In the not-too-distant future, autonomous cars will move on the roads that do not need a human hand to reach their destination. Such a car is equipped with an array of sensors that provide a peripheral picture of everything happening on the road, and a computer that processes the data and gives operating instructions as required.
One of the advantages of the autonomous car will be the eradication of the epidemic of carnage on the roads, since this car will neutralize the most dangerous component of the vehicle: the person holding the steering wheel. This fact in itself is astonishing. After all, in civilized countries, no person gets on the road unless he has demonstrated basic skill in operating the vehicle and familiarity with traffic laws. The rules themselves are based on common sense and the road signs carry drawings so that even those who have difficulty reading should understand what they mean. Why, then, do people tend to be such bad drivers?
This stems from that unique quality that exists only in man: free will. Because of freedom of choice, a person may make a series of harmful decisions – dealing with distractions, turning his head to those sitting in the back, not getting enough sleep at night – that endanger him on the road. On the other hand, the autonomous car does not have freedom of choice and therefore can be trusted to always make the right decision.
It turns out, then, that without free choice, man would be a safer driver, but he would lose something of great value: responsibility for his actions. A falling stone bears no responsibility for the damage it causes, since its movement is completely determined by the laws of attraction. An autonomous car involved in an accident (and there have been events like that) necessarily followed the instructions of the code in its software. At most, blame can be placed on the engineer who built it.
Without free will, man becomes a biological robot that necessarily acts according to God; Its inherent content: reflexes, instincts, habits, uncontrollable urges. A human society without free will is the jungle society. In such a society, no one bears moral responsibility for anything – neither good nor bad. No one complained about the cat that devoured a mouse. For him it was just dinner.
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Free will is essential to man's moral responsibility, but it is difficult to find an explanation for it on the material level. The material world follows fixed and unchanging patterns. The sun does not have the privilege of deciding whether to shine or not. The apple is always drawn towards the center of the earth. If man is nothing but matter, where is he able to act freely?
The quality of free will does not stem from man's material body but from the image of God in his soul. This is a fundamental principle of the Torah; Every person deserves to be righteous like Moses or evil like Rav’oam... And there is no one who will impose or condemn him, nor one who is drawn to one of the two ways, but he of himself and his mind tends to whichever way he pleases [" Rambam "The laws of teshuvah, 1-3]. But freedom of choice is a precious deposit that, if not properly maintained, is liable to be lost. This is what happens to Pharaoh in our parsha"; And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and I will multiply my mark and my example in the land of Egypt." God weighs down Pharaoh's heart and prevents him from setting the children of Israel free.
Various explanations have been given in midrashim and commentaries. Some explain that after Pharaoh chose to act wickedly in the first five plagues, he was punished by taking away freedom of choice in the last five plagues. Some say that heaviness of heart did not completely deprive Pharaoh of his freedom of choice, only strengthened him so that he could withstand the enormous blows inflicted on him without losing his choice.
Maimonides himself explains that in a state of extreme wickedness, a person may indeed lose his freedom of choice. Just as a person becomes addicted to harmful things from which it is difficult for him to quit, so in extreme situations a person may insert himself into a pattern of behavior from which he cannot get out. having instilled in Egypt norms of enslavement and cruelty and basing his position on the arrogant challenge"; Who is the Lord that I will hear in His voice? Pharaoh can no longer retract it. Against his will, he was pushed into the arms of disaster.
In this situation, there is irony in examining "For the sake of telling your son... What I abused in Egypt. "And from Rashi's explanation I was abusive – I played with them”. The Egyptian slave society was built in the shape of a pyramid, Pharaoh considered himself the upper apex – the only one with free will – while trampling the Israelites who were in the lower tier of slavery. And here the pyramid was reversed: Pharaoh became a slave enslaved to his own wickedness to the point of complete loss of freedom of choice, while the Israelites set out for "eternal freedom."
By choosing, a person can also surprise himself and rise to spiritual heights he never imagined.
One of the most fascinating things in the world of teshuva is to see those dear Jews who, at the "symposium" at the end of the seminar, take upon themselves the yoke of Torah and mitzvot. They swim against the current of social pressure, family environment, general culture and habits of themselves. They activate the power of the soul and prove by their very choice that man is not a robot or a slave but a free man in the full sense of the word.
