What Prevents Us from Repenting?

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In Parashas Va’eira Hashem informs Moshe that the Jewish people will be released from Egyptian slavery. This will come about through ten plagues that will devastate the country. Hashem also promises that He will “harden Pharaoh’s heart.” This statement seems to contradict an elementary tenet of Judaism—free will. Did Pharaoh lose his ability to choose?

The Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 6:3) addresses this question, maintaining that every person has free will, and a person’s choices alone determine who he becomes. However, if one does a great sin or continually transgresses, it is possible that his freedom to choose will be confiscated. One who abuses this freedom no longer deserves to have it. This is what happened to Pharaoh.

The Rambam doesn’t limit this possibility to someone as evil as Pharaoh. In truth, it can happen to anyone. Mesillas Yesharim (Chap. 2) relates the importance of zehirus—being careful and aware of every action one does. Without knowing it, a person may be doing many aveiros, and “A sin leads to another sin.” (Avos 4:2) Even sinning once makes it more likely that one will sin again. A person can become addicted to evil behaviors, G-d forbid, oblivious to how entrenched he has become. As the Rambam says, at a certain point he can even lose mankind’s unique treasure—free will.

Rabbeinu Bachaye (Kedoshim, Introduction) says that a person has the potential to rise or to fall. If he focuses on holiness and constantly works to improve himself, he can transcend the level of angels. However, if he devotes himself to gratifying his desires, he can fall lower than animals. We can go either way—we must be careful to choose correctly.

The Gemara (Sukkah 52a) enigmatically states that in the end of the days, Hashem will slaughter the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination), and the wicked will be filled with remorse. They will lament, “How could we have failed to conquer this little hair?” Rav Yisrael Salanter (Ohr Yisrael, 8) explains that the chief regret of the wicked will be their failure to conquer the Yetzer Hara at the outset, when it lacked any real power. Once they let that “little hair” grow and grow, it eventually took on such awesome proportions that they no longer stood a chance against it. The Gemara continues that the righteous view this same Yetzer Hara as “a great mountain.” From the beginning, a righteous person views the Yetzer Hara as a major problem that must be confronted. That is why he succeeds. If we want to conquer our Yetzer Hara, we need to be serious about dealing with it right away.

This does not mean that one who is addicted to negative behaviors should give up, believing that Hashem has taken away his free will. Sometimes, Hashem is just waiting to see if the person really wants to repent.

We can see this idea from the Seforno7:3], who disagrees with the Rambam. The Seforno asserts that Pharaoh did not lose his free will. The “hardening of heart” that the Torah speaks of is that Pharaoh’s heart was made capable of tolerating the plagues. A normal person would have caved in and pleaded for mercy, effectively losing his ability to choose otherwise. Pharaoh was granted superhuman strength to weather the devastation around him. Hashem didn’t want Pharaoh to send out the Jews simply because he couldn’t stand the pressure. He wanted Pharaoh to repent and free them because it was the right thing to do. With a “hardened heart,” Pharaoh was given back his free will to either change himself and listen to Hashem, or remain an intractable despot.

We can apply this concept to ourselves. Often in trying to improve ourselves we discover that it is more difficult than we thought. Problems arise, and we may even wonder if Hashem has abandoned us to the Yetzer Hara. However, most probably Hashem hasn’t abandoned us at all. Rather, the stakes are being raised so that we can make the ultimate comeback, and do a more meaningful teshuvah.

The Rebbe of Shomrei Emunim writes that when he was young, he didn’t have a taste for learning. It was hard for him to concentrate, and he found learning very boring. Nobody was able to help him with his problem, and he didn’t know what to do. One day, he went to cry and daven at the grave of a tzaddik. He davened fervently for Hashem’s help, and he resolved to learn whether he enjoyed it or not. When he reached home he started learning, and he felt that every word was like death. Nevertheless, he persevered throughout the day. From that day on, the Rebbe felt a rush of inspiration, and he enjoyed everything he learned. In addition, his ability to concentrate was so strong that nothing was able to distract him.

Even in a hopeless situation, Hashem never abandons us. Sometimes, that extra effort is all that is needed to break through to doing Hashem’s will.

We can learn how to battle the Yetzer Hara from the above-mentioned Rambam and Seforno. If we find ourselves slipping into sin, we should be aware of the danger of losing our free will, and work on the problem without delay. As for problems that feel unsurmountable, we should remember that according to the Seforno, it wasn’t too late even for Pharaoh. Hashem may just be waiting for us to make a real change.

May we be zocheh to make the choices Hashem wants us to make!

NEW! HOT OFF THE PRESS! Rabbi Krieger’s “Gedolei Yisroel on the Parashah & Yamim Tovim” is now available from the Yeshiva office, Jewish bookstores worldwide and can be ordered online at https://www.feldheim.com/gedolei-yisroel-on-Parashah-yamim-tovim-2.