6741 —גשמים בשביעית, הוכחת אחדות הבורא בשכל, וידיעה ובחירה

B"H, 2 Adar II^[1], 5719
Brooklyn.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

In reply to your letter of 26 Adar I^[2], [with] questions:

a) Since we were commanded concerning the Seventh Year, etc., how is it that rain falls in the Seventh Year, etc.?

The question – along these lines – and the answer are already cited in the words of our Sages, in Bereishis Rabbah, parshah 11:5; Likkutei Torah of the Alter Rebbe, Tazria (21c)^[3].

b) Can the unity of the Creator be proven by reason?

It is not understood what the necessity is to do so specifically by reason, when all Jews are believers, the children of believers (Shabbos 97a)^[4].

Nevertheless, since you have touched on this, look into the Sefer HaEmunos VeHaDeos of R. Saadiah Gaon; in Shaar HaYichud of the Sefer Chovos HaLevavos; and in many places^[5].

c) How can Divine knowledge be reconciled with man's free choice?

Answer: This is no question at all*, for knowledge is not the opposite of choice; only compulsion is^[6]. An example of this: a man who knows the future – this does not touch at all on the free choice of the person who has to act; the one who knows the future knows how he will act^[7].

And turn away from this path of searching for questions, etc., when you could use your time with diligence and perseverance in the study of Torah with the fear of Heaven, and in setting fixed times for the study of the teachings of Chassidus. If this was necessary at all times and in every place, how much more so in this era of ours, and in the Holy Land, may it be built and established^[8], in particular.

With blessing for good news^[9],

In the name of the Rebbe shlita^[10]

Secretary

*) Known is how much has been written on this at length in many places^[11]. Among them: Zohar Chadash, Tikkunim, at its end (121b); Hilchos Teshuvah of the Rambam, chapter 5^[12], and the commentators there (and on what the Or Sameach wrote there, there is much to remark)^[13]; Pardes, Shaar 4, chapter 9^[14]; the Shelah, in the introduction "Beis HaBechirah"; Torah Or of the Alter Rebbe (15a)^[15]. But their question is a deep one, and not as you wrote it. This is not the place [to elaborate]^[16].

Publisher's notes

Divine knowledge and man's free choice (הידיעה של מעלה ובחירת האדם): see also above, vol. 3, letters 439 and 442; vol. 16, letter 5883.

Notes

1. Adar II (אד"ש): אד"ש = אדר שני, Adar II (5719 was a leap year).

2. Adar I (אד"ר): אד"ר = אדר ראשון, Adar I.

3. Bereishis Rabbah… Likkutei Torah… Tazria (ברז"ל, בבראשית רבה… לקו"ת לאדה"ז תזריע): The recipient asked: since the Jewish people were commanded to rest from working the land in the Seventh Year, why does rain fall in it? A question "along these lines" – about Shabbos – and its answer appear in Bereishis Rabbah 11:5: Turnusrufus the wicked asked R. Akiva, אם כדבריך שהקדוש ברוך הוא מכבד את השבת, אל ישב בה רוחות, אל יוריד בה גשמים, אל יצמיח בה עשב, "If, as you say, the Holy One, blessed be He, honors the Shabbos, let Him not make the winds blow on it, let Him not bring down rain on it, let Him not make grass grow on it." R. Akiva answered with a parable: one who lives alone in a courtyard may carry throughout it; אף כאן הקדוש ברוך הוא לפי שאין רשות אחרת עמו, וכל העולם כלו שלו, מתר בכל עולם כלו, "so too the Holy One, blessed be He: since there is no other domain with Him and the whole world is His, He is permitted [to carry] in the whole world." Likkutei Torah, Tazria, the discourse "Lamenatzei'ach al hasheminis", cites this midrash and explains the answer in terms of the inner dimension of the worlds.

4. Believers, the children of believers (מאמינים בני מאמינים): Shabbos 97a: Reish Lakish says that one who suspects the innocent is punished in his body, as Moshe was when he said "But they will not believe me", for it was revealed before G‑d that Israel would believe. אמר לו: הן מאמינים בני מאמינים, ואתה אין סופך להאמין, "He said to him: They are believers, the children of believers, and you will in the end not believe." Faith in G‑d's unity is an inheritance of every Jew from his forefathers, and does not depend on rational proof.

5. Sefer HaEmunos VeHaDeos… Chovos HaLevavos (ספר האמונות ודיעות… חובת הלבבות): In Sefer HaEmunos VeHaDeos of R. Saadiah Gaon, the second treatise deals with the unity of the Creator; in Chovos HaLevavos of Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Pakuda, the first gate is "Shaar HaYichud", the Gate of Unity. בכ"מ = בכמה מקומות, "in many places".

6. Only compulsion is (כ"א ההכרה): כ"א = כי אם, "only". ההכרה here means compulsion, coercion: only coercion is the opposite of choice, not knowledge.

7. A man who knows the future (איש יודע עתידות): The Rebbe gave the same example on 28 Marcheshvan 5718 (vol. 16, letter 5883; see the publisher's note): והביאור יותר פשוט כמו בכמה ענינים הוא ע"י דוגמא חי' מהענין דאיש יודע עתידות ורואה אשר לאחרי כמה זמן פלוני יעשה ענין פלוני, שאעפ"כ הבחירה של העושה חפשית לגמרי מידיעתו של זה, "the simplest explanation, as in many matters, is through a living example: a man who knows the future and sees that after such-and-such a time so-and-so will do such-and-such – and nevertheless the choice of the one who acts is entirely free of the other's knowledge."

8. How much more so… the Holy Land, may it be built and established (עאכו"כ… באה"ק ת"ו): עאכו"כ = על אחת כמה וכמה; אה"ק ת"ו = ארץ הקודש תבנה ותכונן.

9. Good news (לבשו"ט): לבשו"ט = לבשורות טובות.

10. The Rebbe shlita (כ"ק אדמו"ר שליט"א): כ"ק אדמו"ר שליט"א = "our holy master, teacher and Rebbe, may he live long and good days, amen". The letter was written by the secretary in the Rebbe's name.

11. *) Known is… (ידוע מה שהאריכו): This is the Rebbe's footnote (*) to the words "This is no question at all" above.

12. Hilchos Teshuvah, chapter 5 (הל' תשובה להרמב"ם פ"ה): Hilchos Teshuvah 5:5: שמא תאמר והלוא הקדוש ברוך הוא יודע כל מה שיהיה קודם שיהיה, "Perhaps you will say: does not the Holy One, blessed be He, know all that will be before it comes to be?… דע שתשובת שאלה זו "ארוכה מארץ, מדה; ורחבה, מני-ים", וכמה עיקרים גדולים והררים רמים תלויים בה, "Know that the answer to this question is 'longer than the earth in measure and wider than the sea', and many great principles and lofty mountains depend on it." He explains there that the Holy One, blessed be He, אינו יודע בדעה שהיא חוץ ממנו כבני אדם שהן ודעתם שנים, אלא הוא יתברך שמו ודעתו אחד, "does not know with a knowledge that is outside Him, like people, who and whose knowledge are two; rather He, blessed be His Name, and His knowledge are one."

13. The Or Sameach (אור שמח): The Rebbe does not say what is to be remarked on the words of the Or Sameach (a commentary on the Rambam's Mishneh Torah) there.

14. Pardes, Shaar 4, chapter 9 (פרדס ש"ד פ"ט): ש"ד פ"ט = שער ד' פרק ט'. Torah Or (see below) also refers to it: ועיין בפרדס שער ד' פרק ט', בענין ידיעה ובחירה, "See Pardes, Shaar 4, chapter 9, on knowledge and choice."

15. Torah Or (15a) (תו"א (טו, א)): In the discourse "Eirdah na" (Parshas Vayeira), in the gloss: מה שאין כן הידיעה שהקדוש ברוך הוא יודע העתיד ומעשה האדם קודם שנעשה, אינו על ידם כלל - כי אם ידיעה זו היא במקום גבוה מאד בחינת דעת עליון. ולהיות דעת זה בחינת מקיף, אינו מכריח את הבחירה, שאין האדם מתפעל מזה, "But the knowledge by which the Holy One, blessed be He, knows the future and a person's deeds before they are done is not through them at all; this knowledge is in a very high place, the level of supernal knowledge. And since this knowledge is encompassing, it does not compel the choice, for the person is not affected by it."

16. Not as you wrote it… This is not the place (ודלא ככתבו. ואכ"מ): ככתבו = "as he wrote it" in his letter; ואכ"מ = ואין כאן מקומו. The question as he put it – as though knowing compels choosing – has a simple answer, like the example of one who knows the future; but the question these works deal with is a deep one, and not as the recipient wrote it.

Summary

Through his secretary the Rebbe answers three questions: why rain falls in the Seventh Year (compare the Midrash on Shabbos – the whole world is G‑d's); why prove G‑d's unity by reason when every Jew is a believer, the son of believers; and how Divine knowledge leaves choice free (knowing is not compelling). He urges the recipient to spend his time instead on diligent Torah study and fixed study of Chassidus.