Q&A: Perhaps We Will Return to Direct Relations with the Holy One, Blessed be He
Perhaps We Will Return to Direct Relations with the Holy One, Blessed be He
Question
Hello,
In Book II, page 234 (with slight omissions), it says:
"It is בהחלט possible that after the completion of the process of repair there will once again be room to return and establish direct relations with the Holy One, Blessed be He… distance may no longer be necessary, and then our relationship with the Holy One, Blessed be He could reach its full meaning" –
A. What is the logic that perhaps the relationship will return? Why would that happen?
B. In direct relations with Him (both according to the Rabbi’s approach and according to the common approach regarding what is expected to happen in the future), there is harm to free choice, which is something foundational.
If there are miracles, that harms free choice. And according to the Rabbi’s view, if there are open miracles we won’t be able to further develop scientific inquiry, because there is no longer any regularity (or we won’t need it, because everything will be supernatural).
Answer
A. I don’t know. His ways are beyond me. I raise possibilities in both directions.
B. I don’t know whether in the future there will be any meaning to free choice. Just as in the World to Come after death it has no meaning. In a repaired world there are no sins, and in any case there is no need for choice. The question is, of course, at what stage we are speaking about ("there is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah…"), but I don’t deal with all these speculations.
Beyond that, I don’t think miracles contradict free choice. As the third Isaiah already said, miracles never brought anyone to repentance (and the main example is the sin of the Golden Calf, which was committed in the wake of the greatest miracle).