Bechira vs. Yediah – Rambam, Haftorah Ta’anis Tzibbur

Be'ezrat Hashem this week we'll try to take a look at the Rambam's in Hilchos Teshuva about Aseret Yimei Teshuva. Before we get to that, apropos of that, it deals with the pasuk of Dirshu Hashem behimatz'o as well, just a he'arah from the Rambam on yesterday's haftarah, the haftarah for Ta'anis. If one were to have a dream alav hashalom ha-Re'iyah and be invited to have a bakasha that that could be fulfilled, so one would seriously, seriously consider making that bakasha to have a peirush of the Rambam on Tanakh, pasuk by pasuk. It would be mamash lo'eila u'le'eila. The Rambam as you know in the end of perek hei in Hilchos Teshuva, as he spoke about it earlier in Shmona Perakim, deals with the issue of how we reconcile bechira chofshis with Hakadosh Baruch Hu's foreknowledge. And the Rambam says

ודע שתשובת שאלה זו ארוכה מארץ מדה ורחבה מני ים וכמה עיקרים גדולים והררים רמים תלויים בה.

That this goes to the core of our perception of elokus, but a little bit the Rambam says we all need to know the following:

אבל צריך אתה לדעת ולהבין בדבר זה שאני אומר. כבר ביארנו בפרק שני מהלכות יסודי התורה שהקדוש ברוך הוא אינו יודע בדעה שהיא חוץ ממנו כבני אדם שהם ודעתם שנים, אלא הוא יתברך שמו ודעתו אחד. ואין דעתו של אדם יכולה להשיג דבר זה על בוריו. וכשם שאין כח באדם להשיג ולמצוא אמיתת הבורא, שנאמר כי לא יראני האדם וחי, כך אין כח באדם להשיג ולמצוא דעתו של בורא. הוא שהנביא אומר כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי נאום ה'. וכיון שכן הוא אין בנו כוח לידע היאך ידע הקדוש ברוך הוא כל הברואים ומעשיהם.

So just a superficial rendition of the little little bit that the Rambam is megaleh to us. So the Rambam says that the whole question is predicated upon a mistake. It's not that the Rambam answers the question as much as says that the question has to be withdrawn. He says why do we think there's a question? Because the way a human being knows something is I know what is. I can know that it's daytime because it is daytime. I look outside and it is daytime. I can know there's a Mishna Berura on the table in front of me because there is, right? So I know what is, right? A person knows what is. If you would operate with that mode of knowing, of knowledge, and you could really know the future, so then that would mean that the future is set. It would mean the future is, it would mean the future is predetermined. And then mimaila you seem to have this irreconcilable conflict between the bechira and knowledge of the future. Lichshe'timtze lomar that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's way of knowing is totally different than our way of knowing. And that we can't understand Hakadosh Baruch Hu's mode of knowing because to understand Hakadosh Baruch Hu's mode of knowing you have to understand Hakadosh Baruch Hu, you can't understand Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So it's not that the question is answered, it's that you can't ask a question because the question presumes that you a certain understanding of how knowledge operates. If a person knows what is, so then to know the future means the future is determined. But if a person doesn't know things which are external to him because they are, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu is infinite and everything is just through self-knowledge, it has nothing to do with what's external, we don't know how Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows, so you can't have any questions, you don't know what the implications of his knowledge are. Okay. The Rambam says that this idea is what we read in yesterday's haftarah, כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי נאום ה'. So it comes out according to the Rambam, hafla va'fele, the pshat in the pesukim is as follows: Dirshu Hashem behimatz'o is the chiyuv to do teshuva, right? To do teshuva especially Aseret Yimei Teshuva. Then the navi tells you how to do teshuva, יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו. The Rambam quotes the pasuk twice in perek bet,

ומה היא התשובה שיעזוב החוטא חטאו ויסירו ממחשבתו ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד, שנאמר יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו.

I maybe'll say there should be no chiyuv teshuva, everything is predetermined, it's not my fault, what I did is not my fault, the Ribono Shel Olam knew I was going to do it. So so what's the dirshu Hashem behimatzo, what's the yaazov rasha darko? No, כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי. Yeah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu takke knew, he knew before before Rachmana Litzlan every chet I did, he knew about it, but כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם. The fact that he knew it didn't didn't predetermine it, that's that's not why I did it, I did it of my own bechira, and that's why dirshu Hashem behimatzo, that's why yaazov rasha darko.