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D'var
Torah
by Rabbi Jay Spero |
Free
Will?
Parshas
Va'ayra
Contact Rabbi
Spero at 862-9546 or jsohr1@juno.com
If you are interested in receiving
Rabbi Spero's Dvar Torah in your email each week, please contact him at jsohr1@juno.com.
The story line of this week’s portion is
the first seven of the ten plagues, and Pharoh’s reaction to them.
After each of the plagues the text states that Pharoh’s heart was hardened. In
fact before the plagues were even brought on the Egyptians, Hashem told Moshe:
"And I (Hashem) shall harden Pharoh’s heart" (Va’ayra Ch.7 V.3).
This verse raises a fundamental question. One of our most basic beliefs is the
belief in free will. One of the most prevalent questions one will find among the
philosophers is the age-old dilemma of pre-determinism vs. free will.
We believe that every person has the right to choose between good and evil. Only
by exercising a choice between good and evil can true goodness be achieved. The
choice for good brings about the repairing of the world.
There are certain things in the world that are predetermined: For example
one’s appearance, one’s intelligence, and one’s basic character traits.
However, how a person uses these tools, whether for good or evil, comes into the
realm of free will. The Talmud says: "Everything is in the hands of heaven,
except for the fear of heaven." Clearly, fear of heaven refers to free
will! (Tractate Brochos 33a)
If one has free will, how could Hashem have hardened Pharoh’s heart? Did this
not eliminate Pharoh’s free will?
Rabbi Dessler, of blessed memory, gives a brilliant answer:
Whenever a person is called upon to make a choice, all the options are weighed.
In certain situations, though, it is nearly impossible to even consider choosing
between two options, as one option so clearly outweighs the other. For example,
if you were asked, "what would you rather have for breakfast, poison or
cereal?" This is not an exercise in free will; rather it is a simple
rational choice.
In Pharoh’s case the choice was just as obvious: To continue to enslave the
Jews, and to let the country be totally destroyed, or to live in a prosperous,
albeit slave-less, society, by letting the Jews go.
Because of his wickedness, Hashem removed from him the fear a normal person
would have of being totally destroyed, and so the two choices appeared more
balanced than they really were. He still retained the ability (free will) to set
the Jews free if he realized what he was doing was wrong. But he was unable to
free them, because his heart was hardened to any fear of the plagues.
Rabbi
Jay Spero is the rabbi of the Saranac
Synagogue in Buffalo.
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