Lech Lecha

The sicha for parshas Lech Lecha is in Vol. V of Likkutei Sichos.

Here the Rebbe explains some very fundamental issues in terms of freedom of choice in G-d’s world, where G-d wants one thing, and we do something else.

The Rebbe begins by saying that the name of a parsha describes the entire contents of the parsha, so that the theme of the parsha has to be expressed by the name of the parsha. Lech Lecha, the idea of halecha, of going, implies growth and progress. Lech Lecha means that Avraham was told that he should go to his essence, he should travel and grow until he reaches his essence, which certainly means going from level to level, progressing higher and higher in G-dliness.

The beginning of the parsha tells how Avraham left his birthplace, Ur Kasdim, and traveled towards Eretz Israel, which is an aliyah, a going up.  In Eretz Israel itself, he continued to travel to Yerushalayim, which is also an aliyah. But then in the same parsha, it tells us that when Avraham arrived in Eretz Israel, there was a famine. This is certainly not an aliyah in kiddush Hashem, that when Avraham arrives in the country, he brings a famine.  Also, when the famine hit in Eretz Israel, it says that Avraham went down to Egypt, and that certainly is a yerida, a going down, as the Torah itself describes that Avraham went down to Egypt.

What happened in Egypt?  Sarah, his wife was abducted and taken to Pharaoh, which is also not an aliyah in any way, and even before they came to Egypt, it says that Avraham realized that Sarah was attractive and beautiful. He had not noticed this before, because his machshava, his thought process was always preoccupied with things that are higher than what is visible. So it sounds that this too was a yerida, and not an aliyah, and yet it is included in the parsha called Lech Lecha, which means to grow and to progress higher and higher.

To understand this, the Rebbe says we first have to understand what it means “maaseh Avos, siman l’banim”, that what happened to the Patriarchs is a sign of what is going to happen to the children: that on a deeper level is not merely a reflection, or a similarity in events, that what happened to the Patriarchs is the cause, but the reason that the same thing happens to the children.  So even though we find that Avraham went down to Egypt as a yerida, afterwards he came out with great wealth, he had become very wealthy there. Therefore just as Avraham went down in order to come up wealthy, we find the same thing with the Yidden, that they went down to Egypt, and came out of with great wealth.  We also find that during the time of the two hundred and ten years of slavery, the Jewish women were protected from abuse, and remained innocent, just as Sarah, who was taken to Pharaoh, was protected from him, he was not allowed to touch , that was what made it possible for the Jewish women in Egypt later to also be protected from Egyptian men.

And so now we understand that the yerida, that Avraham went down to Egypt, was really the beginning and the part of aliyah of coming back up with a great wealth, just as it was for the Yidden, who went down to Egypt in order to come out with great wealth, with all the divine sparks that we were able to bring with us from Egypt, so the going down was really part of the going up. Therefore it fits into parshas Lech Lecha, because the yerida, the going down, was an integral part of the going up.

And so with Avraham when it says that he realized that Sarah was beautiful even though he had not realized that before. The thought was not coming from Avraham himself, but it was coming from Egypt, that the energy of Egypt came to Avraham asking him to elevate it, because the whole purpose of Avraham being there was to elevate and come out with a great wealth.

The same is true also of the golus that we are in today.  We are told that the reason for the golus, is that we should gather and collect and bring with us to the geulah, converts, which mean literal converts, and also the divine sparks that need to be brought back to holiness, they are also considered converts.

What do we learn from this?  When a person stops to think, how is it possible that I should elevate the world, and bring an improvement in the world, when we see in fact, that the world keeps going towards a worse and worse condition, every day seems to bring a greater darkness, how do we have the ability to illuminate the world with Torah and mitzvos?  The answer is that all this darkness that we see, all the yeridas that are happening, these are only externally true, it's only on the surface, underneath, the exact opposite is true.  Since G-d runs the world, nothing happens in the world without G-d, it is certain that since G-d created the world with the purpose of an aliyah, for the purpose of the world rising and coming to a
G-dly state, it must be true that even while the surface appears to be a descent, and the world seems to be getting worse, under the surface, every single day and every moment of the day, the world is moving towards its perfection, and living up to the plan and to the expectation that G-d has all the world until it will become a dira b’tachtonim, a dwelling place for Him in the lower world. 

What we need to understand is as follows:

Everything that G-d does certainly leads towards a greater aliyah, and if on the surface it appears to be a yerida, that's a misleading appearance, we are looking too superficially. If we look a little bit deeper we will find that it is really part of the going up.  And so by Avraham, the fact that he went down to Egypt and that was really a part of the going up, it's because Avraham was, as it says in Tanya, the chariot to G-dliness, he was completely G-dly at every second, and in every part of his being, so that by him, there is no evil at all, and what might appear to be not kosher, might appear to be wrong in Avraham’s behavior is only because of the body, as the Freideker Rebbe says, you should know, that what Avraham did, when Avraham laughed when he was told he would give birth to a son, the laugh came not because of a lack of emunah, but because of the body, and although the body is holy, it is still only flesh. So the Rebbe there explains that when you say that the body is holy, then it’s not possible that a holy body would do something unholy. So when you say that the body is holy, but it is still flesh, it means that the body is doing what is holy because it is a physical being, it can appear to the observer to be something not quite kosher.

So that’s the way it is by tzaddikim, that when we think we see something not kosher, it is only because of the physical appearance that is often misleading, just as the physical appearance in the world, doesn’t seem to be G-dly, and yet in fact it is G-dly and everything is by divine providence, so that appearances can be misleading, the same is true by tzaddikim because of their physical cover, we could be misled to think that what they are doing wasn’t G-dly. So by Avraham, even though it looked like he was going down, that it was a yerida, but that was only on the surface, but b’pnimiyus, under the surface, it was really an aliyah.

That’s all understood because we are dealing with G-dliness – that whatever G-d does, whatever a tzaddik does, is really good even if it doesn’t seem to be that way. But what about an average person, not a tzaddik, when he chooses to do something evil and causes a descent, a destruction in the world, how can that be considered part of the aliyah.

So the Rebbe says, that it is one of the ikray emunah, a cardinal principle in our belief in G-d, that G-d is the exclusive Supreme Sovereign Ruler over the world. This means that nothing can happen unless He wants it to happen, and wills it to happen, and all the effects that creatures have, like the sun making plant grow or warming the earth, those effects are like the axe in the hand of a wood chopper, they are the tools which G-d uses in order to bring about these effects. But the sun certainly does not have the will and the control to give light or not give light, to give heat or not give heat, to makes things grow or not make things grow.

And to think or believe that sun does have some amount of volition, some amount of independent choice, to be a sun, to act like the sun, or to not act like the sun, and not give off light and heat and so on, that is avodah zarah, like having another god. So this must also be true of the human being, that even though we are told that we have behirah, freedom of choice when it comes to mitzvahs, but to say that we can effect something in the world by our will, is a contradiction to G-d’s sovereignty. To believe that a human being can effect something in the world by his freedom of choice other than what G-d wants, is a compromise to G-d’s sovereignty.

So how do we understand this?

The truth is that everything that happens in the world is part of G-d’s plan, and even when a Jew sins using his freedom of choice, the negative effect, the destruction, the descent that is produced by the sin in the world, that descent, that effect, and those repercussions of the sin, they are all part of G-d’s plan, it is part of G-d’s will. So that the human being, even though he has freedom of choice, does not have the power or the authority to cause an effect in the world by his choice that is against G-d’s plan. Therefore
G-d’s sovereignty is not compromised at all, because nothing is happening that is not part of His plan.

How then does the person actually have freedom of choice? How is that he is truly free to choose to sin or not to sin? So the Rebbe gives two explanations.

When it comes to the hitzonius haratzon, that which G-d wants as an external will, and that is what He wants of the world, this impacts on the world in such a way that it doesn’t allow the world room for freedom of choice. So when G-d says “let there be light” there is no choice but for light to exist.

But the ratzon, the will that G-d has for Torah and mitzvos, this is an internal will, a personal will, and therefore it is removed from the world, and not felt by the world. So that when G-d wants a Jew to do mitzvos, the Jew doesn’t feel that will and is not compelled by it because this will is a personal desire that G-d has, and is somewhat removed from the Jew of whom it is expected. So although G-d wants the person to do the mitzvah, the person is not compelled to do the mitzvah and it is left to his free choice to decide to do the mitzvah or the aveirah. This desire that G-d has, to do the mitzvah and not to do the aveirah, is a personal desire, that has more to do with G-d than with the created being. Therefore the created being doesn’t feel it and is not compelled by it.

Another explanation the Rebbe gives is that this will that G-d has for creation, for everything that happens by divine plan, is all external in that
G-d wants them only as a means to an end. When G-d creates light or water or heavens, that itself is not G-d’s true will, it is because of Torah and mitzvos, in order that a person should be able to study Torah and do mitzvos properly, there is therefore a need for light, and for grass and for water, and for all the events that constitute our lives. But those are not the true will, those are the external will. And they are in a sense necessary to G-d and therefore in a sense, G-d is compelled to create them.

So this will that G-d has for physical conditions, for the existence of the world and for all the events that are worldly, that are part of divine providence and all predetermined, that will that G-d, it is necessary and a means to an end rather than an end in itself, and therefore this ratzon when it expresses itself in the world, it also compels the world to behave accordingly.

Whereas when it comes to Torah and mitzvos, there is no compelling reason for Torah and mitzvos. That’s why we wouldn’t know why G-d prefers the tzaddik or the rasha. But G-d chooses the behavior of the tzaddik as a behira, He chooses it, He doesn’t need it, and therefore when that will, when that chosen will is expressed and directed at the Jew and he is told to do mitzvos, he also feels that he is not being compelled to do mitzvos, but that he should choose to do the mitzva. And therefore when he chooses to do the mitzvah, it is true freedom of choice.

Now the act of the sin itself is definitely against G-d’s will, and that’s why the only G-dliness and the only justification for the existence of the sin itself, is that it leads to tshuva. In other words, the oneness of G-d is expressed and revealed through the sin in the very fact that the act of the sin itself is useless, it has no effect on the world because the effect is all part of the divine plan. G-d despises evil, by choice, but He does despise it, and therefore when a sin exists and the only thing you can do with it is to do tshuva, which means to regret it and reject it, and turn the sin into a mitzvah - that shows the oneness of G-d. That is the justification for the existence of the sin itself in that its rejection reveals the oneness of G-d.

And this is the lesson that we have, in that a person could think that because of his sins he is hopeless and becomes discouraged by his own lowliness, therefore we are told in the parsha that Lech Lecha includes the yerida, includes a going down temporarily, because the very fact that a person has sinned, can be used as a means for growth, knowing that every sin leads to tshuva. The person knows that with every sin that he committed he has another potential tshuva, and he can extract the
G-dliness of those sins, and turn them into mitzvahs that are higher even than the mitzvahs of tzaddikim.

To summarize some of these thoughts: how can a person sin in G-d’s world when G-d is the exclusive Sovereign and Master of the universe? How can things happen in the world that are not part of G-d’s plan?

The answer to this is that what happens is always G-d’s plan, everything is by divine providence, even the damage caused by a person’s sin. So although he is sinning by freedom of choice, the consequences of that sin, and the effect that it has on the world, those consequences and that effect, they are really part of G-d’s plan, they were pre-ordained and predetermined that this was meant to happen, and this is what G-d wants, that there should first be a yerida, that will lead to a greater aliyah.

Now there is another question. Granted that G-d’s sovereignty is not compromised because no effect, no consequences can happen from a sin that are not part of G-d’s plan, but what about the freedom that the person has, how can G-d’s will, when G-d wants a person to do mitzvahs, how can His will not be omnipotent, why isn’t our freedom of choice a compromise in G-d’s infinity, in G-d’s power, in G-d’s omnipotence. If G-d is omnipotent, His will should be omnipotent, so that He wants it should force us to behave accordingly. And yet, we don’t have to. So even though the consequences of our behavior are not in our hands, and is all part of the divine plan, but how can an infinite, omnipotent will be ignored by a human being?

For this the answer is that there are two kinds of will: there is an external will and an internal will. The external will is omnipotent in that it leaves no room for freedom. It compels behavior. So when G-d says “let there be light” there has to be light. When G-d determines in the beginning of the year who is going to be rich and who is going to be poor, who is going to be strong and who is going to be weak, and so on, that must happen because that is the external part of the will, and the external will is in fact omnipotent and infinite in its power so that it compels behavior.

But there is also an internal will, a pnimiyus haratzon. Pnimiyus haratzon is that which G-d wants essentially. Not because of any reason at all. Not because of any benefit at all. But because this is the way G-d is in essence: that essentially G-d prefers a mitzvah over a sin even though the mitzvah has no benefits over the sin. Now that internal kind of will is governed by different properties. Here immediate behavior is not the objective and is not the goal. When G-d wants that which He wants internally, intrinsically, that kind of a will is omnipotent in that it will inevitably succeed, and Jews will inevitably do tshuva and fulfill the purpose and the will that G-d has for us. But it doesn’t force us to behave, it doesn’t bring immediate behavior, and it doesn’t take away our ability to process that will through our system, and come to our own conclusion that this is in fact what we want as well. So that it is our behirah to do mitzvahs, but we will inevitably, without exception choose to do the mitzvah.

It is like a father who wants things externally and therefore demands immediate behavior and obedience and then there is that which the father wants from his children that is an internal will, a personal intrinsic will, that which he wishes for his children, and that doesn’t come immediately. He wants his child to be a mentch and that doesn’t happen by immediate obedience. However that which we want deeply and essentially for our children inevitably they will grow into it on their own and come to the same conclusion and to the same will.

Then there is a third question. How can a sin exist if G-d doesn’t want it, the act of the sin itself? So we have explained how the consequences of the sin are really divine providence, and how the freedom on our part, why we are not compelled by G-d’s will is because it is an internal will that moves us internally so that eventually we will do mitzvahs but we are not compelled or forced into immediate obedience. But how is it that the act of the sin itself, which is something G-d despises, how does that exist without compromising G-d’s oneness? How can there exist an unholiness in a world that G-d created when G-d is holy?

The answer is that the sin exists as a roundabout way of expressing G-d’s oneness. The fact that a sin itself, being outside of G-d’s will, is useless and nothing can be made of the sin other than to reject it and regret it, then when a person does tshuva for the sin, that reveals the oneness of G-d. It fulfills the second commandment, you shall not other gods - how do we see that there are no other gods- when we see the uselessness of a sin, and feel the regret of having sinned because there is nothing there, because there is no truth to it, when we reject the sin, that is the way in which it reveals the oneness of G-d, and that’s why its existence too is not a compromise of G-d’s oneness but a means of revealing G-d’s oneness in the negative by showing how that which is not G-d is nothing at all and needs to be rejected and destroyed.

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