Making Choices – For Better or for Worse

A young woman of approximately twenty-four was murdered in cold blood in Marseille, France. She was buried in the cemetery in that city.

The day of her burial was the hilula of the tzaddik, Rabbi Shalom Abuchatzeira, zy”a. As is my custom, I visited his gravesite with a few disciples. Generally, not many people visit his grave. To our surprise, the cemetery was flooded with thousands of visitors that day.

In our naïveté, we assumed that the throngs had come to pay homage to the great tzaddik buried there. We were quickly informed of the real reason for their visit. It was the passing of this young woman, who had died a short time ago, and was buried not far from the tzaddik.

There at the cemetery, I learned the details surrounding her death. She had accused the killer of stealing. In a fit of anger, he threw her down a flight of steps. The woman was seriously wounded from the fall. But he was not satisfied. He was afraid that after she recovered, she would inform on him to the police. What did he do? Without much thinking, he decided to silence her once and for all, and murdered her on the spot.

This man employed his free choice as a weapon of destruction. Had he utilized his power of free will to restrain himself, he may have faced punishment; he would have served time and then his sentence would have ended, but he could have returned to normal life. But after wantonly taking a life, his victim’s blood will not be calmed. Its voice will hound him forever; he will never be able to silence it.

How great is the power of free choice!