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The point of choice

שו”תCategory: philosophyThe point of choice
asked 5 years ago

Greetings to the esteemed Rabbi
It is said in the name of Rabbi Dessler that our choice is very limited because only in a fifty-fifty situation do we have a choice because in a fifty-one situation then the stronger one prevails. My question is do you agree with this because in theory it sounds understandable to me but my intuition says that there is a problem here. Many cases cannot be judged because the person was raped because of his own will. Although he makes excuses that the person was not raped because yesterday he could have chosen well and then he would have influenced the point of choice but things are still strange. Maybe you have already addressed this once but. I searched and did not find it. Thank you very much for your wonderful website.


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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 5 years ago
It really doesn’t make sense, and I don’t think Rabbi Dessler said that. He was talking about a window of choice, but certainly not just 50-50. When I have an 80-20 choice, it’s also a choice, but it’s more difficult. There are situations where it’s very difficult to choose one side because the weight of the other side is very decisive, and then there really is no choice here. Rabbi Dessler talked about this.

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חיים replied 4 years ago

Does a person living in an ultra-Orthodox family or, alternatively, living in a completely secular environment, even have a choice? After all, there is an enormous force in the environment that attracts them to stay where they are and not make a change!

מיכי Staff replied 4 years ago

Clearly there is a choice. The scales are not equal.

חיים replied 4 years ago

I don't exactly understand what is meant by the weights not being equal: after all, Maimonides also says that it is impossible for a person to have some force pulling him in a certain direction, and here we see in the interpretation that the force of the environment (or persistence) pulls him very strongly.

מיכי Staff replied 4 years ago

I don't know which Rambam you're referring to. But it's not only possible but necessary. Every person has forces that pull or push them in different directions. The choice is within them. It's as simple as that, but if you want to read – Read in the books of the science of freedom, and more briefly in the article here:
https://mikyab.net/%d7%9b%d7%aa%d7%91%d7%99%d7%9d/%d7%9e%d7%90%d7%9e%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d/%d7%9e%d7%91%d7%98-%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%98%d7%aa%d7%99-%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%97%d7%95%d7%a4%d7%a9-%d7%94%d7%a8%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%9f

חיים replied 4 years ago

It's still hard for me: An ultra-Orthodox teenager who wants to come out, his parents will kill him so that he stays in the rut, including cutting off contact with him, removing him from the house, etc. Only a few strong in spirit can deal with this, while in most cases they will remain under the wings of religion - not voluntarily but by force.. So where is the free choice? What does the 80-20 choice have to do with this?

מיכי Staff replied 4 years ago

I didn't understand the question. You keep repeating the same thing over and over again.
What you described is exactly an ill-considered choice, like 80-20, or 90-10. The fact is that there are those who nevertheless deviate from the Haredi path.

חיים replied 4 years ago

Sorry to repeat my questions. Probably due to lack of understanding:
1) What is meant by an ill-considered choice? Those who deviate from the Haredi path are forced to struggle hard against the forces of the environment and not all of them succeed in this…
2) Maimonides” in Hilchot Teshuvah (Chapter 5) says:”If there were something that attracts a person mainly by his birth to a path of paths.. or to an opinion of opinions or to an action of actions… how would it command us…Do this and do not do that..and it has already been decreed upon him from the beginning of his creation, etc.’ “. Isn't this the case where a person born into a certain environment is forced to behave like the environment and is not free to behave as he wishes?
3) Isn't there a secular person who does not observe a mitzvah within the scope of ” a captive infant” And isn't a Haredi child like that? In both cases, we are dealing with a situation where he is not free but rather a prisoner of his environment. He does have a choice, but not in essential matters..
Thank you

מיכי replied 4 years ago

Read the article linked above.

הפוסק האחרון replied 4 years ago

Free choice is a fictional idea invented or held by people who didn't like the fact that they didn't have power. They just wanted to be superior in their own eyes.

Suffice it to say that in the Torah, names are given based on the future they will have.

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