HOW MUCH POWER DOES MAN (OR WOMAN) HAVE?
Dear Family,
Hope everyone is well.
The above question comes up in this weeks Sedra Vaeira.
Hashem is speaking to Moshe about going to Pharoah to ask him to let the Jewish People go, and Hashem says to Moshe 'I will harden Pharoah's heart...and therefore Pharoah will not listen to you...and then I will display my hand against Egypt (ie to strike them with plagues)'
BUT DOES NOT MAN HAVE FREE CHOICE TO ACT EXACTLY AS HE WANTS?!!
OR DOES HASHEM ALSO PLAY A PART?
The Rambam answers this question very clearly in Mishneh Torah, The Book of Knowledge, in the Laws of Teshuva, Chaps 5 and 6, summarised as follows:
Only human beings have the power to choose between good and evil. Man has full power to control his destiny.
Mans actions are in his own hands. G-d does not lead him in a particular direction nor decree any behaviours on him.
Shlomo Hamelech stated that G-d will Judge ones action i.e. one's reckless actions of youth will have to be accounted for.
Only fools believe they are bound by their astrology.
It is an essential point of our Religion (belief and understanding) that we are judged according to our deeds and are fully free to go in any direction that we choose, and that the consequences will follow accordingly.
Hashems involvement with Bechira. (Free Choice)
Even although man's destiny is in his own hands, Hashem can assist those along the Path who are sincere, and He can prevent those who are persistently wicked, from doing Teshuva.
( I do want to interrupt the Rambam here to make a comment ie to say that our generation is different to the time of the Rambam. The Rebbe has told us that there are no wicked Jews in our generation. When we misbehave it is like a child who does not understand. However I do believe that what the Rambam is saying is still relevant to us.)
What appears in Torah as decrees are not decrees but examples of where the sins have become so multiple that Hashem withholds Teshuva i.e. it is through the deeds of man that this situation has come about.
Punishment for aveirot (sins) can take place in this world (on one's person, on his possessions or on his children), in the World-to-Come, or both. It depends on the type of sin.
Teshuva will shield against this retribution.
Teshuva brings near those who were once far removed in a most exalted way.
Torah has already promised that ultimately Israel will repent, and will immediately be redeemed (Devarim 30,1-3)
Rambam actually brings up this very point about Pharoah, and explains, as did Rashi, that Hashem hardened Pharoah's heart because of the previous wickedness which Pharoah had wilfully committed against Hashem. Ie it was due to Pharoah's actions that caused Hashem to act in the way that He did.
Wishing everyone a Gut and Happy Shabbos.