There are no Guarantees in Life: For Worse or for Better

In the first pasuk of Parshat Beshalach we read: “It came to pass when Pharaoh let the people go, that God did not lead them [by] way of the land of the Philistines for it was near, because God said, Lest the people reconsider when they see war and return to Egypt.” Rabbi Moshe Feinstein noted that the word “lest” in this pasuk implies that Hashem was not sure whether the people would have returned to Egypt had they left via the land of the Philistines (ie “maybe yes- maybe no”). Rabbi Feinstein says that from here we learn that Divine knowledge does not in any way take away from human free will. The paradox of an All knowing God and human free will has long been debated and discussed. While there are a number of explanations for the exact mechanics for how this works, everyone agrees that both maxims are true and exist within our experience.

Rabbi Feinstein takes this idea further and suggests that if the Torah portrays God as being “unsure” of the outcome, then it is teaching us that there is nothing in life that we can take for granted. This has many applications, but Rabbi Feinstein focuses on the relevance of this lesson as it applies to raising children. For instance, a teacher should never give up on a student. No matter how difficult a student has been in the past, we never know what transformation might occur tomorrow. Rabbi Feinstein quotes the Talmud (Sanhedrin 107b) which criticizes Rabbi Yehushua ben Perachya for giving up on his student - Jesus. The Talmud does not have a lot of nice things to say about Jesus. Yet the Talmud suggests that even the trajectory of Jesus’ life was not a foregone conclusion.

Just like we should not “write off” challenging students, so too we must not take for granted that good kids will grow up OK. We can’t take anything for granted, and raising children requires constant attention. Parenting requires effort. Parents cannot rely on Hashem alone. Rabbi Feinstein suggests that parents should pray that Hashem remove the challenges and pitfalls that can arise while raising children, and that a parent’s efforts are met with success.

By describing God as unsure in the first pasuk of Beshalach, the Torah teaches us the important lesson that there are no guarantees in life. On the one hand, this lesson obligates us to constantly worry about raising our children as even if our kids are “good” today there are no guarantees about what tomorrow may bring. On the other hand this lesson is a source of hope and optimism because it teaches us that even if a situation has been challenging until this point, there are no guarantees that the situation will continue to be difficult. With constant attention and ongoing prayers, even a difficult situation can be turned around for the better.