Avodah Mailing List

Volume 17 : Number 048

Tuesday, May 23 2006

• RE: Al Naharos Bavel: Authorship and Ibn Ezra's shitta
• Divine Inaction
• travelling mountains

R' Simcha Coffer  wrote:
> R' Avigdor Miller has a fascinating approach to resolve apparent
> contradictions between bechira and nevua. The upshot of it is that a nevua
> is only one possible scenario however there are many scenarios that can
> be read into the nevua and in the end a person's bechira is kovea the
> ultimate interpretation of the nevua. He illustrates this at length and
> goes much deeper into it than I have just portrayed v'ein kan mikomo.

This idea of the bechira being kovea the nevua is somewhat reminiscent
of the observer causing the collapse of the wave function in quantum
mechanics. I have no idea if this similarity has any significance or not,
but I could hear the possibility that there is more depth to this analogy.

Kol Tuv
Chaim Manaster

On Thu, May 18, 2006 at 04:52:55PM -0400, Steg Belsky wrote to Areivim
WRT the Shoah:
: Or are you equating a philosophical stance that claims God *allowed* it 
: to happen (as a consequence of free will) with a philosophical stance 
: that claims God *decided* that it would happen?

I don't see the difference between action and the Omnipotent's decision
not to act. By humans, action takes more effort, and therefore implies
more culpability. But WRT the RSO? Effort?

Clearly Hashem decided it would happen. Invoking bechirah would mean
that Hashem values bechirah sufficiently to justify allowing terrible
things to happen to preserve it. Not an impossible position -- without
bechirah, what value does life have altogether?

I recommend taking RKBS's advice, though, and not try to explain the
inexplicable (at least to basar vadam).

:-)BBii!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 36th day, which is
micha@aishdas.org        5 weeks and 1 day in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Chesed sheb'Yesod: What is the kindness in
Fax: (270) 514-1507                 being a stable and reliable partner?

In the category of: "who says ya' gotta take this midrash
allegorically?," I submit this link:
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,196226,00.html  >

Here's the background:

When the Holy One, blessed be He, stood up and said: 'I am the Lord your
God,' the mountains trembled and the hills wavered, Tabor came from Beit
Elim and Carmel from Aspamea (Spain?), as it is said, 'As I live, said
the King, Lord of Hosts, surely as Tabor among the mountains and Carmel
by the sea would come' (Jeremiah 46:18). One mountain said: 'I was called
[by God].' The other mountain said: 'I, too, was called.' But when they
heard from God's mouth: 'Who brought you out of the land of Egypt,'
each one of the mountains stood in its place, and said: 'He is only
speaking with those He brought out from Egypt.' (adapted from Mechilta
d'Rabbi Yishmael Maseches baChodesh Chapter 5)

All the best,
Phil Silverman

*********************


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