Q&A: The Meaning of Choice with the Holy One
The Meaning of Choice with the Holy One
Question
Have a good week, Rabbi,
Regarding the meaning of choice, you previously said that choice without costs is meaningless. Based on that, what is the meaning of choices that the Holy One makes? Does the Holy One pay some kind of price in order to choose? Seemingly, one who is unlimited in every respect has no possibility of paying any price at all, since He has infinite “resources.” I thought perhaps one could answer that the prices He pays are only indirect, through human beings who pay the price on His behalf. For example, let us say there is a quarrel between Abraham and Balaam over a well of water, and the Holy One can intervene and help Abraham or refrain from intervening. Let us assume for the sake of argument that in this particular dispute the justice is actually on Balaam’s side, but in general the Holy One loves Abraham more and therefore wants his good more. Now the Holy One stands before a dilemma: whether to intervene in Abraham’s favor and help the one He loves, or refrain from intervening and thereby avoid harming the attribute of justice. In that case, the price of non-intervention involves a price that Abraham will bear, and since the Holy One loves Abraham, there is in this an indirect “bearing of a cost” for the Holy One as well. What do you think of this?
Answer
The explanation you suggested is somewhat similar to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook’s explanation regarding perfection and self-perfection. That is possible, but the difficulty does not strike me as troubling. The resemblance between us and Him is very limited, and I would not take it so literally. Therefore I would not conclude that for Him too choice is valueless unless there are costs involved. He simply has the power to choose, that’s all. In our case, the power to choose was given to us because we have tasks to fulfill, and those are measured in terms of costs. In His case, the power was not given to Him; it exists as part of His very nature.