Q&A: The Point of Choice
The Point of Choice
Question
Hello Honorable Rabbi,
People say in the name of Rabbi Dessler that our choice is very limited, since only in a fifty-fifty situation do we have choice, because in a fifty-one situation the stronger side prevails. My question is whether you agree with this, because logically it sounds understandable to me, but my intuition tells me there is a problem here. In many cases you can’t judge them, since the person was compelled by his own will. True, he explains that the person is not compelled, because yesterday he could have chosen the good, and then it would have affected the point of choice, but still these things seem strange. Maybe you already addressed this once, but I searched and didn’t find it. Thank you very much for your wonderful site.
Answer
It really makes no sense, and in my opinion Rabbi Dessler did not say that. He spoke about a window of choice, but certainly not only about 50-50.
When I have an 80-20 choice, that is also a choice, only it is harder. There are situations in which it is very hard to choose one side because the weight of the other side is so decisive, and then indeed there is no choice here. That is what Rabbi Dessler was talking about.
Discussion on Answer
Of course there is choice. The weights are not equal.
I don’t exactly understand what is meant by saying the weights are not equal. After all, Maimonides also says that it cannot be that a person has some force pulling him in a certain direction, and here we clearly see that the force of the environment (or habit) pulls him very strongly.
I don’t know which Maimonides you mean. But not only can that be the case, it is necessary. Every person has forces that pull or push him in different directions. Choice exists within them. It’s obvious, but if you want to read, read my book The Science of Freedom, and more briefly, the article here:
It’s still hard for me: a Haredi teenager who wants to leave religion—his parents will make his life miserable so that he stays in line, including cutting off contact with him, throwing him out of the house, etc. Only a few who are mentally strong can cope with this, while in most cases they will remain under the wings of religion—not willingly, but under compulsion. So where is the free choice here? What does an 80-20 choice have to do with this?
I didn’t understand the question. You keep repeating the same thing over and over.
What you described is exactly an uneven choice, like 80-20 or 90-10. The fact is that there are those who nevertheless deviate from the Haredi path.
Sorry that I’m repeating my questions. Apparently it’s from lack of understanding:
1) What does an uneven choice mean? Those who depart from the Haredi path are forced to struggle hard against the power of the environment, and not everyone succeeds at that…
2) Maimonides in the Laws of Repentance (chapter 5) says: “If there were something that pulled a person, by his primary nature, to one of the paths… or to one of the opinions or to one of the actions… how could we be commanded… do this and do not do that… if from the beginning of his creation it had already been decreed upon him,” 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 act as he wishes?
3) Isn’t a secular person who does not keep commandments considered like a ‘captured child,’ and isn’t a Haredi child also like that? In both cases this is a situation in which he is not free, but rather captive in the hands of the environment… He still has choice, but not in substantial matters…
Thank you
Read the article linked above.
Free choice is a fictional idea invented by, or embraced by, people who didn’t like the fact that they have no control. They just wanted to be superior in their own eyes.
It is enough to note that in the Torah names are given on the basis of what will happen to them in the future.
Does a person who lives in a Haredi family, or alternatively someone living in a completely secular environment, have any choice at all? After all, there is an enormous power in the environment pulling them to stay where they are and not make a change!