Personal Agency | Parsha with the Chief - Va'eira

Personal agency speaks to the most critical questions a person can ask: how much control do I really have over my own life? Do I see myself as a helpless victim of circumstances, or as an empowered agent capable of shaping who I become and how I live?

The way we answer these questions determines how we approach every challenge, every choice, and every day of our lives.

In this talk on Parshat Va'eira, Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein explores the Torah's revolutionary concept of personal agency through one of the most dramatic confrontations in history: the battle of wills between Pharaoh and God.

As the plagues unfold, the Torah reveals a profound truth about free choice. For the first time, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, not by stubbornness, but by God Himself. Why would God take away a person's free will? And what does that teach us about the value, fragility, and responsibility of choice?

Drawing on the Rambam's teachings in Hilchot Teshuvah and a foundational Mishnah in Pirkei Avot (Chapter 3, Mishnah 19), the Chief explains why free will is described not as a right, but as permission granted. God, the ultimate power, steps back and entrusts human beings with the ability to choose, and therefore with accountability for their actions.

While much of life is outside our control, the Torah insists that the moral choices we make remain fully ours. We are not defined by what happens to us, but by how we respond.

Pirkei Avot is not a book of abstract philosophy. It is a guide to personal transformation. Its message is clear: belief in personal agency moves us from passivity to responsibility, from excuses to growth, from resignation to hope.

This is a teaching about freedom, accountability, the power of change, and why true liberation begins not with circumstances, but with choice.

Key Insights

• Free will is not automatic, it is permission granted by God.

• With freedom comes accountability, responsibility, and moral weight.

• Pharaoh's loss of free will reveals how precious choice truly is.

• Much of life is beyond our control, but our moral responses are not.

• The Torah rejects victimhood and affirms personal agency.

• Belief in free will is the foundation of growth, repentance, and change.

• True freedom is the belief that a better tomorrow is possible.