No Choice
Now, one of the axiomatic truths about creation is that nothing in this universe has any choice; everything follows the patterns of wisdom which the Creator laid down at the outset. In the animal world, all the animals follow the instincts which they were created with. A bird, you see it hopping across the sidewalk with a leaf in its mouth—he’s going to build a nest. It decided it’s time for a nest? No. It will build a nest because it has a built-in program that tells it when to build a nest and how to build a nest.
The bird is not choosing to do anything—it doesn’t understand a thing. Everything it does is already encoded in its brain with all the details of what to do and how to do it without any instruction from its parents. It is born with the information already programmed into its mental computer.
If you see a bee setting out from its hive, even if it’s on its virgin flight, it doesn’t need any instructions. It flies in the most amazingly precise manner according to information that has been supplied to it by bees who have previously departed from the hive and left trails behind, certain signals whereby the young bee can set out and follow a pre-programmed path.
A Skilled Navigator
The bee even knows how to follow the angle of the sun's inclination! It’s remarkable how the bee functions like a skilled navigator using both the signs that have been laid down by the pioneering ones who went before it as well as certain forces of nature like the sun and the earth's magnetism.
This little bee who never went to school—it wasn’t even homeschooled by the mother bee—and it visits flowers and collects pollen and nectar. And it does everything with the utmost efficiency! It doesn’t understand a thing, but everything is coded on his brain with all the details of what to do and how to do it.
And so, there is nothing that acts independently of the laws of cause and effect that Hakadosh Baruch Hu implanted into nature. The wind doesn’t choose to blow; it blows because of a system that Hashem set into place. The rain doesn’t choose that today is a good time to rain; it’s all part of a calculated system of cause and effect that was created by the Keil Elyon, the Uppermost One Who is making all the choices.
Alone With Choice
There’s one exception to that rule, though, and that’s man. Mankind is unique in creation that they have the free will to choose. That’s something that we know absolutely; it’s a self-evident part of our Torah tradition because the Chumash is constantly speaking to man, promising him reward if he chooses this or that and warning him, threatening him with retribution if he chooses the other way chalilah.
Now, if a man was forced by his nature or by circumstances, then it wouldn’t make any sense to command him and it certainly would be unjust to punish him; reward would also have no place. So from the Torah we see that bechirah chofshis, free will, is a foundation of kol haTorah kulah.
Don’t Be a Birdbrain
And yet, for Olam Hazeh alone we would be happier if we didn’t have free will; we could have been given instincts for how to live successfully and like the bird in the tree, we’d be satisfied. Nobody would make any demonstrations, there wouldn’t be any revolutions, there wouldn’t be any fights or divorces—there would be only an ordinary settled manner of life. And we would go happily through life and then we would die like all the animals do. We wouldn't have anything to look forward to, nothing to work towards, but at least this world would have been a successful career.
But unlike the rest of creation, our purpose is not Olam Hazeh; our purpose is the Next World. And that’s why we are given this greatness that is beyond anything else in this world—because its purpose is beyond anything in this world.
So in a sense, free will is a gift that excels beyond all the forms of benevolence that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has bestowed on us in this world because it is the means by which we achieve the great happiness of the Next World. The plain truth is that there is nothing greater than the opportunity to fulfill יםּƒיַחַּבָּ ̇¿רַחָבּו, to choose life (Devarim 30:19). Because what kind of life are we talking about? You’re choosing a life that is forever.
Limiting the Choices
And therefore this brings us to the great question, what to do about this big responsibility? Hashem didn’t make you a bird or a bee after all—He gave you that very rare gift of free will, and so you have to spend some time thinking about this question. You shouldn’t think it is just some idle kind of philosophical discussion that doesn’t require your attention. Oh no, this is the question of all questions, probably the greatest question you’ll ever face: “What should I do with this tremendous responsibility?” After all, many people have spent their lives constantly choosing wrong and they’ve failed to accomplish in this world what they’re capable of; some have destroyed themselves altogether.
And this brings us to one of the details in this subject of bechira that is too often overlooked—it’s the important principle of utilizing the free will in order to limit the free will. You hear that chiddush?! There are ways that we could take our ability to choose and utilize it in order to deprive ourselves of free will! And that’s the explanation for why you’re not considered living unless you’re under the watchful eyes of a rebbe. Because he’s forcing you to choose good; his presence forces you to choose life!
Hiring a Mashgiach
I’ll give you an example, a common story, so you can understand. Let’s say there was a boy in the yeshiva who sometimes doesn’t come down to Shacharis; it happens sometimes in the yeshiva. And so one day the mashgiach catches up to him and reproaches him, “What about coming to tefillas Shacharis?” So what does the bochur say? He says, “I like to come without being forced.” He doesn’t want to be told to come.
Now that boy doesn’t realize that one of the foremost ways to utilize your free will is to put yourself in a situation where you’re forced to choose life. You should like to be forced; you should want to be forced. Because when you choose to limit your free will by putting yourself under the watchful eyes of others, you’re making use of one of the greatest devices available for saving your life. Like the Mirrer mashgiach zichrono livracha, R’ Yerucham used to say, “To be muchrach on yiras Shamayim, to be forced, that’s what we have to pray for.”
Praying for the Environment
You know, in the yehi ratzon for the new month we say, ּנוָב ‡≈הּ¿ ׁ̇∆ ̆ יםּƒיַח םƒיַמָׁ ̆ ַ̇‡¿רƒי¿ו הָורּ ̇ ַ̇בֲהַ‡ and also ‡¿ט≈ח ַ̇‡¿רƒי¿ו םƒיַמָׁ ̆ ַ̇‡¿רƒי ם∆הָּב ׁ ̆≈יׁ∆ ̆ יםּƒיַח. So it seems like we’re repeating ourselves; we’re asking for yiras Shamayim twice in the same paragraph?
So I’ll tell you something that I heard more than sixty years ago, from my chavrusa in Slabodka, Rav Aharon Birzher, zichrono levracha. The Germans killed him—he was a talmid chacham, the son-in-law of the Kurdaneh Rav and he was murdered along with the Kurdaneh Jews. He said like this: The best thing is ּנוָב ‡≈הּ¿ ׁ̇∆ ̆ – that we should have yiras Shamayim; ּנוָב, in us. But in case we don’t have it ourselves, at least ם∆הָּב ׁ ̆≈יׁ∆ ̆ יםּƒיַח – we should be in such an environment of yiras Shamayim; we should live in an environment that forces us to be good.
Eternity through Externality
Let’s say you are in a kollel and you are not such a big masmid; but you’re stuck in the kollel and so you have to open a sefer once in a while. And when the rosh kollel looks up from his sefer you surely have to! That’s a great benefit! The environment is forcing you. It’s excellent to be forced.
The same also if you wear a black hat and you act like you are a frum Jew; so now your wife cannot be like a woman of the street and wear pants because people will see her husband and look at her and it has to fit. And you yourself can’t go outside on Sunday in shorts and play on the street. You’ll be forced to go Sunday afternoon and learn in the beis medrash like any good yeshiva man. You are being forced into a certain form of behavior. Very good!
You shouldn't disdain that! It’s a very great achievement, to look for externalities that force us to be better people, that force us to choose good. It’s a very important part of the mitzvah of u’vacharta ba’chaim, of choosing a life that gives you eternal life. The more we choose to restrict our free will and force ourselves to be beholden to better people, that’s already the road to greatness.
The Life Preserver
And therefore, a talmid who had to go into golus, it could be he’s a big lamdan. We’re not talking about a sixteen-year-old boy who needs a rebbe to teitch the Gemara for him. We are talking about a man of forty, fifty, sixty; he’s a big talmid chacham and in some cases he might even know more than his rebbe. He can leave his rebbe behind and make a yeshiva of his own in the ir miklat. So the Torah says, nothing doing! That’s not called life. No matter what, you need somebody; everyone needs a ּה≈ּנƒמ ‡ָינƒפ¿ּ ̇¿סƒמ¿ּ„ ‡ָר¿בַּ‚ - a man of whom he is afraid (Moed Katan 24a).
That's the benefit of being close to a rebbe. When the rebbe is around there is a certain force, something that restrains you; it makes you think two times and three times before you do something. How many people have gone lost because they didn't know or they didn't heed this admonition? You didn’t go lost altogether maybe, but surely you took many steps, you made many mistakes that you could have prevented if you had stuck to a rebbe.
No matter how well you can swim, the buffeting waves of life are more powerful than you can imagine. If you're at sea and you fall out of the boat and someone throws a life preserver to you, you don't swim out on your own even if you’re an expert swimmer. You hold on because that's your preservation! Vachai! As sure as you are of your ability to swim in this world, every man must hold onto his rebbe because that’s life.
Location, Location, Location
It’s a tremendous principle that the Gemara teaches: םֹו ̃¿מƒּב םָ„ָ‡ רּו„ָי םָלֹעו¿לֹו בַר – A person should always make sure to live in the place of his rebbe (Brachos 8a). Some people today think that's limited to chassidim, but even chassidim don't necessarily fulfill this as it was intended. Some use their rebbe if they want to get blessings from him or that he should say a tefillah for them, or for advice in a difficult situation; but to live near the rebbe because that's your life, that's a concept that's greatly overlooked. And it means therefore that people are overlooking life.
Of course you'll ask, “Well, who is my rebbe? I had this rebbe, I had that rebbe. I went through the mesivta and I had six different rebbes, each year a different one, and they live at different addresses. Where should I move?” At least near one of them! Near the one with whom you had most shaychus, the one you were closest to. You can’t move? Make sure you’re seeing him as much as possible.
Where to Move
If you never had a rebbe, that's a big problem. It’s a big pity. Where should you live? Wherever your wife decides is the nicest neighborhood?! Should I move out somewhere in Briarcliff? A new community with new trees and new houses and new Jews. Everything you take into consideration when you move except for the most important one. The main principle is the one that's mostly neglected, to remain b’mekom rabo.
Isn't that a new idea? When you're thinking of where to settle, to make sure it’s near your rebbe. Or at least a different rebbe even though it's not yours. Asei lecha rav means make somebody your rebbe! The rav of the local shul, a talmid chacham who lives nearby; somebody! Of course get the best one you can but whoever it is you have to stick to him. It doesn't mean that you're committed forever, but until you find somebody better, that's your life.
Choose a yeshiva and move as close to the yeshiva as possible. The yeshiva will be your rebbe. It's worth any amount of money to settle there. The environs of a yeshiva are the healthiest places to live. You have no idea
