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Jewish World Review Oct. 4, 2000 / 5 Tishrei, 5761
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
"ON ROSH HASHANAH it is written and Yom Kippur it is sealed; How many shall pass away and how many shall be born, who shall live and who shall die..... who shall be at peace and who shall be harassed, who shall be poor and who shall be rich, who shall be humbled and who shall be promoted. "
So reads one of the best known prayers in the Machzor, the holiday prayer book.
But are our lives really mapped out for us? Does Judaism not maintain that we are free to make our own choices? And what has this whole issue got to do with the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayers?
The question of free will and determinism has occupied philosophers for centuries. The classic Jewish formulation is, "everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven." Indeed, among the decisions we are told G-d makes about us on Rosh Hashanah, we do not find, "who will be good and who will be wicked." Judaism insists that in moral and spiritual matters we are totally free to chose what we will do. G-d simply determines the situation in which we will make our choices --- wealth or poverty, health or sickness.
But here is a complication. When I chose to use my money for a mitzvah -- to give tzedakah (charity), to celebrate the Shabbes (Sabbath) -- I am making a religious choice? In this, I believe that I am totally free. Yet once I have performed the mitzvah I am without that money, and what I have left must be the amount G-d has determined that I shall have! The distinction between what I choose
and what G-d determines is surely not clear cut.
The rabbis saw this problem long ago. They taught that the amount a person spends on celebrating Shabbes and festivals is not part of one's allotted sum and whatever a person spends G-d will restore.
As far as tzedakah is concerned, they taught that a tenth part of one's income is not even one's own money. If I earn $1000, only $900 belongs to me. The remainder is just put into my hands so that I can distribute it to a deserving cause. And I make the choice of whether to give it and where it should go.
But there is another problem. I believe that I am completely free to make my own choices. Yet as long as
G-d determines my situation that cannot be, for the moral and spiritual choices I could make if I were rich are different from those I would make as a poor person. My situation may not determine how I will choose but it certainly defines, and therefore limits, the kind of choices I am likely to face.
However, there is another dimension to this whole issue. It is fundamental to Jewish thinking that our relationship with G-d is very intimate and that the way we behave towards Him can affect the way He will deal with us.
We declare as much each day in the Shema prayer, "if you listen to My commandments ... I will give the rain in its correct time ... and you will gather your corn your wine and your oil ... Be careful in case you turn away and serve other gods ... then the L-rd will be angry with you and stop up the sky and there will be no rain and the earth will not give its produce ... "
This is stated time and again throughout the Tanach --- perhaps most starkly in the Book of Judges where each time our ancestors slid into idolatry or other sins, G-d delivered them into the hands of their enemies and as soon as they returned to Him with a sincere heart, He raised up a leader to drive the enemy away.
Today, we rarely see such a clear "action and reaction" response from G-d. But if G-d's justice warrants that He treats us as we treat Him, His compassion tempers that treatment. "At first He created the world on a basis of strict justice," said our Sages, "He saw that it could not endure, so He introduced compassion." Whatever we may actually deserve, G-d is "a compassionate and gracious G-d, slow to anger and abundant in kindness... " (Exodus 34:6)
Which is why the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayers turn our gaze to what G-d might determine for us in the coming year. Religion is not something we do at certain times of the week or month, in certain
places or through certain people. Every facet of our lives is subtly bound up with our relationship with G-d and affects that relationship on many levels.
The decisions G-d makes about us on Rosh Hashanah are, to an unknown extent, a function to how we have behaved towards Him in the previous year. Now, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we have the Ten Days of Returning. And by returning to G-d with a sincere heart, we ourselves can affect what He will decide about us and put ourselves in a better position to serve Him with even more devotion in the year to
Free will and determinism: A Days of Awe dilemma
By Rabbi Arye Forta
JWR contributor Rabbi Arye Forta is a London-based Jewish educator. Send your comments by clicking here.
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