich if I'm going to be poor how tall I'm going to be how I'm going to look I'm going to have blue eyes brown eyes if I'm going to be smart all this is decided for me the only thing that is not decided for me is my is how much I'm going to fear the meaning my that's says that's for you you're going to decide that so if this is the case if this is the case it means that all day long and all my life I will be presented with tests so to say because I'm going to be tested about my if I'm going to do the sin I'm not going to do the sin I'm going to do the Mitzvah I'm not going to do the mitvah and here we learn something very important that if the kadh already puts me in a situation he mean it means that I have the ability to pass it K does not put me in a situation what's called Aion a test if he doesn't give me the tools and the ability to overpower it and overcome it and to do to have the right decision means that if I fail or my decision is wrong it means I didn't use the Ability that I was given or I didn't use the tools that that I had access to which means that it was my decision so if I decided not to do the Mitzvah or not to do the the the the AA it's all in my hands I just have to decide how I do it and what are the tools that in my hands to to decide how I'm going to do it and if I'm going to do it which means that every test that I'm be putting in that I'm tested to it means that there is the option of doing it the right way and we learn a beautiful story in thear there was a very uh special T his his name was RAB yanan he was the rebi of the generation in the exact same generation was a certain individual that he went kind of off the and he became like the head of all the robbers his name was Rish lakish a very famous in thear and he went off the D and he became like a robber and a a thief and not only that he became in our terminology to understand he became the head of the mafia okay there was a mafia in the time and he was the head of the mafia he was controlling all the the criminal activities in the land so the story says that one time RAB yanan goes to the river and he dips into the river whether he went to the mik whether he went to shower whatever it was and comes lakish and he starts a conversation with him and Yan was known to be a very very handsome man and he tells him you're wasting your time on this bet midash on the Yesa you a very handsome guy you should go out and hang out with the women soan was not a stupid man and he tells him your power for the Torah you have a very strong power you should instead of utilizing it to scare people and to rob people and to be the head of the mob you should use this to the Torah and the story was that he end up doing doing use your power for the Torah and yaran told him listen I'm going to do a deal with you if you come with me to my Yesa and you learn with me I promise you I'm going to marry off my sister to you and if you think I'm handsome just imagine how pretty my my sister is and I promise you that if you sit and study with me to I'm going to give you my sister to marry her so he kind of I don't know the the right word not seduced him but he temp him by bribed him come and learn I'll give you my pretty my pretty sister and the says that his sister was a a very very gorgeous woman and the story says that he ended up being a very big T he was a very successful Sage so what we see from that the that rakish had one might say hasem already put him the situation that he's going to become a a a robber and a thief and the head of the mob and but we learn from that that if a person really really wants doesn't matter how hard the N the test is he can still do it it's just a matter of how you look at the situation so really we see that we do have we do have free choice but at the same time we also get punish for things that we do and we don't do it right so this is a very big question because if I do have a free choice it's not fair let's put it let's put it on straight on the table it's not fair you're putting me in a test and then you're punishing me what kind of a system is that I don't I don't like that and a lot of people don't like it lot people says you know I I don't want to be part of this this whole thing either give me something to do or don't give it don't trick me don't so to say manipulate the situation then punish me so we want to learn how is that got to do to me so we have to see what the Torah comes to teach me because if the Torah is presenting this situation with it's not about it's about me because we know that each and every one of us has the that is in me I have a in me and this is called and I have to kill I have to go out of my limitation out of my MIT first I have to kill par and I have to fight with my limit so I want to see how's that going to do with me so why why is the Torah going into length of telling me that there were 10 plagues and hasem Harden his heart and and at the end he was pun so the midash explains that first of all in the first five plagues had an option to go out it was the second set of plagues that that's already when Hashem already hardened his heart if you read in the actual Paras you see that it says that in the first plagues I'm going to give par the option par had the option of saying okay you can go but after five options after five times that par had ability of releasing them and he didn't then hasem says okay now I'm not going to let him now I'm going to harden his heart well so we see that already he had a chance to do Chua and where do you really really see that he had a chance because he he already tortured them for 86 years so when mosu came he could have said ah okay I fulfilled my part I tortured them they were in in in enslaved and they were in Exile now it's time you can go so really he had had the option of releasing but he didn't and that's why he got punished because first of all he he he could have done chuva already the thing is that he didn't he enjoyed it now really why he got punished is not because he was arguing with Moshe so to say is because yes he had a decree from Hashem that the Jews have to be in Exile and they have to be tortured but he added much more on it he did much more than what he was supposed to he threw the kids into the to the river and he added to them that they have to go and get their own straw and he added a lot of things that that was not in the in the deal if there was to be so to say a deal the Kosh says listen the deal is that they have to be Exile and they have to be slaves I did not tell you to throw them into the to the river I did not tell them tell you to to after the the days of the the hours of work to go and torture even more I did not tell you to torture them I told you to slave them that's why he was found guilty because hasem could told him you could have keep it to the minimum so to say not to to go the extra the extra mile so to say to even make it even worse than them and that's the answer why the Egyptians also got punished because the Egyptians they did not have to torture them the Egyptians took advantage of the situation and there oh now this they're slaves let me torture them even more cuz the mid says that when they would come home the Egyptians would tell them you come and lo cut my lawn you make my dishes you do this and they would give them also to jobs they took advantage of that so the Egyptians also had to be punished because they could have so to say either helped them or leave them alone or or try to to to to to change the situation so we see that the Judgment was actually a fair judgment but still we want to understand how is that going to do with me how is it going to do with me like I I I'm not I'm not a Paro why I have to suffer and put in situations and tests and situations like that so the thing is that there are situations that I don't that I kind of lost my option of doing Chua there are situations I mean not I'm not saying I me but there are situations that a person gets another chance and another chance and another chance and another chance is the same and at some point has says okay that's it you lost all your chances chances and we learned that in another story in the that there was a certain T he's a very famous T his name is Elisha that at some point he was he became such uh against the K that did not even want to mention his name that he's called as the other one so any time you see in thear the word it's talking about this there was was a a very very big sage and then he went and he didn't like the whole thing the free choice he didn't like the system and he went totally against the kados and there's a story that he kept in touch with one of his students the famous rabi Mayer and may didn't did not want to give up on him and there's a story that one time they walked on Shabbat and Elisha was riding a horse and you know allow to ride the horse and RAB May was walking next to him and they're talking and RAB May is asking him questions and he's answering him questions then they come to a certain line and Alisha says listen you have to stop cuz we came to the border the Shabbat you can't you can't continue going I'll continue you have to stay so R May says him come on I mean like we're talking now for now hour and you're answering my questions and now you're concerned that I'm not going to pass the line of shabat and Shabbat why don't you get off your horse do CH come back what is this all this nonsense why you pretending you're not letting me the secrate Shabbat you you allowing what is this with come on he's trying like tried his last chance to convince him to do cha so he says I'm very very sorry I can't do that he says what do you mean you can't do that and he says listen I I wanted to do do at some point chba and one time I heard a Heavenly voice what's called a b that just goes to so show you what a what a level this was that he was hearing heavenly voices but he says I heard a Heavenly voice that says come back you naughty boys so to say so he says I can do cha my option of doing cha was taken from me therefore I'm kind of say how we say I'm doomed I can't do Chua anymore so we learned from that that unfortunately a person can be so wicked in a certain way that they're going to take away his option of doing chuva which means that if I see a certain thing repeating and repeating over and over I I red lights have to start flashing that iom might lose the option of doing chuva in that particular case to get to a point that I'm losing my entire option of doing chuva you have to be completely Wicked but the point to take from that that the Kosh is very very patient and he says I'll give you another chance and I'll give you another chance and I'll give you another chance so what what can I learn from that what what can I take from that because I know that I'm presented with a lot of tests in my life and I know that many times I don't do the right decision if I'm want to be real with myself I mean a lot of people they try to look for all sorts of U ex excuses I didn't have an option there was too much pressure pressure here I didn't mean this the point is don't don't find don't look for excuses and be honest with yourself and say did I really put my effort to fight as am I really put it working my hardest but don't to come and say oh you know it's not fair so what what what do I need to learn from this lesson how can I apply something like this to my to my life because the reality is that I am presented in many situation situation that my free choice is tested so to say so the answer lies in the situation what happened to par and there's a certain story that happened 200 years ago about 200 years ago and that kind of gives us a very very good answer so to say to this entire concept we mentioned before today is the yard site the hula of the bat of the alter so his grandson theed lived about 200 years ago and it at that time Rose a new ruler in Russia his name was Nikolai he was known to be a very vicious man and he was literally a a vicious dictator another par and he hated the Jews he really really hated the Jews so he came with a with a decree and the decree was that in the age of 12 he's drafting the Jewish boys into the army and they have to be Army for 25 years now the 25 years started at the age of 18 meaning from 12 to 18 that's not even in the 25 years and then from the age of 18 25 years they have to be in the Army which means they go out of their army when they're 43 years old now this was not like the Marines where you sitting in beautiful vessels and you have nice uniforms and you're eating good meals and if you're Jewish you can go and practice your religion this was the Russian army so they were really really tortured there and one of the problems that they had is of course they could not practice Judaism and they would can could not keep Shabbat and they would get not kosher food and they were in a serious situation now at the time the rebi of the time was ated now he had all these underground groups that would go to the bases and uh put get give themin to put and if it was kanuka come with candles and he constantly there was these underground units so to say that came to all these bases to give the kids some some yish kite something anyways and of course they were always complaining at one time they came to theed and tell them listen we have a serious problem I mean you know our situation and we're forced to do it if you don't do what what what they tell us they kill us and they're forcing us to eat pork and they're forcing us to eat Anor food what should we do should we fight should we stand and fight for self-sacrifice and get murdered or should we just eat it and survive so the said listen there's no Mitzvah to die over Kosh food this is not one of the mitv that I have to give my life over in order not to do it so this is the situation this is the this is the decree that came upon you from sh this is where hasem wants you to be and you have to eat it you don't have a Mitzvah to die on K because of Kos food so eat the pork what can I tell you but don't lick your fingers don't enjoy it you're forced to eat it don't eat it with with the lust with the desire and lick your fingers cuzz it's so tasty to you cuz that was the meaning of this dictator I want you to sin but I want you to enjoy the sin so he would give them good pork not dry and burnt so the say eat it you have to eat it that's the the the so to say the the place that hasem decided for you to be stuck in that you have to sin but at least don't lick your fingers don't enjoy it and this is where our answer lies is that hasem puts us in situations and sometimes we have to sin there's a reason why we have to sin Shem pushes me to a corner he puts me in this situation but the answer is at least don't enjoy it don't enjoy what you're doing hold on we're finishing in a second you can ask all your questions and that was the problem of par you had to be the dictator you had to be par you were decided to be the mean leader to put the Jews in Exile and to torture them but don't go out of your way don't throw them into the river don't torture them don't kill them don't do whatever you're not supposed to do that goes back to the example I gave in the beginning with don't pretend you're following orders you did you knew exactly what you're doing following orders that you that you're forced to do something and you doing like a machine you went out of your way to make sure that the Jews are being tortured same thing with par you were decided you were appointed by the master of the universe to do something don't go out of your way so what do I need to take from that that I'm also sometimes are are pushed so to say into a situation and really my my self my my decision my free choice is kind of taken from me so to say so the the lesson from it is don't go out of your way to really enjoy what you're doing don't go out of your way and add more to it and that's what I need to take from that because first of all is to understand that I do have free choice and free choice in a very big title is not if I'm going to wake up in the morning and if I'm going to wear a white shirt or a blue shirt that's not free choice I always say a funny story that my brother-in-law maybe some of you already met him he they did aana also and they live here in spat my wife's brother and he's a comedian he's a very funny guy and a few years ago he also became a b cha and one time he and he tells me I don't understand this whole free choice thing what hasem knows exactly what I'm going to do so he says he used to go and he stood in front of a mirror and he would tell Hashem Hashem do you know then I'm about to do this huh do you know I'm about to do that so he couldn't understand the whole free choice so he would stand in front of a mirror and be like are you aware that I'm about to go like that and he did it like seriously but is a joke so the point is that free choice is not about if I'm going to wake up in the morning and wear a white shirt or a blue shirt Hashem doesn't care what I wear that's not free choice free choice has a very external level to explain it is that my life is like a script I'm walking on my life on a conveyor belt and every now and then there'll be a little speed bump up and down and the speed bumps will be all these little tests I'm going to wake up in the morning I'm going to go in the street and a person is going to approach me can you help me I'm stuck my car doesn't start I need help so now I'm presented with a situation am I going to help him and grab the Mitzvah or am I going to say no I'm very very busy I got to go doesn't matter right now if I'm busy or not and that's a free choice whether I'm going to do the Mitzvah or not and then 2 hours later I'm presented with another situation somebody comes and starts gossiping with me about somebody else I'm presented with another test am I going to listen and start feeding into it or I'm going to be like no I'm sorry I don't want to talk about it so this is the a general idea about free choice that constantly situations have been presented to me and they're sitting in shamim thousands of thousands of angels placing bets on me he's he going to make it he's not going to make it he's going to make it he's not going to make it like a host track the waiting to see what's going to be and if I make the right decision ah they jump in he made it he made it and some of the Angels they lose their their bets and ifom didn't then the other side they're but this is a very external way to look at the free choice the internal way to look at free choice is that everything is from sh everything is decided by the kadosh everything is predicted my route is already ready made for me the free choice is that I'm going to be presented with a situation and fail I'm not talking about the successes right now I'm going to be presented with a situation and I will fail the free choice is if I will accept that it came from Hashem or that it was my my power that did it and this is a really internal part the P of what's a free choice cuz I'm going to go now and represent it with the situation and then I'm going to fail I'm going to say I'm going to cheat I'm going to lie I'm gonna I'm gonna desecrate Shabbat in one way or another whatever it is now I'm presented with a situation do I believe that it was in my hands or that it was the decision of the Kosh cuz if I think it's in my hands that I'm taking away so to say the power from the kadh and I'm saying oh I did this business deal didn't work out because of me I didn't wake up early enough or I didn't show up to the business deal or this relationship didn't work out because that person is not stable so I'm basically taking so to say the the the power from the Kosh and says no no no the situation is in my hands or I say no this was the will of the Kosh and that's really the free choice but the point to take from that is that we're constantly so to say pushed to a situation of free choice and I might say wait a minute it's not I didn't want that it's not my fault this has not to do with your fault or not the kadh knows exactly what what are we going to do but he doesn't know how we're going to do it and that's where it all lies down of the free choic is not what I'm going to do is how I'm going to do it how much I'm going to minimize the damage how much am going to go out of my way that the decision that SS to say is against me is going to be as less as possible exactly what par could have done par could have keep it to the minimum oh they have to be in Exile here's the Redeemer go you're ready 6 years in in Exile you're Yi you you you had enough that's technically what could have done could have said okay game over 86 years in Exile that's a pretty enough pretty long time go so and it was already presented five situations with letting them go and he didn't because he didn't want to lose his Workforce he didn't want to lose his his so to say his power same with us the point is that knows exactly what we're going to do cuz really we don't have free choice but the only thing that has doesn't know is how we're going to do it same with the positive thing same with the Mitzvah knows I'm going to do a certain Mitzvah but I can add on the Mitzvah I can add to make the Mitzvah even more beautiful mitvah to make it more special to go totally out of my way I can have a shabas table and have one guest and I can have 20 guests and I anything in the mitzvah and I can go out of my way and do the Mitzvah even greater and much much better so the point point to take from that is that hasm knows exactly what I'm going to do the only thing he doesn't and that's what he leaves in my hands is how I'm going to do it and that's what I have to take into my to my to my decision how I'm going to conduct my life is to know that hem knows everything but every situation that I get especially the negative ones is how am I going to deal with it and and and not to to to take it to the next level so to say or not to lick my fingers not to enjoy the situation to okay it was decree I have to do this to enjoy that that's what I want to take from that is to know that everything that I do my free choice is how to do it and not what to do cuz I can go now you know always give one example is that when I go now anywhere and I punch in my destination in the GPS and the GPS tells me then I can take this route and it will be faster but with tolls and I can take that route and it means I have to go on a highway and this rout without high GPS gives me a few a few options but the destination is the same I choose the route right now can go a route with a highway a route without a highway normally most GPS's in our generation they give you a few options it's the same thing in our life hasem says the destination is the same you're going to do what I tell what I want you to do you choose which route you take and that's what I want to take from that is my free choice my real free choice is which route I'm taking and when I'm choosing what to do is how I'm going to do that and that's really what I want to put my my my my my emphasis in it is how I'm doing that whether it's good or bad doesn't matter if it's a Mitzvah or the the opposite of a Mitzvah even a Mitzvah there's a way to do it I can do it with like just to to what's how you say to be just because I have to do it I can add on that much much more and that's the name of the game and that's what the par comes to teach me that I am presented with many different situations and it all boils down to how I choose to do it if our choices are always going to be the right choices the needless to say that's what's going to be the the the the power that makes us much much better and elevates us and that's the whole point of this whole free choice game is to make sure that I constantly learn and I constantly go and become a much better individual and sometimes the situation that I'm presented that I'm kind of so to say Force to make a bad decision is in order to lay a foundation that the next times that I have it I can actually use that wisdom and and and to know how to not return to the exact same situation that's why sometimes hasem does put me in situations that I'm so to say forced to do something wrong is so I can learn from that not Toom fall back and say I messed up rather to say ah okay next time I'm going to know how to do it the right way and hasem wants me to do CH and wants us to do CH should take from that another thing to to to utilize into our and to understand understand that every second of my day they're looking above looking from above waiting to see what's going to be my decision waiting to see if I'm going to react or if I'm not going to react in next class we're talking about and that's the the call Concept boils down to the exact same thing is if I'm quick to react or if I'm not quick to react if I think before I do if I don't think before I do and that's the whole point this whole game so to say of this free choice is I have to think for a second wait a minute let me think what's this test right now my entire life is full of tests our decision should always be the right decision and we hopefully with the right decisions we're going to be a vessel to get the right blessing from the K and ultimately Reach the the true the complete Redemption [Music] oh [Music]