Living in a Movie: This World Is Just One Big Set in the 'Film' of Our Lives

It was a nice, sunny day and Moshe decided to take his children to the park. As he approached the crosswalk, he gripped his children’s hands tightly to make sure they wouldn’t break loose. The road was clear, so he stepped out into the street... and at that precise moment, a car appeared as if out of nowhere, speeding past them while swerving to avoid them. A second later, it was gone.

Moshe was left shaken. “He was driving like a madman! I hope he gets into an accident! He certainly deserves it!”

End of story? Perhaps it was just the beginning...

***

We are all born with free choice. This world is made available to us to make use of as we see fit. The only proviso is that we will have to give an accounting.

The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers 3:16) states:

“... the store is open and the storekeeper extends credit; the account-book lies open, the hand writes, and all those who wish to borrow may come and borrow.

“The collection officers make their rounds every day and exact payment from man, with his knowledge and without his knowledge. Their case is well-founded, the judgment is a judgment of truth...”

The Baal Shem Tov explains that Heavenly judgment is never passed on a person without his consent—this is what “with his knowledge” means. The person must agree that the sins he committed were wrong, and accept the consequences as fair and just.

However, since people tend to justify their own deeds, making excuses for why the sin wasn’t really so bad, events are engineered in such a way that they pass judgment on themselves without realizing. How? By being presented with the same deed performed by another person. This is “and without his knowledge,” because at the moment when Moshe saw the speeding driver and “pronounced judgment” on him for reckless driving, he didn’t remember a similar occasion when he himself drove recklessly and almost caused an accident—and even if he had recalled it, he might have made excuses for himself.

In other words, Moshe passed judgment not on the driver but on himself.

***

This is explained by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov in his Likutei Moharan (113):

“ ‘And they collect from a person with his knowledge and without his knowledge.’ I heard it said in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that before any verdict, they ask [the defendant] if he agrees, and then the judgment is finalized. Certainly, were he to be asked explicitly about himself, he would surely deny and say that the judgment is not so. So they trick him and ask him about a similar case, and he passes judgment, and then the verdict is finalized...

“And this is what it means by, ‘they collect from a person with his knowledge,’ as they ask his opinion, and yet it is also ‘without his knowledge’ because he does not know that the judgment is upon himself. And this matter is very deep, how every person is asked, because in all the words and stories that a person hears, he will find there very lofty matters, and one must be very careful not to finalize judgment until he considers it carefully twice or even three times, for it is a matter of life and death...”

***

What Rabbi Nachman is saying is that everything that happens to us in our lives, all the people we encounter, all the incidents that transpire—they are all “the words and stories that a person hears.” It may seem real, and it is real in one sense, but in another sense, a far more crucial sense, we are the only real person on stage and everyone else is an actor, every item is a prop, the storyline has already been written, and all we can do is try to react in the best possible way.

And who is the director? Hashem Himself orchestrates the entire course of our lives, giving us endless opportunities to choose life and goodness. When we see others doing what seems wrong, and instead of judging favorably we pronounce harsh judgment, we need to remember that it’s all being directed from Above, for our benefit, to give us a chance to wake up and correct our ways.

Our only hope is to take Rabbi Nachman’s advice and “consider everything carefully, twice or even three times,” before rushing to condemn others and thereby condemning ourselves. We must accustom ourselves to giving the benefit of the doubt and to wishing others only the best, blessing them that they may open their eyes to truth—and forever striving to do the same ourselves.