Parshat Toldot: Free Will or Predestination

The Torah tells us that while Rivkah was pregnant with Yaakov and Eisav, ויתרצצו הבנים בקרבה, “and the children clashed within her.” (25:22) Rashi quotes the famous Medrash that says that whenever Rivka passed the entrance to the Beit Medrash, Yaakov struggled to get out of her womb;  when she passed the entrance to the house of idol worship, Eisav struggled to get out. It seems from this that Yaakov and Eisav already had fixed tendencies towards righteousness and evil, respectively, prior to birth. Doesn’t this contradict one of the basic tenets of Judaism that each individual is born with free will?

The Rambam in Hilchot De’ot discusses personality traits and predispositions, and says that by nature some people are cruel, while others are merciful. Yet in Hilchot Teshuvah he says these dispositions do not cause man to be righteous or evil, merciful or cruel, wise or foolish, generous or stingy; that choice lies completely in the hands of man. Don’t these ideas contradict each other?

Rabbi Zev Leff suggests a resolution based on the following premise. While no two people are born with the same exact character traits -  and those traits are influenced by many factors - the traits are not inherently good or bad; they are parve. A predisposition towards anger, for example, is not necessarily an evil trait as there are times when anger is required and appropriate. Similarly, all natural traits can be directed towards good or bad. For example. the tendency to shed blood could be used by a surgeon, a shochet or mohel, or it can be used towards murder. Although traits are predetermined, their function and control are directly in our hands. We have total free will to utilize our character traits for good or for bad. We choose when to utilize these tendencies and when to suppress them.

Rabbi Leff adds one more layer to this premise. He says that while no trait is intrinsically good or bad, there are traits that are more conducive to righteous conduct, while others towards evil conduct.  A tendency towards anger for example, is more prone to be abused since there are more instances when anger is negative than positive. Calmness, on the other hand is more often used for positive then it is negative, and as such is more prone to lead to righteous conduct. With this point in mind, it might seem unfair: why do some of us contain predetermined traits that are more prone to evil while others get traits more prone to righteousness? To explain this, let’s keep three points in mind:

1. We all have many traits. Some will be positive and others negative.
2. Hashem takes these predispositions into account when considering what situations to test and challenge us with.
3. Hashem takes into consideration these predispositions when he judges us.

Considering all of this, the Medrash is not telling us that Yaakov and Eisav were acting in a good or evil fashion prior to birth.  Rather, they displayed tendencies towards more spiritual traits or more physical traits.  The Beit Medrash represented the spiritual traits and the house of idol worship represented the more physical, negative traits.