Why are Jews so enamored with the idea of בחירה חופשית?
Because it's free....
The Medrash opens the Parsha of "אמור אל הכהנים בני אהרן ואמרת אליהם" with the pasuk in Tehillim [12, 7]
Because it's free....
The Medrash opens the Parsha of "אמור אל הכהנים בני אהרן ואמרת אליהם" with the pasuk in Tehillim [12, 7]
The words of Hashem are pure.
There is a Taharah that stands before Kedusha, Tahara brings to Kedusha [Shkalim 3-3]. Then there is Tahara that comes after Kedusha "וכולם פותחים את פיהם בקדושה ובטהרה". Either way, the essence of Tahara according to the Gra is the negation of gashmiyus. The explanation and expansion of this idea is forthcoming.
We complain about the concept of bechirah [free choice]. It appears to us that we can't fight our yetzer hara and that we are compelled to fail and we lament specifically our lack of good deeds. Indeed, it is so. The foundation of the צלם אלוקים of a person is that he has free choice. Just like the acts of Hashem have no compelling force but His will alone, so too was free choice given to to man and particularly to the Jewish people.
He used to say:Beloved is man for he was created in the image [of God]. Especially beloved is he for it was made known to him that he had been created in the image [of God], as it is said: “for in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:6). Beloved are Israel in that they were called children to Hashem. Especially beloved are they for it was made known to them that they are called children of the Hashem, as it is said: “your are children to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 14:1).
[See Mei Marom to Pirkei Avos that this free choice relates to bechirah].
However, the [primordial] sin came and in its wake free choice was taken away and to a certain extent man is compelled to act in certain ways and even sin, as it says "כי אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא" - EVERYONE on earth sins. [Koheles 7-20].
When our forefathers went down to Egypt as slaves to Paroh and his nation, this was a revelation of the removal of the personal power of free choice because the foundation of servitude is be subjugated to the will of others. When the redemption from Egypt came it primarily restored, to a certain extent, man's free choice. However there was not a complete redemption of free choice and that will be completed when the Moshiach comes - speedily in our days.
Here is the answer to the question of many about the hardening of the heart of Paroh, which spelled the removal of his power to choose freely. The Jewish people were gifted with a unique power to use their power of free choice to elevate themselves above this world and to cling to Hashem. That is the extra love that Hashem has for us which caused Him to call us His children. Moreover, the free choice that the Gentiles have is rooted in the free choice of Am Yisrael. When free choice is taken from the Jewish people, it is given to the Gentiles. When the time comes for the light of the Jewish people to appear, the free choice given to the nations is restored to the Jewish people. So when the time came to redeem the Jewish people, the free will of the Egyptians was taken from them and restored to Am Yisrael - for that is the very Geulah.
In the first Beis Hamikdash the power of Bechirah was greater than it was during the period of the second Beis Hamikdash. Because there was a tremendous thirst for a connection with the Living G-d, it had to be that the desire to pursue Avoda Zara would be with the same intensity, in order that bechira be complete. However during the period of the second Beis Hamikdash, the yetzer for Avoda Zara was slaughtered [Yoma 69b] and proportionally the revelation of Hashem was incomplete and five things were missing from the Beis Hamikdash. Bechirah was not completely restored when the Jews returned to ציון after גלות בבל. In the future, when the spirit of impurity will be removed from the earth, bechirah will be totally different in form and content than it is now.
The spiritual servitude that is upon us is that a person cannot release himself from his perspective of the material world. This comes as a result of the removal of bechirah, a perspective that ties a person up to the goals, hopes and aspirations of this world alone. When it comes to the Jewish people, even though our power to choose is also locked up and bound with chains, nevertheless we have the faith that "כי לא ראיתם כל תמונה" - Hashem has no physical form. We know that all of the physical qualities attributed to Hashem are merely to concretize deeper spiritual truths. But so many of the nations take it literally.
[עפ"י מי מרום פרשת אמור]
[עפ"י מי מרום פרשת אמור]
