כי אל המקום אשר יבחר ה' לשכן שמו שם Am Yisrael should go exclusively to the place which Hashem chose to dwell His name there. The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim asks that there is no question that Moshe Rabbeinu and others knew the nae of that place which Hashem already chose for this purpose, Har Hamoriah. Why then didn't Hashem say explicitly its name instead of leaving it anonymous calling it "the place that I will choose"?
Chazal say (Avodah Zarah 45) that wherever one finds a high mountain he can rest assure that there was worship of idolatry on it. Tosfos there brings a Yerushalmi that asks if so how could the Beis Hamikdash which is on a mountain be the designated place to dwell there Hashem's Shechinah? The Yerushalmi answers that it was made possible through a Navi's disclosure.
The Yismach Moshe explains this Yerushalmi to mean that the Navi said with certainty that this mountain Har Moriya was never worshipped with avodah zarah. Rav Yoel from Satmar ztl explains that this teaches us that Hashem took away the free choice of the goyim to naturally worship idols even on Har Hamoriyah. Not only did He remove bechirah from goyim but also from Yidden. For from the times of Yehoshuah all the way up to Dovid Hamelech which was a few hundred years, the wicked of Am Yisrael worshipped avodah zarah which is unfixable than the avodah zarah of gentiles. For gentile idols can be negated even if they were worshipped, not so with avodah zarah of a Yid. Secondly Hashem did not want to remove from the wicked of Am Yisrael their bechirah even if they desired to worship avodah zarah on this mountain intentionally in order to sabotage and destroy the kedusha. Unfortunately we see such sacrilegious behavior today with the Har Habayis. So Hashem did not want to reveal the location of that special dwelling place of the future Beis Hamikdash for fear of these wicked Yidden who would have defiled it deliberately had they known its whereabouts. Therefore He left the designated place unknown until the time of Dovid Hamelech ע"כ. In other words Hashem also limited the bechirah of wicked Yidden by not revealing the chosen place of His dwelling at this time.
In the back of the sefer Eretz Tzvi there is a fascinating explanation why the Beis Hamikdash is called the Beis Habechirah aside from the simple understanding that Hashem chose this place over others. It is because Rav Hunah says that if a person sins more than once in a particular aveirah it evolves into a heter, a permissible act, and he loses his bechirah and strength to refrain from doing the aveirah. Therefore, when he comes to the Beis Hamidash and does teshuvah by bringing a korban, his ability of bechirah in the arena of that aveirah returns to him and once again he possesses the initial choice of whether he wants to transgress it or not.
According to this interpretation we find two opposing forces concerning the place of the Beis Hamikdash. On one hand it is the place where one regains his power of bechirah which is the crown and the mission of Man. Yet on the other hand that power came about in this place because Hashem removed one's bechirah from the goyim and even from the wicked sinners of Am Yisrael by not revealing its whereabouts.
We can say that these two forces describe the ultimate goal of bechirah by a Yid which is "to choose not to choose". In the words of the Sfas Emes the goal is לבחור שלא לבחור (Succos (תרלה. One should throw his רצון onto Hashem and say with emes "I am yours and you decide for me" אני לדודי ודודי לי.
The Sfas Emes writes in Vayikrah תרלב
"יקריב אותו לרצונו" מלמד שכופין אותו כו'. פי' מי שרוצה על כל פנים להיות תחת עול מלכותו ית'. יכול לפעול גם כן שיכופו אותו מן השמים ג"כ אם רוצה בזה. כי הכל לפי רצון האדם:
On one hand the passuk says יקריב which conveys coercion, and yet this is followed by לרצונו which means according to his will. This teaches that one can attain a level of bechirah that even if they force him from shamayim to fulfill Torah and mitzvos, it can nevertheless still be considered as his desire and his choice to do so ע"כ.
This concept is brought out by the bris that Hashem has with Yisrael, the Bris Milah. The infant has no choice in the matter and it is sealed in his skin without his bechirah. This demonstrates that the goal of the Yid is to choose not to choose, not to rely solely on his wisdom but rather that Hashem should guide him in every way. Shlomo Hamelech advices this conduct in Mishlei when he says (3,5) בטח אל ה' בכל לבך ואל בינתך אל תישען.
Years ago I met a Chossid of the Kalaver Rebbe in Williamsburg. He summed up his relationship with the Rebbe with the words "I don"t make a move without the Rebbe".
Just this week as I came to see the Kalaver Rebbe and this Yid walked in to the waiting room. He says to me "I must see the Rebbe for I am in a quandary whether I should enter a business deal or not". For those who are unaware The Rebbe has לא עלינו )) ALS for many years as his entire body is paralyzed. Years ago they set up a computer with a program to enable the Rebbe to communicate with his eyes, painstakingly focusing at every letter of the Aleph Beis one by one, but even that the Rebbe could do no more. So I asked the Chossid "Tell me how do you know what the Rebbe answers now"? He said "They lift up and hold his eyelid and he asks the Rebbe the question and if his pupil moves to the right it is a yes answer and to the left is a no".
This Chossid not only doesn't make a move without the Rebbe, he also focuses on every micro move of the Rebbe in order to ensure that he is aligned completely with the Rebbe's ratzon.
When it was my turn to be with the Rebbe, I also saw his pupil move to the right when the gabai told him to give me certain berachos. At least I think I saw it move to the right. Yes or no, but one thing is for sure. When I left the Rebbe's presence I was full of envy of this chossid and his bittul to his Rebbe, because that is exactly the type of emunah and bittul we must have to Hashem אני לדודי - to choose not to choose.
Gut Shabbos
Rav Brazil
