Parshas Eikev (5778)
Q. Why do Jews love Free Will?
A. Because it’s free.
Actually, that’s a tasteless joke. And it’s not accurate either. We Jews love Free Will because without it we would just be robots and our lives would be virtually meaningless. And there is nothing worse than living a life without meaning.
Isaac Bashevis Singer, the Nobel prize-winning Yiddish author, was once famously asked, “Do you believe in free will?†He wryly replied, “Of course! Do I have a choice?â€
The belief in Free Will and that the good and bad choices that we make in life are our own autonomous decisions is a fundamental tenet of Judaism and finds its source in a verse in this week’s Torah portion, Parshas Eikev.
The Talmud in Berachos 33b states: “Rabbi Chanina said: Everything is in the hands of Heaven except for the fear of Heaven, as it states: ‘And now, Israel, what does the L-ord, your G-d, ask of you but merely to fear [Him]’ (Deuteronomy 10:12)â€.
The Talmud understands this verse to mean that while every other aspect of a person’s nature or situation in life (e.g. his height, his complexion, his intelligence, his wealth, his basic predispositions, as well as which experiences will befall him) is in G-d’s hand and is “preordainedâ€, whether he will be G-d-fearing or not is given to man himself. Each of us has the choice to be righteous or wicked – our very own “free will†– but we should choose the path of fear of Heaven.
As Maimonides writes in his Mishneh Torah Laws of Repentance (Chapter 5):
“Free will is granted to all men. If one desires to turn himself to the path of good and be righteous, the choice is his. Should he desire to turn to the path of evil and be wicked, the choice is his… Each person is fit to be righteous like Moses, our teacher, or wicked, like Jeroboam. [Similarly,] he may be wise or foolish, merciful or cruel, miserly or generous, or [acquire] any other character traits. There is no one who compels him, sentences him, or leads him towards either of these two paths. Rather, he, on his own initiative and decision, tends to the path he chooses… If G-d decreed that a person should be righteous or wicked, or if there was some force inherent in his nature which irresistibly drew him to a particular course . . . how could G-d have commanded us through the prophets, “Do this and do not do that, improve your ways and do not follow your wicked impulses,†when from the beginning of his existence, a person’s destiny had already been decreed?... What room would there be for the whole of the Torah? By what right or justice could G-d punish the wicked or reward the righteous? “Shall not the judge of all the earth act justly?†[Genesis 18:25]
[Of course the only problem with the belief in Free Will is that it is a pillar of our faith that G-d is All-Knowing and must therefore have complete foreknowledge of everything that man chooses to do, which would seem to contradict man’s free will. After all, if G-d “knows†that I am going to do the mitzvah of giving tzedakah (charity) to a poor person even before I do it, how can I be said to have “chosen†to do it of my own free will, and then be rewarded by G-d for doing it? This paradox is referred to in the Rabbinic literature as the question of Yediah, G-d’s foreknowledge, versus Bechirah, man’s free will, and has been discussed by virtually all the great Jewish and non-Jewish philosophers over the centuries and millennia.]
As much as Jews believe in Free Will and we love it because it gives our lives so much meaning, there is one very important point about Free Will that needs to be mentioned.
You see, as much as we think that we are making many human, free-willed decisions each day of our lives, the truth is that most of us only make a few “major†free-willed decisions in life which, in turn, govern the “minor†choices that we make subsequently (and which are therefore not true free-willed decisions).
Allow me to illustrate this point with the help of a few examples:
One of the greatest decisions you will ever make in life is the decision whom to marry (or whether to get married at all). This major free-willed decision will in all likelihood dictate the many other choices that you make after that. So, for example, if the woman you marry is Jewish, then you will likely have more Judaism in your life and your future children will likely have more in their lives as well. However, if she is not Jewish (and does not want to convert) then you and your kids will have less exposure to Judaism – whether you choose it or not.
Another major free-willed decision you will probably make in life is which community (Jewish or otherwise) to live in or which synagogue to join (or maybe not to join one at all) – which of course will automatically dictate (but not by free-willed choice) how involved you and your kids will be in the Jewish community.
The same applies to which school – public or private or Sunday School or Hebrew School or Jewish Day School or Yeshivah – you send your child to. This is a major free-willed decision that will greatly impact on your child’s life in the long term with ramifications that are beyond your own free-willed choice.
I know of many Jewish people who would love to become more Jewishly involved or even fully observant, but they don’t have the ability to choose that option today because of the major free-willed choice they made many years ago to marry someone with absolutely no interest in their faith.
I guess the take-home message here is that - as the Grail Knight said to Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - “You must choose. But choose wisely…†You only get to make a few major true free-willed decisions in life, because the rest of the minor decisions that you’ll want to make will likely be governed by the bigger decisions… so choose wisely!
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