And They Exact from Man with His Knowledge and without His Knowledge

113 – And They Exact from Man with His Knowledge and without His Knowledge “And they exact from man with his knowledge and without his knowledge.” Pirkei Avot Because I heard in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that before every decree in the world—Gd forbid—they assemble the whole world; and if they agree to that judgment, even the person himself whose decree is concerned—they ask him whether he consents, and if he agrees, the judgment is finalized. Now, if he were asked explicitly about himself, surely he would deny and say that the judgment is not so—but they mislead him; they ask him in a similar guise, and he endorses it—and then the judgment is sealed. As we see with King David (peace upon him): when Nathan the prophet approached him and related the story of the guest (II Samuel 12), David answered “As Gd lives…” and mentioned the lamb—and the judgment was thereby pronounced on David from the words that came from his own mouth. Thus “they exact from man with his knowledge”—they solicit his input— but yet it is “without his knowledge because he does not realize the decree is upon him. This matter is extremely deep. Each narrative or teaching a person hears may contain elevated spiritual content (high levels of meaning). One must guard carefully not to finalize judgment until one repeats and examines it thoroughly repeats and triples.” For these are matters of life and soul, ancient and weighty truths. And consider: “Beloved to you are sufferings…” he said to him, “not them… give me your hand on this—that you truly do not desire them.” ( Berakhot 5b)—meaning: if you truly do not want those sufferings, give me your hand in this honest truth