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The 28th of Shevat is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Menachem Nachum Twersky (ben Yochanon) of Chernoby...
The 29th of Shevat is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Chananya Yom Tov Lipa (ben Yekusiel Yehuda) Teitel...
Human prayer is the service of the spirit. Although people do not realize it, it involves the...
Thoughts that disturb your prayers can be an atonement for your sins. When you are not suspic...
The 1st of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Yitzchak Meir (ben Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel) of Zinko...
The question was raised as to why there are different customs regarding the order of prayer, ...
Listening to a musical melody on instruments played by a pious musician for the sake of heave...
The 1st of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Yitzchak Meir of Zinkov, son of the Apta Rav (1855). ...
It is written, “These are the histories of the heaven and the earth when they were created - ...
The 14th of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Yitzchok (ben Nosson) Sternhartz of Tulchin of Bresl...
When we see the element of corporeality in something or, heaven forbid, of evil, then we are ...
The divine soul of man is transmitted and descends to this world to be clothed in a human bod...
The 12th of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Shmuel (ben Yeshaya) Halevi Horowitz (1972). Born in...
One should make strenuous efforts to attain joy in any way possible, searching within himself...
The 29th of Shevat is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Reuven (ben Yaakov Chaim) Horowitz of Zamotzva (18...
Our Sages teach us that God constricted His Divine Presence between the two staves that were ...
This paragraph is sung by Mordechai and Esther as they reflect on the Purim story: “Give ...
I suspect that the Jews who heard of Haman’s decree did not celebrate God’s kindness, or perc...
The “Servant of God” who is singing the Hallel sees life as a series of challenges to grow as...
The Chasid Ya’avetz introduces this paragraph by explaining it as the praise of Israel when t...
The Chasid Ya’avetz continues his commentary on Hallel by pointing out that the Children of I...
According to the Chasid Ya’avetz, the key verse of the Adar Hallel is, “The heavens are God’s...
Table Talk: Vayeishev |
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![]() Free Choice vs. God's Providence Does God determine our choices? (37:24) "And they took him and they threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it." (Shabbat 22b) "There was no water in the pit, but there were snakes and scorpions." Why did the brothers throw Joseph into a pit filled with dangerous animals if they had decided not to kill him? The Or Hachaim HaKadosh explains that the brothers were convinced that Joseph deserved to die. However, they were fully aware that they were human beings with free choice, and that even if God had not determined that Joseph should die at that point, they could still successfully kill their brother. They decided to determine what God wanted by throwing Joseph into this dangerous pit; snakes and scorpions do not have free choice and would only kill Joseph if that was God's will. The Or Hachaim is teaching us that the gift of free choice can even be used against God's will. King David made an important decision based on this principle: In the Second Book of Samuel, chapter 24, David sinned by ordering a direct census of his kingdom. (The opening verse of this chapter touches on another aspect of Divine Providence: "The anger of Hashem again flared against Israel, and He enticed David..." This is only one of a number of examples of God leading someone to sin. See Kings I 12:15) God offered David a choice of one of three punishments: "Would you rather have seven years of famine come to your land, or three months of fleeing from your enemy while he pursues you, or three days' pestilence in your land? David said to Gad, the prophet, "Let us fall into the hand of God, for His mercies are abundant; but let me not fall into human hands." David's choice only makes sense if the Or Hachaim is correct and human choice can contradict the will of God. Otherwise, why would David fear falling into human hands? However, King David chose to allow Shimi ben Geira to live despite having cursed the king, because "He is cursing because God said to him, ‘Curse David" Did Shimi not have free choice? Could he not have chosen to curse David even if God had not willed it? Forms of Comfort (37:34-35) "Then Jacob rent his garments and placed sackcloth on his loins; he mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to comfort himself, and said, "For I will go down to the grave mourning for my son." Please note that the verse describes two distinct stages: 1) Arose to comfort him, and 2) refused to comfort himself. The Torah seems to be telling us that we can comfort a mourner only up to the point at which he can comfort himself. How does this play out in the laws of comforting mourners? For example, we do not open a conversation with the mourners during the first three of the seven days of mourning. The mourners are too overwhelmed to comfort themselves. Our job is to help them comfort themselves, not to comfort them. Why does the verse describe Jacob's children as "rising" to comfort him? Compare this comfort to Chronicles 1 7:22: "Ephraim their father mourned them for many days, though his brothers came to comfort him." Samuel II 10:2: "So David sent a message to Hanun, the king of Ammon, by the hands of his servants to console him over his father." Is there a difference between rising to comfort, coming to comfort and sending to comfort?
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