FREE CHOICE: How Does It Works?
BH Corona Help Campaign IMPORTANT UPDATE https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/ODk5NDk= FULL SHIUR :STUMP THE RABBI (60) Tough Questions, FREE WILL, Kosher PIG Prophecy, MITZVAH KILLER and much more https://youtu.be/AMReb9Lk-Rg BREAKING JEWISH NEWS: The World's FIRST TIKKUN HaBRIT & TeShuva Movies CD/DVD Combo in ENGLISH. Join The Campain for Your Personal Ticket To Olam HaBa!!! https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/NjY5MTE= To Support our KIRUV and Torah Teachings work please DONATE at www.BeEzratHaShem.org If you'd like to invite Rabbi Yaron Reuven to give a lecture at your synagogue, home or office please email Info@BeEzratHaShem.org Rabbi Reuven is based out of Florida but travels to give lectures to different groups. Join one of our interactive "Interesting Torah" Whatsapp groups to get daily updates and short Torah clips that can uplift your day by texting 1.917.468.2324 or +91 93236 69880 Available on Apple iTunes Store, Amazon App Store and Android Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beezrathashem GOOGLE App https://apps.apple.com/us/app/beezrat-hashem/id1279094981?uo=4 APPLE App https://www.amazon.com/Hosttec-Solutions-BeEzrat-HaShem/dp/B07QST1294/ AMAZON App Click here https://soundcloud.com/yaronreuven/se... To Listen to our very popular "Daily Chidush" short audio series on SOUNDCLOUD or the Podcast Channel at https://beezrathashem.jewishpodcasts.... Born in Netanya, Israel, Rabbi Yaron Reuven began his American Dream as a little boy, when his family immigrated to the United States. He went from a newspaper boy at the age of 10, to a well-known self-made Wall Street multimillionaire by the age of 23. During his time in Wall Street, he owned his own private brokerage firm, a hedge fund, and an international insurance agency. He was featured on CNBC, Bloomberg and Chinese NDTV due to his success in the financial industry. At age 26 he faced a 7-year battle for his life when a simple surgery went wrong. From that moment his life would never be the same. This moment marked the start of a series of miraculous events and an exciting pursuit of truth, ultimately resulting in Rabbi Reuven renouncing his lofty position and success in Wall Street, after 16 years, to become a full-time KIRUV rabbi. His Teshuva story is sure to catch the heart of every listener. Rabbi Reuven’s shiurim are in English and Hebrew. His classes are focused on spreading the truth and divinity of the Torah through MUSSAR, scientific proofs, and many other methods to reach each individual listener. Rabbi Reuven is the leading educator on the topic of wasting seed in the English language with over 30 hrs of content published online. Rabbi Yaron Reuven is a proud member of the Igud HaRabbonim (The Rabbinical Alliance of America), a national rabbinic organization founded in 1942. Today, our 900+ members are congregational leaders, religious teachers, chaplains, heads of Jewish organizations and communal leaders united in their commitment to traditional Orthodox Judaism. For more information please visit: https://rabbinicalalliance.org/ 00:00:00 Intoduction 00:00:20 Understanding Free Choice vs. Divine Knowledge 00:00:46 The Envelope Analogy: Knowing the Future 00:01:40 God's Oneness and Predetermined Outcomes 00:02:43 The Highway Analogy: Choices and Destinations 00:03:45 Choosing Your Desired Outcome 00:04:51 Ego and the Illusion of Control 00:05:38 What is Truly Within Your Control 00:06:03 New App Features and Support
Transcript
0:20Difficult questions for people to understand. It's a very easy thing to explain in a superficial way, not in a detailed way. Because the Rambam writes in Shemona Perakim that it's not humanly possible to understand it. But one of the most difficult things for people to understand is the concept of free choice. So free choice means, how does it work that I have free choice, but Hashem knows the future? i have free choice, great, but you also said that at the same time I have free choice, I can do whatever I want. Hashem knows the future. So if He already knows the future, how is my choice free? That's a very difficult concept for people to understand in a simple way because this is already answered at least twice in this series. In a simple way, it's this: if let's say, for example, I write down on a piece of paper everything that you're gonna do tomorrow, and then I put it in an envelope, we put it into a safe. And the guys over here are going to stay overnight, watch the safe. You go on your day, you do whatever you want. Tomorrow we come back to the same place, we open the safe, everybody's witnesses, we open the envelope, we read everything that I wrote down today about what you're going to do tomorrow, and you see that I already wrote everything that you're going to do tomorrow today, meaning I knew the future. Did my knowing your future affect your decision?
1:40No, right? Because I wrote it on a piece of paper. That's the same concept. Meaning, HaKadosh Baruch Hu knows the future, but it does not affect your free choice to choose it. Why? Because for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, He is one. What does it mean, He is one? It's not that there's just one God. not just that. Meaning, He is One; He doesn't have parts. We have parts; we have a body, we have different body parts. Our neshama is separate from the body. Our ideas are separate from us. For Hashem, there's no separation. He is One—the past, the present, the future, His thoughts, His reality—it's all a piece of One. There is nothing separate from Him, which means that ...that when He created the world, He created the past, the present, and the future. So, He already created all of the possibilities, all of the possibilities that are the outcome of your choices. Which means that you can pick whatever you want; He already knows it. What is that like? Imagine you are on a highway, and you're driving, and now you get to a fork in the road, but not a fork with just two or three options, but rather a hundred options, a thousand options.
2:43which means that you can pick whatever you want. He already knows it. What is that like? Imagine you are on a highway, and you're driving, and now you get to a fork in the road, but not a fork with just one, two, or three options, but rather a hundred options, a thousand options. if you go right, you're going to end up in Honolulu. If you go left, you're going to end up in Texas. If you go in the middle, you can end up in Zimbabwe. If you go slightly right, but northeast or northwest, somewhere there, you're going to end up in Israel, and so on and so forth. Each road leads to a different destination. That is your free choice; you can pick whatever you want. The destination is there regardless of what you pick. Meaning, whether you choose to go right and end up in Texas or not, Texas will always be there. Whether you choose to go left and end up in Honolulu, it doesn't really make a difference. Honolulu will always be there. Why? Because the Designer already placed it there. That's in essence HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
3:45a very microcosm explanation of it is that regardless of what choice you have, the outcome is already there. What you choose is which outcome you want. Do you want Israel? Do you want Texas? Do you want Honolulu? Do you want this wife? Do you want that wife? You make that choice. Everything is from Heaven except the fear of Heaven, meaning Everything, all of the outcomes and the possible choices, are from Heaven. But the fear of Heaven is which one are you going to choose? Meaning, are you going to choose to go to the place where there's less Torah, or are you going to choose the place that has more Torah? Are you going to choose the kosher food, or are you going to choose the non-kosher food? Are you going to choose the modest woman to get married to, or the immodest woman to get married to? going to choose the kosher job that makes a little bit of money in the beginning but maybe more later on, or the non-kosher job that makes a ton of money before you go to jail. Which one? The choices are available to you, and Hashem is not going to decide for you. You decide, but the outcome of those choices is already there.
4:51So in essence, again, HaKadosh Baruch Hu knows the future, knows all of the choices, knows all of the outcomes. You still pick which road you have. This is a very difficult concept for people to understand, and part of the reason, the biggest part of the reason, is because of ego, believe it or not. The reason why it's ego is because we are determined to believe that we are in charge of our life. No! "I did it. I made the money, and I went there, and I, and I, and iPhone, and iPad, and I this, and I generate everything. I, I, I." Because everyone wants control. You don't have any control. You don't have any control. You have control over right and wrong. That's the control you have. Righteous, wicked. Everything else: popular, kiss, tall, short, not in your control. Married, single, not in your control. Alive, dead, not in your control. Rich, poor, not in your control. Children, no children, not in your control. Live to 120 or till 20, not in your control. The only thing in your control...
6:03Righteous, wicked. It's the only thing that's in your control, where you'll have also newer features where you're able to use the app while you're using other applications on your phone. You'll be able to share the lectures directly from the app. You'll be able to donate online and support our CUVE and our Torah work that we're doing. where you'll also have new features that allow you to use the app while using other applications on your phone. You'll be able to share the lectures directly from the app. You'll be able to donate online and support our kehillah and the Torah work that we're doing. And the most exciting feature is that you'll be able to actually ask questions directly on the app and get answers from the rabbis directly from the app. This is something unprecedented, and Baruch Hashem we will be able to offer it. Thank you again for all of your support. Check it out. Make sure you have the Kosher Torah that will re-energize your neshama each and every single day. Kol tuv u'b'hatzlacha.
