GEN650 To obtain forgiveness, the Jew makes a direct approach to God. There is no “iron curtain” between him and his Heavenly Father. As the erring child is received with open arms by the father whose mercy he seeks to obtain and whose forgiveness is always his for the asking, so God is ever ready to welcome back those who have strayed. Ezekiel 18:2-32; Psalm 130:7-8 To be sure, “the imagination (inclination) of man’s heart is evil from his youth” [this verse], but when canalized towards righteous paths, this propensity to evil can be curbed by good example and constant reminder of the true moral standard. Our evaluation of the divine soul within us saves us from the belief in the depravity of human nature, a state of mind responsible for much that is harmful around us.  Why should one strive towards perfection when tainted by “original sin”? Why practice restraint when one is credited with descent from an anthropoid ape? Robbed of the ethical incentive of noblesse oblige, man will behave as befits one springing from lowly origins.  Judaism warns us that human nature is susceptible to sin and emphasizes that the soul was given to us in a pure condition and it is our bounden duty to keep it pure. “Behold”, says that wisest of all men, Ecclesiastes 7:29, “this only have I found, that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” Once we admit moral freedom, we must automatically admit moral responsibility. One is a corollary of the other. Freedom of will is not negatived by a staunch belief in divine Providence. Both are correlative and complementary. Deuteronomy 30:19; Jeremiah 18:7-11; Proverbs 5:22; Avot 3:19, 4:1. Not all who mock their chains are free. To possess freedom without moral responsibility is to be forced often to place manacles on our hands to keep them from trembling.  LEHRMAN 157-8