"ראה נתתי לפניך היום, את החיים ואת הטוב, ואת המוות, ואת הרע" (
דברים ל,טוThis mikrah often bothers me and this week it popped into my head again, what kind of a choice is that? . I have set before you life and good, death and bad, choose life?I have given you poison and I have given you sustenance pick whichever you prefer? It seems almost absurd that this mikrah is couched as a choice. What type of choice is it?
Bob, I have two things in my hand , one is a baseball bat with which I will beat you, the other is a pillow for you to rest on, now Bobbo, which one do you want? Curious, no?
Also this week I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine , ( you know who you are),the friend was lamenting her recent removal from an environment of Torah where she was surrounded by chachmah and Tov.She was literally pained by the sudden uprooting from her cozy chachma nest and the dumping into the world outside the Beit Midrash.Indeed I had recently experienced a similar pain, ( in my case it was pre-emptive), at my impending limit of Beit Midrash time. I think however, that these two feelings , the pain at removal from being one of the permanent "Yoshevei beisecha", to a mere student or a worker, can be assuaged with a proper understanding of the pasuk of Chayim and Maveth, tov and rah.
I think that we can find an answer to my uneasiness with the "choice" in the mikrah if we recall the words of a certain chacham, who has often been quoted by other chachamim anonymously , but I will reference him by saying " hear the truth from whoever speaks it". The quote is as follows ,"
EVERY art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim." To my mind this quote provides a very good solution, every action of man points to what that man holds to be good, clearly that is why man would do anything. If you did not perceive some good in what you were doing then you would not do it. Now if we keep this in mind then the verse could be saying, " behold I have set before you real Life and objective good and certain death and objective bad which you view as good because you have a false concept of the good, re-evaluate your idea of the good and choose the objective good". In other words this verse is a command to use your mind to decipher what is and is not good .
Now, how does this apply to the situation of my friend?
We are given minds to percieve the wisdom of the creator. This is the ultimate goal of Man. In the words of the pasuk we are given minds to " choose the good", the good is yediath Hashem.When we are in an environment of a beit midrash, when we are literally those who the psalmist speaks of in Psalm 145 as being praiseworthy, we feel a sense of security. It is almost as if we are in an intellectual summer camp, we are engaged in ideas, activities ,on our own, but we are also closed off and sheltered within the stacks of books. Our outside experiences, as in summer camp, are controlled, highly limited.Our learning is regulated, there are shiurim that we have given to us, our schedules revolve around certain fixed points of involvement in chachamah .As such when we are in the Beit Midrash what cares do we have? What is tosafot talking about? How can the Rambam say one thing here and seemingly contradict himself two paragraphs later, ( Lo aleinu!), or even the concern of one who is uncomfortable with the harsh criticism of the Ra'avad. But we do not have open exposure to influences and attractions that openly challenge us on the very deoth that we spend our time with.So the pain comes when we are ripped from this security and thrown into this brave new world of work and battalah and bills to pay and kids to feed and responsibility. No one is there to tell us to learn, no one is standing over our shoulder if we are mevattel our time, no rebbi next to you in shiur to guide you everyday, no chavrutha at work to help you be perfected.
This pain is however, great. Think about it, the pain is the confrontation between the world of bechirah and your mind. It is the point at which you must decide, " Jake, are you gonna go off and lose your mind , or are you going to grab tight and be an Adam".( You dont have to decide using the name Jake, but I do...).This is the first real exposure to the world of maveth and rah and the potential for chayim and tov. In this world of malacha , or better yet just the world outside, we are immediately confronted with taavoth and other distractions that challenge our conception of tov. The pain is beneficial at this point because it is the screaming of the soul, the mind or whatever you want to call it, the yelping of a mind that was spoiled by all day involvement in chachamah and is now conflicted over the removal or limitation of it.It is the recognition of what you have up until now held to be the good. This pain is what will in the beginning stages push you to the bechirah of tov and of chayim and will steer you from the pitfalls of rah and maveth.
א רשות כל אדם נתונה לו: אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך טובה ולהיות צדיק, הרשות בידו; ואם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך רעה
ולהיות רשע, הרשות בידו. הוא שכתוב בתורה "הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו, לדעת, טוב ורע" (
בראשית ג,כב)--כלומר הן מין זה של אדם היה אחד בעולם, ואין לו מין שני דומה לו בזה העניין, שיהא הוא מעצמו בדעתו ובמחשבתו יודע הטוב והרע ועושה כל מה שהוא חפץ, ואין לו מי שיעכב על ידו מלעשות הטוב או הרע. וכיון שכן הוא, "פן ישלח ידו" (שם
ה [ג] ועיקר זה עיקר גדול הוא, והוא עמוד התורה והמצוה--שנאמר "ראה נתתי לפניך היום, את החיים ואת הטוב, ואת המוות, ואת הרע" (
דברים ל,טו), וכתוב "ראה, אנוכי נותן לפניכם--היום: ברכה, וקללה" (
דברים יא,כו): כלומר שהרשות בידכם; וכל שיחפוץ האדם לעשות ממעשה בני האדם--עושה, בין טובים בין רעים. ומפני זה העניין נאמר "מי ייתן והיה לבבם זה להם" (
דברים ה,כה)--כלומר שאין הבורא כופה בני האדם ולא גוזר עליהן לעשות טובה או רעה, אלא ליבם מסור להם
