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he sat and yearned and wanted, and suddenly his father opened the will exists precisely in the enigma of the body (i.e., the true
door and told him, ‘My son, I changed my mind. I myself will take essential will, as was explained at length in the previous essay). In all
you.’” That is because when a person has intent, not only does he parts of a person, everything is absolutely the same as
break down all of the barriers in his way, but the barriers themselves it was before the sin, when there was no free will at all.
are transformed into help and assistance. Thus, an individual who The secret of free choice is that it is the secret of the will
had blocked him now supports him. The court will tell Shimon, (i.e., free choice lies only in a person’s will, and everything depends on
“As soon as your wife yelled a little, you gave up and abandoned that…). From here, we learn a great principle regarding
your resolve. But when Naphtali’s wife stopped him by force and man’s service and purpose. Where does a person begin
threatened to divorce him, he continued to want with all his heart,
until in the end she herself packed his bag and gave him money for and where does he end? Everything is brought to an end
the trip.” with the will! The will is the beginning of the man, and
it is everything.
The court will tell each one of these people: “It is true that you
had intent, but it was weak. Therefore, when you were confronted Free Will
by a weak obstacle, you abandoned your will. And when you did
that, the story was over. You didn’t attend the gathering. But Thus, since deed is not in a person’s hands and the essence of
someone else who had many more difficult obstacles or who had free will lies in his intent, we have an answer to the question that
absolutely no way of getting to the gathering did not abandon his was previously raised regarding the apparent quandary in choosing
will. His intent stayed strong and true. Therefore, although he faced freely. A person’s entire difficulty in choosing good only involves
obstacles that were several times greater than yours, his will only action, which is entirely out of his hands. Heaven wants that which
grew stronger, and he truly wanted. Therefore, he succeeded and is in a person’s hands, which is his will. From the aspect of will,
made it to the gathering. Even when he saw that things were hard, the ability of every person on every level to choose is entirely free.
he continued to want, and he strengthened his resolve even more. Why is that?
He did not look for excuses. He did not say, ‘Leave me alone, it is
too hard for me, this isn’t for me.’ He truly wanted, and therefore, The simple answer is that the will is the essence of the soul. It
he arrived. is your inner being. You can direct it at any time. It is the only
factor that is always in your hand! Your will is always free. Nothing
“And even if such a person didn’t actually make it to the can ever stop it. And that is not connected to action—because
gathering, the heavenly court writes down that he did, and that even regarding matters that you cannot do, you can still want.
he performed Hashem’s will fully, because he held firm to his will. Therefore, the concept of “free will” exists fully only in a person’s
You do not know what you might have succeeded in doing if only intent. The essence of your free will is to want to be in accordance
you would have had such intent. Even if you did not attend the with the Creator’s will. All that the Creator wants from you is to
gathering, heaven would have no claims against you, because you exercise your will. Hashem wants you to believe in Him—thus, you
fulfilled your obligation, which is your will, and you would receive must want to have faith; Hashem wants you to keep mitzvot—
complete reward, as though you had actually attended—and even thus, you must want to keep mitzvot; Hashem wants you to refrain
more reward than someone who did attend, but with little intent.” from sinning—thus, you must want to refrain from sinning; Hashem
wants you to know the entire Torah—thus, you must want to know
As was stated earlier, when a person holds fast to his will, not the entire Torah. In accordance with this approach, Hashem wants
only does heaven have no claims against him, but it judges him in you to want everything that is His will.
accordance with his will. Therefore, even while he is in this world,