1.<\/p>\n
But you needn\u2019t raise the issue of our free choice being taken from us, seeing that we\u2019ll inevitably be perfected and experience the third era that already existed in the first.<\/strong><\/p>\n Human free choice is a fundamental of the Jewish Faith. And Ashlag is suggesting that we needn\u2019t bother wondering or not what he’d said till now about the inevitability of our reaching the third era would seem to deny our freedom to choose to do the sorts of wrongful things that would seem to deny us a right to the third era (better known as a place in the World to Come: the era of cosmic perfection that will be achieved after the institution of the Messianic Era and the eventual resurrection of the dead). But let’s explain free choice before we get into the conundrum. The immortal Jewish philosopher, moralist, physician and legalist, Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), laid it out as follows in his definite work of Jewish practice and belief, Mishne Torah<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u201cEvery person has been granted the capacity to either incline himself in the direction of goodness and to be righteous, or, if he so chooses, in the direction of evil and be wicked …. That means to say that … man, of his own volition, consciously and with his own mind, can distinguish between good and evil, and can do whatever he wants to do, either good or evil, without anyone stopping him. Don\u2019t think that God decrees at birth whether a person is to be righteous or wicked; … that simply isn\u2019t so. In truth, everyone is capable of being as righteous as Moses, or as wicked as Jeroboam (a reprehensible renegade and idolater who reigned from 922 to 901 bcE; see 1, 2 Kings; 2 Chronicles); wise or obtuse, compassionate or cruel, miserly or generous, and the like. No one forces, decrees or draws a person in either direction. He alone, of his own volition, consciously inclines himself in the direction he so chooses\u201d (Hilchot Teshuvah<\/em> 5:1-2).<\/p>\n What that means to say, among other things, is that while all other things in the world are fixed and static in their essence, and the greater part of our<\/em> being is itself fixed and static, too (i.e. our own personal biology, chemistry, and physics), our ethical<\/em> stature is malleable and always in flux. After all, as the Talmud puts it, \u201cEverything is in the hands of Heaven but the fear of Heaven\u201d (Megillah<\/em> 25a), which means that God furnishes us with everything, but our ethical response to it is entirely up to us.<\/p>\n Now, we\u2019re to be judged in the end as to whether we used our free choice for good ends, to be sure. And we\u2019re to earn a place in the World to Come\/the third era if we\u2019re found to have done that (see Hilchot Teshuvah<\/em> 3:1, 7:1).<\/p>\n Yet much of what Maimonides has said about the World to Come seems to fly in the face of what Ashlag had said above. For Maimonides implies that we don\u2019t<\/em> each necessarily earn a share in it. But we\u2019ll now see, though, that everyone will in fact enter the World to Come\/third era one way or another. So, are we free to make ethical choices (with all their concomitant consequences) or not? We are; but in unthought-of ways, as we\u2019ll see. For …<\/p>\n 2.<\/p>\n The point is this. God readied two ways for us here in the course of the second (i.e., the present) era to reach the third one. One is the path of Torah observance, and the other is the path of trials and tribulations, which (while daunting, nonetheless enables us to) cleanse the body (of its dross), and (thus) forces us to transform our ratzon l\u2019kabel<\/em> into a willingness to bestow and to attach ourselves onto God\u2019s Being. <\/strong><\/p>\n That is, what we\u2019re free to choose is the path we want to take<\/em> to secure a place in the World to Come; but we\u2019ll all inevitably reach that destination. For, we can either choose the longer way that\u2019s actually shorter, or the shorter way that\u2019s actually longer. But let\u2019s explain.<\/p>\n We\u2019re taught in the Talmud (Eruvin<\/em> 53b) that Rebbe Yehoshua ben Chananiah once reported that he\u2019d \u201cbeen on a journey when (he) noticed a little boy sitting at a cross-road\u201d. He asked the boy which road he should take to get to town, and the boy offered that \u201cthis particular road is short — but long\u201d while the other one is \u201clong — but short\u201d.<\/p>\n Rebbe Yehoshua decided to take the apparently short road. He discovered after a while, though, that the boy was right. Because the apparently short road was blocked and thus really was<\/em> a long one; and that the apparently long road was actually a short<\/em> one because there were no impediments. This story suggests a number of things, but the point most applicable to our subject is this.<\/p>\n Each one of us could either live a life of relative moral restraint based on higher values, or one of moral un<\/em>restraint and license (or a combination of the two, which is the most popular choice of all). According to the Ashlag and the Jewish Tradition that means to say that we could either follow the mitzvah-system, or the dictates of our ratzon l\u2019kabel<\/em>.<\/p>\n The wise would determine, though, that while a life of license seems to be a readier, more direct path to happiness and satisfaction, it will actually prove to be a very long, convoluted, and painful<\/em> one. For it will result in tribulations. And that while the mitzvah-system seems to inhibit our happiness and thwart our interests, it will actually prove to be the greatest, most delicious and \u201cheavenly\u201d shortcut of all to the ultimate human goal, since it would enable us to avoid the tribulations involved in the other choice.<\/p>\n But know that the suffering one undergoes for having chosen the ostensibly shorter path to happiness isn\u2019t the sort of vengeful, priggish slap across the face we might take it to be. Ashlag depicts it instead as a means of cleansing the body of the dross of the ratzon l\u2019kabel<\/em> which then allows us to attach onto God\u2019s presence (thus making it akin to the pain we\u2019d willingly — albeit hesitantly — be willing to suffer in order to scrub off some very deeply embedded dirt that exasperates someone we love).<\/p>\n There\u2019s yet another point to be made about this, though. As many know, life becomes clearer at its end, when we start to sense where we\u2019ve succeeded or failed. As such, some old people in ill health simply want to die and actually say as much. They feel they have nothing to live for and that they\u2019re nothing but dry lumber. Now we have found that few elderly, spiritually-centered and observant Jews who are ill say that, and fewer-yet elderly, observant and learned<\/em> Jews who are ill say it. For they know that they can serve God as long as they\u2019re alive (if only on a pallid and wan level), which gives each moment meaning and pith.<\/p>\n We have found that they (and their families) thus come to know that without the richness and call of Torah-reflection and mitzvah-observance in one\u2019s life, all there often is, is the bitter and gnawing, trying reality of meaninglessness. And they come to realize how true that had been all along, though they’ve only come to see it so clearly at the end. They know that life comes down to a choice between the search for God which is embodied in Torah, and tribulation. And their knowledge of that isn\u2019t abstract, but learned<\/em>; indeed, rather than being rooted in pat theology, it\u2019s grounded in having finally caught sight of life at its end.<\/p>\n For as the (ancient Jewish) Sages put it, (it\u2019s as if God said to the Jewish Nation) \u201cIf you repent (i.e., if you eventually adapt the mitzvah system so as to draw close to God), fine; but if you don\u2019t, I\u2019ll (eventually) place a king like (the evil) Haman <\/strong>(the influential chief minister of the Persian King Achasuerus in the 6th<\/sup> century BCE, who set out to destroy the Jewish Nation as per The Book of Esther<\/em>) over you who\u2019ll force you to repent (i.e., to adapt the mitzvah system after all)\u201d. <\/strong><\/p>\n That is, we’re free to adopt the mitzvah system with all its inscrutabilities and mystical locutions on our own, either from the first or in retrospect as an act of awakening; otherwise its alternative (tribulation) will be thrust upon us instead. There’s simply no third option.<\/p>\n And as the Sages likewise said of the verse (that speaks of the redemption), \u201cI God will hasten it — in its time\u201d (Isaiah 9:22): (the curious discord between the idea of God \u201chasten(ing) it\u201d on the one hand, and only allowing it to come about \u201cin its time\u201d on the other comes to this) \u201cIf they\u2019re worthy (i.e., if they follow the mitzvah system), I\u2019ll \u201chasten (the redemption — i.e., the World to Come and the third era)\u201d; but if not, it will only come \u201cin its time\u201d (after a lot of tribulation)”.<\/strong><\/p>\n What that means to say is that if we become worthy by following the first path of Torah-reflection and mitzvah-observance, we\u2019ll speed up our reparation and thus won\u2019t have (to suffer) harsh and bitter tribulations, or endure the time it would take us to be compelled to better ourselves. <\/strong><\/p>\n On the other hand, though, if we don\u2019t (take that path, the redemption will come despite us, but only) “in its time”. That is, only after tribulations — which includes the punishment that souls suffer in Gehinom<\/em> <\/strong>(i.e., \u201cHell\u201d). For, those tribulations will complete our reparations; and we\u2019ll thus (and inevitably) experience the age of reparation (i.e., the third era\/World to Come) despite ourselves. <\/strong><\/p>\n 3.<\/p>\n In any event, the rectification — the third era — will surely come about since it must, for the existence of the first era demands that. Thus the only choice we have is the one between the path of tribulations and the path of Torah-reflection and mitzvah-observance. <\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ve now thus demonstrated how all three eras of the soul are interconnected and necessitate one another.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yet as we’ll soon discover, there’s a lot more to clear up vis a vis<\/em> all the questions we raised at the very beginning of our efforts. Once we do all that, though, we’ll finally discuss the Zohar itself (which is the subject of this work after all, don\u2019t forget).<\/p>\n (c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n —————————————————–<\/p>\n<\/div>\n AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here<\/a> at a discount.<\/p>\n You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here<\/a> at a discount as well.<\/p>\n Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1. But you needn\u2019t raise the issue of our free choice being taken from us, seeing that we\u2019ll inevitably be perfected and experience the third era that already existed in the first. Human free choice is a fundamental of the … Continue reading