Do You Have a Choice?

A Jew must cringe at statements like these. They’re just about as antithetical to Torah as you can get. One of the most basic principles in the Torah is that we are all accountable for our actions, because we have free will. We alone are responsible for our decisions.

But denying responsibility comes in a frum version as well. True, we admit we’re accountable for our decisions. But we often think everything we do is prescribed, and there’s nothing to decide. Taking responsibility means acknowledging I have the freedom to choose between different courses of action, and therefore I’m accountable for my choice.

Stop for a minute and think: When was the last time you really decided something? What decisions did you make today? I don’t mean deciding what to eat for breakfast. If you’re having an ordinary day, you’re probably thinking: “I davened Shacharis, learned a bit, took my kids to school… what was there for me to decide?” Everything we do seems clear-cut. The Shulchan Aruch tells us what to do. Where is there room for an observant Jew to decide anything?

The truth is that we have a large variety of options, totally congruent with the letter and the spirit of the Shulchan Aruch, from which to choose how to fulfill our obligations. But most of the time we only see one way, so there’s nothing to decide. Let me give an example. Let’s say you’re asked to complete a minyan for Minchah. You always daven a 25-minute Shemoneh Esreh. You’re only a few brachos in when you start to sense that the eyes of the other nine people are fixed on you. What do you do? If you’re totally inconsiderate, you keep davening at your normal pace. Otherwise, you frantically speed through the words without any kavanah at all.