בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוק בְּדִבְרֵי תורָה:
Blessing for Torah Study
Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh Ha'Olam Asher Kideshanu Bemitzvotav Vetzivanu La'asok Bedivrei Torah
Blessed are you Adonai, our God, Sovereign of Eternity, who has made us holy through Your sacred obligations and obligated us to immerse ourselves in the words of Torah.
רְאֵה אָנֹכִי וְגוֹ' מָשָׁל לְזָקֵן שֶׁהָיָה יוֹשֵׁב עַל הַדֶּרֶךְ, וְהָיוּ לְפָנָיו שְׁתֵּי דְּרָכִים, אַחַת תְּחִלָּתָהּ קוֹצִים וְסוֹפָהּ מִישׁוֹר, וְאַחַת תְּחִלָּתָהּ מִישׁוֹר וְסוֹפָהּ קוֹצִים, וְהָיָה יוֹשֵׁב בְּרֹאשׁ שְׁתֵּיהֶן וּמַזְהִיר הָעוֹבְרִים, וְאוֹמֵר לָהֶם, אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאַתֶּם רוֹאִים תְּחִלָּתָהּ שֶׁל זוֹ קוֹצִים, לְכוּ בָּהּ, שֶׁסּוֹפָהּ מִישׁוֹר. וְכָל מִי שֶׁהָיָה חָכָם שׁוֹמֵעַ לוֹ וְהָיָה מְהַלֵּךְ בָּהּ וּמִתְיַגֵּעַ קִמְעָא. הָלַךְ בְּשָׁלוֹם וּבָא בְּשָׁלוֹם. אֲבָל אוֹתָן שֶׁלֹּא הָיוּ שׁוֹמְעִין לוֹ, הָיוּ הוֹלְכִים וְנִכְשָׁלִין בַּסּוֹף. כָּךְ הָיָה מֹשֶׁה, פֵּרֵשׁ לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַר לָהֶם: הֲרֵי דֶּרֶךְ הַחַיִּים וְדֶרֶךְ הַמָּוֶת, בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה, וּבָחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה אַתָּה וְזַרְעֶךָ.
"See I, etc," (Deuteronomy 11:26). A parable of an old man seated on a highway from which there branched two roads, one full of thorns at the beginning but level at the end, and the other level at the beginning but full of thorns at the end. So he sat at the fork of the road and cautioned passersby, saying, "Even though the beginning of this road is full of thorns, follow it for it will turn level at the end." Whoever sensibly heeded the old man and followed that road did get a bit weary at first, to be sure, but went on in peace and arrived in peace. Those who did not heed the old man set out to on the other road and stumbled in the end. So it was with Moses, who explicitly said to Israel, "Behold the way of the life and the way of death, the blessing and the curse. 'Therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy lineage.'"
אותו מלאך הממונה על ההריון לילה שמו ונוטל טפה ומעמידה לפני הקב"ה ואומר לפניו רבש"ע טפה זו מה תהא עליה גבור או חלש חכם או טיפש עשיר או עני ואילו רשע או צדיק לא קאמר כדר' חנינא דא"ר חנינא הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים שנאמר (דברים י, יב) ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלהיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה וגו'
That angel that is appointed over conception is called: Night. And that angel takes the drop from which a person will be formed and presents it before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and says before Him: Master of the Universe, what will be of this drop? Will the person fashioned from it be mighty or weak? Will he be clever or stupid? Will he be wealthy or poor? The Gemara notes: But this angel does not say: Will he be wicked or righteous? This is in accordance with a statement of Rabbi Ḥanina, as Rabbi Ḥanina said: Everything is in the hand of Heaven, except for fear of Heaven. as it is stated: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you other than to fear the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 10:12).
אִלּוּ הָאֵל הָיָה גּוֹזֵר עַל הָאָדָם לִהְיוֹת צַדִּיק אוֹ רָשָׁע אוֹ אִלּוּ הָיָה שָׁם דָּבָר שֶׁמּוֹשֵׁךְ אֶת הָאָדָם בְּעִקַּר תּוֹלַדְתּוֹ לְדֶרֶךְ מִן הַדְּרָכִים... אוֹ לְמַעֲשֶׂה מִן הַמַּעֲשִׂים כְּמוֹ שֶׁבּוֹדִים מִלִּבָּם הַטִּפְּשִׁים הֹבְרֵי שָׁמַיִם הֵיאַךְ הָיָה מְצַוֶּה לָנוּ עַל יְדֵי הַנְּבִיאִים עֲשֵׂה כָּךְ וְאַל תַּעֲשֶׂה כָּךְ הֵיטִיבוּ דַּרְכֵיכֶם וְאַל תֵּלְכוּ אַחֲרֵי רִשְׁעֲכֶם וְהוּא מִתְּחִלַּת בְּרִיתוֹ כְּבָר נִגְזַר עָלָיו אוֹ תּוֹלַדְתּוֹ תִּמְשֹׁךְ אוֹתוֹ לְדָבָר שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לָזוּז מִמֶּנּוּ. וּמַה מָּקוֹם הָיָה לְכָל הַתּוֹרָה כֻּלָּהּ
Had the decree of God prompted man to be either just or wicked, or had there been a fundamentally inborn something to draw man to either of the paths... or to particular act of all actions as the astrologists maintain by their foolish inventions, how did He charge us by the prophets, to do thus and not to do such, improve your ways, and do not follow your wickedness,
when, from the beginning of his existence his destiny had already been decreed or his innate constitution irresistibly drew him to that from which he could not set himself free? Moreover, what need would there be, under such circumstances, for the Torah altogether?
Alan Lew
This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared
We have to come to see our life very clearly, clearly enough so that we can discern the will of God in it, so that we can tell the difference between the blessings and the curses, so that these things are arrayed before us as clearly as mountains, as we intone their names from the valley in between—that sliver of eternity on which we stand and that we call the present moment.
This is why we are advised to spend the month of Elul in the regular practice of introspection, self-examination, and silence. We no longer perform the great pageant of the blessings and the curses, Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. But this pageant was a ritual, and the inner process that this ritual was trying to express in visual form persists. Today we have our own ritualization of it: the Days of Awe, the High Holy Days, the time when it is made equally clear to us that everything depends upon our own moral and spiritual choices. And although we no longer have the two great mountains to help us see this choice in concrete form, we do have the month of Elul—a time to gaze upon the inner mountains, to devote serious attention to bringing our lives into focus; a time to clarify the distinction between the will of God and our own willfulness, to identify that in us which yearns for life and that which clings to death, that which seeks good and that which is fatally attracted to the perverse, to find out who we are and where we are going...
This is the time of year we are bidden to know the truth. In fact, we are commanded to do so. Re’eh—look, pay attention—for I have put before you a great blessing and a considerable curse, right there in the moment before you. All that’s required of you is to see what’s in front of your face and to choose the blessing in it.