Rabbi's Corner

In this week’s parashah, Parashat Re’eh, we read the following: “See [that] I am putting before you today blessings and curses.  The blessings: [on condition] that you will hearken to the mitzvot (commandments) of HaShem, Your G-d, that I am commanding you today.  And the curses: if you will not hearken to the mitzvot of HaShem, your G-d, and you will stray from the path that I am commanding you today to go after other gods.”  [Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:26-28] Our Tradition teaches that all that happens in this world is ordained by Hashem except for the most precious gift He has given us: free will.  Based on this passage from our Torah, we see that Hashem wants us to use our free will in order to make a very clear-cut choice: either follow the mitzvot of the Torah and live or do not follow the mitzvot of the Torah and die.  It would seem very obvious to the most clear-headed thinker that the choice must be made to live, yes?  I offer the following two vignettes for your consideration in answering this question.

An eagle’s nest was accidently placed in a chicken coop.  The egg in the nest eventually hatched, and the eagle grew up thinking it was no different from all of its chicken friends in the coop.  The eagle did everything that the chickens did.  It scratched the dirt for seeds.  It clucked and cackled.  It walked and ran and hopped.  It never tried flying more than a few feet because, after all, its chicken friends could not fly.

          Once a man asked Shlomo HaMelekh (King Solomon) to teach him the language of birds, but Shlomo HaMelekh refused to do so explaining that it was not a good idea to be familiar with the language of birds.  But the man persisted, so Shlomo HaMelekh taught him.  One day the man was walking down the street listening to the birds chirping.  He found out that they were “talking” about him describing how that very night all of his sheep were going to die.  The man thought to himself: “This is horrible news! Now that I know, I can sell them before it happens!” So, he sold his sheep.  A few days later, he again listened to the birds chirping while he was walking, and again they were “talking” about him, this time saying that his house was going to burn down that very night.  He quickly sold his house.  He was very pleased with himself as he thought how good it was that he knew the language of birds, for he had saved himself from suffering a huge monetary loss.  The next day as he listened to the birds chirping, he found out that he was to die that very night!  Of course, he became very upset and ran to see Shlomo HaMelekh to tell him what had happened.

          Shlomo HaMelekh shook his head and said: “Now you understand why I did not want to teach you the language of birds.  Apparently, you once committed a certain sin for which you deserve severe punishment.  However, Hashem in H-s great kindness, wanted to give you a “clean slate” by giving you a small punishment: killing all your sheep.  When you did not allow H-m to do that, He moved on to the burning down of your house, but you did not allow H-m to do that either.  Therefore, the only remaining action that Hashem could provide you with atonement for your soul was your death.”

Two stories about using our free will to make choices.  In the story about the eagle, the choice was wasted.  The eagle did not aspire to anything greater as he wanted to be like every “Tom, Dick, and Harry.”  Too often, we, the People Israel, make that very same choice.  We forget that we are not like everyone else; we forget that we are covenanted to Hashem.  In the story about the man who learned how understand the language of birds, we must never forget that although we have been created b’Tzelem Elohim (in the Image of G-d), we cannot “outsmart” Hashem by making the wrong choices we think will benefit us.  And we must never fail to use the Torah as our indispensable guide in making the right choices.