Fate and Destiny Coping with Adversity

Fate and Destiny by Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik

1. In short, the “I” of fate asks a speculative metaphysical question with regard to evil, and this question is not susceptible to solution and has no answer.
2. In the second dimension of man‟s existence, destiny, the question of suffering takes on new form. What is an “Existence of Destiny? This is an active existence in which man confronts the environment into which he was cast with an understanding of his uniqueness, value, freedom and capacity without compromising his integrity and independence in his struggle with the outside. The slogan of the “I” of destiny is “Against your will you are born, and against your will you die [but with your free will do you live].” Man is born as an object, dies as an object but it is within his capacity to live as a “subject” – as a creator who impresses on his life his individual imprimatur and who lives autonomously. According to Judaism, man‟s mission in his world is to turn fate into destiny – an existence that is passive and influenced, to an existence that is active and influential; an existence of compulsion, perplexity, and speechlessness, to an existence full of will and initiative.