Thursday, May 22, 2008

Why this was and not that way ?

B"H

"Why this way and not that way" ? - This is the question we keep on asking throughout our lives. "Why did G - d create the world in such and such a way ? If I was G - d, of course, I would have done something else. And why don't get bad people punished immediately ?"

G - d created us and the world according to a perfect plan. He didn't want us to be robots which just act according to one will. Instead He created us with a "Free Will" and the "Free Will - Concept" must include positive and negative sides. There has to be good and evil in this world because otherwise we wouldn't have a choice. We can choose between secualr, religious, G - dfearing or the opposite. What kind of a person do we want to be ? Good or evil or something in between ? It is all up to us.

Of course, He could have created us as perfect human being but obviously this wasn't His plan. And would bad people receive their punishment instantly, where would be our Free Will ? We see someone getting punished and, of course, we won't do the same mistakes as he did. So, we do G - d's will out of fear but not out of love, Devekut, etc.

But doesn't G - d still sometimes interfere ? There are times when we have a certain plan in life and want to make it real. Then, however, everything seems to go just wrong. You could see this as a hint from G - d. Maybe He knows that this is not the right path for you and wants somehow make you aware of your mistake. Other people simply see the difficulties as a challenge. A challenge from G - d to work harder and not to give up.

"Free Will" is one of the most important concepts in Judaism. Nevertheless, according to some opinions like the Ishbitzer Rebbe, we do not have a Free Will. Everything is up to G - d and we only do what He wants and estimates. This leaves us with the question if this opinion couldn't be used as an excuse ? Anything we do wrong was planned by G - d and it isn't really my fault. Those are very philosophical questions and, so far, I haven't met anyone who could determine Free Will. Where does it start and where does it end ?

Maybe we should all use our Free Will and think it over for some time.

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