Dear Friends:
This is the season—the weeks and days leading up to Rosh Hashanah—that our tradition designates for personal moral inventory. How do we behave toward others, toward God, and toward ourselves? What do we need to do to make amends? The entire spiritual exercise of cheshbon ha-nefesh, literally, “a reckoning of the soul,” is predicated upon Judaism’s core doctrine of free will, the insistence that the essential characteristic of the human being is her capability to make moral decisions.
Free will elevates us above all other creatures. Animals must obey their instincts, but we can transcend ours. In the Rabbinic imagination, we are higher in glory even than the angels. An angel has no choice but to fulfill the purpose that God assigns; we have a choice. As Maimonides puts it, if a person were compelled by reason of her nature to pursue a particular course of action, “how could God have commanded us to improve our ways? What room would there be for the entire Torah?” (Laws of Repentance 5:4)
For this reason, Judaism tends to avoid the maxim of “turning the other cheek.” By ignoring another’s offense against us, we deny his freedom of moral action. By holding him accountable for his wrongdoings, we uphold his essential humanity. (Does this statement contradict what I wrote last week about the need to forgive? I think not. Forgiving someone does not entail letting him off the hook.)
In light of cheshbon ha-nefesh, I pray the daily Morning Blessings in a new light. “Blessed are You, God, for making me in Your image,”—that is, with the capacity to know right from wrong. “Blessed are you, God, for making me free,”—that is, for giving me free will. And, finally, “Blessed are you, God, for making me one of Israel,” according to the original etymology of the name—that is, “one who struggles with God.” Indeed, it is often a struggle to do the right thing. However, even within the struggle, there is blessing.
Rabbi Brian
rabbi.brian.besser@gmail.com
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