Small tidbits and Sparks of wisdom

Human Will and Divine Will: Insights from Moshe’s Plea in Parshas Va’eschanan

1. Moshe’s Tefillah: Collision of Two Wills

Moshe says: “ואתחנן אל ה’ בעת ההיא לאמר” – “And I pleaded with Hashem at that time…” (Devarim 3:23). Rashi teaches that this is a request for a free, undeserved gift. But deeper commentators reveal that Moshe wasn’t begging passively—he was activating his ratzon (will) to impact Divine reality.

He wasn’t asking to override Hashem, but to engage the very spark of Tzelem Elokim within him—the Divine-like will granted to humans—that could align with and potentially influence the sustaining will of the Creator.

2. Theological Principle: Man’s Will Can Influence Hashem

Rav Dessler and the Ramchal teach that Hashem gave man a share in His creative powers: the ability to shape reality through deep will (ratzon), elevated awareness (daas), and sincere prayer (tefillah). According to Nefesh HaChayim, thought, speech, and deed from man can stir upper worlds that, in turn, affect the physical world below.

Moshe was not a petitioner from the outside—he was a central pillar through whom Hashem ran the world. His request had spiritual mass. He could have reshaped history. Hashem had to say: “רב לך – Enough,” because continued prayer would have compelled a Divine response.

3. Why Was He Still Refused?

Chazal (Sotah 14a) state that had Moshe continued davening, Hashem would have had to yield. But Hashem stopped him—not out of inability, but because of a higher cosmic calculation. The Midrash explains that had Moshe entered Eretz Yisrael, he would have built the Beis HaMikdash that could never be destroyed, something the world at large was not ready to sustain.

This reveals a tension: Moshe’s personal will—pure and holy—was genuine. But Hashem’s will included a longer vision for history. Both were true. One was eternal. One was momentary. And the eternal must prevail, even against the greatest man’s plea.

4. Physics and Torah: Time, Will, and Relativity

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity shattered the classical view of a fixed, clockwork universe. Time and space are not absolutes; they are part of a dynamic continuum called spacetime. What appears as a single moment to one observer may be stretched for another, depending on their velocity and gravitational frame. There is no universal “now.”

From the Torah’s perspective, this aligns precisely. Nefesh HaChayim (Gate I) teaches that existence is not fixed. Every moment is constantly renewed by Hashem’s will. What we perceive as a continuous, stable world is actually a series of divine pulses—micro-recreations of the universe, from its spiritual root downward.

If time is not fixed and the universe is continually renewed, then reality is inherently flexible—provided the Source is willing. This gives theological foundation to the idea that sincere tefillah—a will aligned with the Creator—can alter the structure of spacetime. Not just metaphorically. Literally.

Modern physics confirms the Torah’s view that reality is not a frozen system. The boundaries of what is “possible” are not absolute—they are contingent. Torah explains: contingent on Hashem’s will. And that will responds, when appropriate, to the elevated will of man.

5. The Human Will: Creative and Dangerous

Tzelem Elokim is not a poetic metaphor. It means that within man is embedded a creative force. When directed toward good and aligned with Divine values, this force can literally rewire reality. This is the power of tefillah. Not a wish—but a metaphysical act.

But this is also dangerous. If a human will, even a righteous one, seeks something that may harm the global or spiritual balance of the world, Hashem withholds it. That’s what happened with Moshe. It wasn’t a denial of his truth. It was protection of the broader plan of history.

6. Summary

• Moshe’s tefillah wasn’t emotional—it was metaphysical ratzon aligned with Tzelem Elokim.
• Man’s will, at its highest, can align with Divine will and reshape reality itself.
• Prayer is not a request—it is a spiritual act of creative co-direction.
• The theory of relativity supports this: time and matter are not fixed, but dynamic. They are sustained and can be altered under Divine discretion.
• The Divine rejection of Moshe’s request was not about his unworthiness—but about the world’s unreadiness.
• When our will is pure and for the good of the klal, we too can move heaven. Literally.

This is the secret of human greatness: that we are not passive observers of a fixed universe, but participants in a constantly renewed creation, with the potential—if pure—to help steer its course.