Tuesday, November 26, 2019

The Power to Change

Art: 'Triple Self Portrait' by Norman Rockwell

And the children struggled within her, and she said, "If [it be] so, why am I [like] this?" And she went to inquire of the Lord. [Toldot - Genesis 25:22]

Why did the children "struggle inside her"?

How could Yitzchak, our righteous patriarch, have a son whose very nature even in the womb was inclined towards idol worship?

G-d can either make a person's disposition naturally good or naturally bad.  But, even if a person has a natural inclination to evil, that does not mean that he is evil per se, for he is given free choice.

Rather, the reason why he was given such an inclination was to rise to the challenge and overcome it.  Thus, Eisav was given a natural tendency to evil so that he could excel in the Divine service of "quashing" the evil inclination.

Even though he failed in his task, we can nevertheless learn from Eisav that if a person has strong desires to do something bad, it means that he has been given the special Divine mission of overcoming his inclinations.

Source: Gutnick Chumash: Based on Likutei Sichos of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

2 comments:

Waiting Patiently said...

Hi, your cosmic clock. Is there a definitive time for nightfall?

Devorah said...

Hello Waiting Patiently... yes ''nightfall'' or the final time is the year 6000. But as the Lubavitcher Rebbe explained, we are currently living in the time just before the Shabbat and this time officially began in the year 5750, 30 years ago. We can bring Shabbat in early and therefore Moshiach can arrive any time now. Here is a link to Yeranen Yaakov's post about the cosmic clock and more information which you can read by clicking here .