{"id":89222,"date":"2021-02-21T16:51:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T14:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=89222"},"modified":"2021-02-21T16:51:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T14:51:00","slug":"free-to-accept-or-reject","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/free-to-accept-or-reject\/","title":{"rendered":"Free To Accept Or Reject"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The first eight verses of Psalm 115 urge God to assert Himself and demonstrate to all how He is superior to all other deities. Verses 9-11 encourage the people who benefit so much from His supervision and intervention, to truly trust in Him. And verses 12-15 and 17-18 express the psalmist\u2019s conviction that blessings should be interchanged between God and His people, reflecting the special relationship that exists between them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, there seems to be a non-sequitur in v. 16: \u201cThe heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He gave over to man.\u201d How can this verse be understood to tie into either what came before, what is written afterwards, or both?<\/span><\/p>\n

One can say that even if the psalm makes a good case that man should both trust in God and bless Him, whether human beings opt to do these things is completely up to them, because they have been mandated by God to be in charge of their environment and themselves. While God, as their creator, retains dominion over the heavens, human freedom of choice and God\u2019s commitment to honor that freedom, results both in our ability to recognize and verbally acknowledge God\u2019s involvement, should we wish to, but also in our ability to decide to be either agnostic, or even atheist, and thereby reject the very notion of showing fealty to the Divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, has written that God\u2019s insistence that people be allowed to serve as \u201cfree-agents\u201d in all matters, is part of God\u2019s \u201c<\/span>tzimtzum<\/span><\/em>\u201d (literally, \u201ccontraction\u201d), whereby God not only makes room for human beings to exist outside of Himself, but also authorizes them to act freely in accordance with their \u201cown lights.\u201d (See his 2008 essay, \u201c<\/span>Fire: Holy and Unholy\u201d<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Bava Metzia 59b cites a classic anecdote, that while not incorporating Psalms 115:16, cites a parallel verse that makes the identical point. Rabbi Eliezer, a brilliant scholar, in order to attempt to convince the majority of the rabbis of the correctness of his position regarding an esoteric halachic issue, invokes all sorts of supernatural effects, including a voice from heaven (!) that proclaims: \u201cWhy are you differing with Rabbi Eliezer, as the halacha is in accordance with his opinion in every place?\u201d It is at this dramatic juncture that Rabbi Yehoshua, the leader of the majority opposition to R. Eliezer, jumps up and states: \u201cIt (<\/span>the decision-making power of the Torah<\/span><\/em>) is not in heaven\u2026\u201d (Deut. 30:12). Meaning, that this is the case once the Torah was given to the Israelites at Sinai (compare \u201c\u2026the earth He gave over to man\u201d).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some might contend that we have been given too much freedom and our baser instincts are thereby unleashed without consequence; God apparently prefers genuine sentiment and behavior to coerced \u201cright action.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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