Since human beings have free will, our lives are full of choices—where to live, whom (or whether) to marry, what’s for dinner. Minute by minute, year after year, the choices we make impact us. We become who we are thanks in substantial part to the choices we’ve made.
Someone very wise (I no longer remember whom) once taught me the difference between a choice and a decision. The word “decision” is derived from the Latin “dēcīdere,” literally “to cut off.” When we decide, we cut off a possibility—“this and never that.” When we chose, on the other hand, we leave the possibility open—“this and maybe that.” When we chose, we can return to an option and explore it later. When at a crossroads, it’s helpful to know whether you are making a choice or a decision.
In this week’s parshah, Re’eh, God tells us that we’re perpetually at a crossroads:
See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Eternal your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Eternal your God but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods whom you have not experienced. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)
The High Holy Days are approaching. They offer us the opportunity and obligation for t’shuvah/repentance. How do we know whether our t’shuvah is real? When we have another chance to engage in the same hurtful activity and decline to do so—that is, when a choice becomes a decision.
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