June 26, 2026 Categories: Features
The Bitachon Blueprint (Part XLI)
In the previous column, we explained that when we operate within our madreigah, our potential is preserved and accounted for, and our purpose in life is aligned with the rest of Creation. However, when a person falls below his madreigah, he is considered negligent, and any decree in place may be withdrawn. It is important to note that negligence is not an exception to a precision-cut reality; it is actually built into it.
Blood from a Stone
When a person drifts so far from his purpose that he loses direct connection to Hashem's will, the good he can facilitate becomes sharply limited. Consider an extreme but simplified scenario: Person A encounters Person B, who intends to kill him. While countless factors – including mazal and Divine Providence – are at play, for the sake of illustration, we will assume that both individuals are bereft of protective merits and that any prior decrees have been withdrawn. This is vastly different from a scenario where one person serves as a kli to help another fulfill his primary purpose. Here, both individuals have effectively opted out. As a result, Person B may, by free will choice, succeed in killing Person A. In such instances, Hashem allows events to unfold within the arena of human choice, and both individuals serve as a kli for the expression of free will, contributing to the collective revelation of Divine governance, as free will is a central linchpin of Hashem's revelation. In other words, a person's default role is to facilitate the open display of free will – which means that Hashem allows us to act freely with genuine, real-world impact and consequences. Therefore, if Person B lives aligned with his purpose, Person A cannot affect him beyond what Hashem has decreed – regardless of Person A's spiritual stature. Likewise, as long as Person A remains within his madreigah, Person B cannot impose anything upon him – no matter how "deserving" Person B may appear – that lies outside Person A's own mazal. In short, no action – ours or anyone else's – can prevent a person from fulfilling his Divine purpose, so long as he remains within his madreigah. This hierarchy preserves the canon of Hashem's complete Providence while maintaining the integrity of free will and allows Hashem to stay hidden in nature – fostering the illusion of an independent natural world. In a situation that is rich with irony, those who abdicate their individual free choice allow for its very existence and emergence. In this respect, even challenges brought about through negligence are part of a larger cosmic order, but our lowly, self-determined place in this order makes a mockery of our lives. This dynamic operates not only on an individual level but also on a societal one. In addition to maintaining the spiritual infrastructure of good and evil, the Rambam (Peirush HaMishna, Zeraim, Introduction) explains that the majority of people – those without a direct connection to the will of Hashem – serve as necessary cogs in society. They provide the physical framework that allows the righteous to sustain their spiritual endeavors. When a person descends into absolute nature, his conduct brings no real value to his neshama or to Creation. Absent teshuvah, there is nothing he could do that would outrank the benefit of being used as a kli to openly demonstrate free will. Hashem may still advocate for his good, but without soul-oriented awareness or drive, the most Providence can offer is to let him live – and ultimately die – within the confines of nature. (Dying "in nature" does not necessarily mean physical death. It can describe a person who thrives materially – succeeding through his efforts within derech hateva – yet pays for that success with a steep spiritual toll.) When there is complete and total negligence, the ripple effect of one's actions is rarely significant enough to pull us out of the natural order, but the fact that this prospect is included in the equation is central to the legitimacy of a fully integrated system. Certainly, nature does not operate independently of Hashem. He knows all and supervises every aspect of Creation down to the tiniest detail, but He will not position this person for another use, or otherwise intervene unless a greater good is achieved. We must be clear: someone without real bechira is not held fully accountable for actions forced upon him. Rabbi Wolbe writes that "The great [Jewish] philosophers established bechira as the cornerstone for the whole Torah... from this resulted a common misperception among the masses; that all people actively choose their every act and every decision. This is a grievous error" (Alei Shur, Vol. I, 156). Indeed, we learn that someone who does not have control over his actions is not responsible for them (Bava Kamma 28b). Nevertheless, all our experiences – positive and negative, chosen and unchosen – etch themselves into the soul as part of our mazal and tikkun. Teshuvah is the remedy that halts self-inflicted cascades, prevents future choices from being marred by the past, and resets the spiritual slate. It offers an escape hatch even from the gravest consequences of our deliberate actions; it not only resets the bar of responsibility but also purifies the spiritual slate.To be continued.
