 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
The following article is based on a recent teleclass given by Eytan Kobre, a member of The Mussar Institute board of directors. Eytan is an attorney who specializes in elder law and is a serious student and teacher of Mussar. This is the first of a two part article. What Price Free Will? Aficionados of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone may recall the episode in which an inveterate gambler named Bob comes up to the pearly gates and is shown to his place of eternal repose. Opening the doors to a large hall, he beholds a scene that is clearly his idea of heaven. It’s a casino packed with patrons enjoying every manner of games of chance, and Bob, too, quickly joins in the fun. Lo and behold, he wins at one game after another. Whether it’s roulette, blackjack or the slots, Bob simply never loses. This goes on for some time, until Bob begins to tire of his constant winning ways. Sitting down at the bar, he orders a beer – it’s on the house – and remarks to the bartender: “I wonder what the ‘other place’ looks like,” to which the bartender responds: “Buddy, you don’t understand; this is the ‘other place.’” Serling’s eerie theme music comes on, as the camera pans Bob’s dumbstruck face and the scene fades. Whether Serling knew it or not, this scene encapsulates one of Judaism’s deepest teachings about the nature and function of that which defines a person’s very humanity: his free will. To explain, let’s go for a whirlwind tour of Jewish Philosophy 101, and, in particular, what Judaism teaches about man’s purpose in this world. In brief, G-d is good, and goodness necessarily implies bestowal of goodness upon another. Being perfect, G-d wishes to bestow the greatest good possible, which is connection to Him, Source of all goodness. He therefore creates all of existence, with man as its focal point. Utilizing all of created existence to help him become G-dlike, man creates the connection to G-d which will eventually enable him to partake of the ultimate, Divine goodness. Where? In that realm where G-d’s goodness can be experienced fully, the World-to-Come. There is a great deal to digest here and, indeed, one can, and ought to, spend time thinking through each of the above concepts (free tip: check out Akiva Tatz’s Worldmask). But for now, a basic question remains: Why must we pass through our present world, which is so often and for so many a vale of tears, on our way to the ultimate destination of the next world? The answer to this is a key to many things: being created in the Divine image, as we are, means being free, really free, as G-d is, to create – and destroy – worlds. By contrast, if we were robotic entities devoid of free will, we’d be as diametrically opposite to the Divine as possible and, hence, no true likeness/connection to the Divine would be possible. It is only by creating this G-d-likeness/connection, through our moral choices in this world, that we can experience it for all eternity in the next one. We cannot, by definition, receive such connection as a handout – a lesson that our protagonist Bob learned with the dawning realization that the eternal “reward” of never-ending winning through no effort of his own meant that he had been in the “other place” all along. Stay tuned for Part II next month. If you would like to converse with Eytan, he can be reached at ekobre@ltciplanner.com. For more information on Everyday Holiness: the course click here. |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
