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August 6, 1999/24 Av 5759, Vol. 51, No.44
Making the right choice
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Re'eh/Deuteronomy 11:26 - 16:17
The biblical portion this week opens with an eternal drama set before humanity for all eternity: "See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of (God) and curse if you do not obey the commandments" (Deuteronomy 11:26-28).
God had presented Adam and Eve with a similar choice: the blessings of the Garden of Eden and eternal life if they accepted the Divine command not to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil; or the curse of exile and mortality if they spurned the word of God and ate the forbidden fruit.
The concept of free choice and the concomitant possibility of fall, as well as the challenge of repair and redemption, is built into the Divine design of the creation of the human being.
Adam uses a variation of the Hebrew word metinah (gift) when addressing God in defending himself for eating the forbidden fruit: Eve "gave me of the tree, and I ate" (Genesis 3:12). This "giving" by Eve, of course, led to Adam and Eve's exile from the Garden of Eden.
Adam's use of the word metinah in describing Eve's involvement may be a subtle suggestion that beyond the tragedy of the garden, and the curse of expulsion, is the blessing of choice, the blessing of Adam and Eve's essential humanity as God's creatures who are part of the process of history.
In the Book of Genesis, the geographic choice is clear: the luscious Garden of Eden or bleak exile. In this week's Torah reading, the blessing is linked to Mount Gerizim and the curse to Mount Ebal.
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are two unremarkable, neighboring peaks in a desert landscape. The peak of blessing, Mount Gerizim, is nearer the sun and thus moist and fruitful. The peak of curse, Mount Ebal, is dry and sparsely vegetated.
The Ramban, Nahmanides, adds a mystical dimension: Mount Gerizim is positioned more to the south, on the right, symbolizing divine love. Mount Ebal is to the north, on the left, symbolizing strict justice and law.
Parents, too, must give their children both love and limits. Yet when push comes to shove, the choices parents make must be informed by the strength of their love.
Given the importance and the blessing of free choice, how can we guarantee, or at least improve, the chances that our loved ones, especially our children, make the right choices in heeding God's commands?
I remember my son's perceptive words, when he was only 14, as he smilingly accused me of being disingenuous: "Abba (Father), you only pretend to be liberal because you believe that will be the most effective way to make us come out like you and Ema (Mother)."
Some years ago, a close friend considered asking his eldest son, who had returned from the army alienated from Torah observances, to move out of the house. "After all," he said to me with tears in his eyes, "I fear the influence on the younger children."
I was close to agreeing with his position when, by chance that very night, I listened to a radio interview with an Israeli professor of Hebrew and Semitics. The interviewer asked the professor why he hadn't Hebraized his European surname.
"I would never change my name," the professor responded. "My father would have loved me to change my name. He was very religious, a world-renowned Torah scholar. He threw me out of the house because I wasn't observant. Wherever he is, I want him to know that he has a son with the same name who eats shrimp on Yom Kippur."
I called my friend immediately and urged him not to close his door on his son.
A story is told about Rav Yisrael baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Hassidic movement, who advised a distraught father complaining about his irreligious son, to love him.
"But you don't understand," cried the father. "He is stubborn, rebellious, scornful of everything sacred."
"Then love him even more," responded the Baal Shem Tov.
By the way, today my friend's son is married and completely observant.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Efrat, Israel.
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