Renewed Daily Power Of Choice
ראה אנכי נותן כו' היום
"See, I set before you... this day" (Devarim 11:26).
The pasuk opens Parshas Re'eh by addressing Bnei Yisrael in the singular, placing the choice between blessing and curse before each individual "this day."
פי' שהבחירה ביד האדם לבחור טוב או רע
The meaning is that the power of choice lies in a person's hand, to choose either good or evil.
The Sfas Emes establishes the basic point: bechirah, free will, is given over to a person's own hand to choose between good and evil.
ואמר אא"ז מו"ר ז"ל שע"ז מברכין הנותן לשכוי בינה כו'
My grandfather, my teacher and master, of blessed memory, said that it is regarding this that we recite the blessing "...who gives the rooster understanding to distinguish between day and night" (Berachos 60b).
He brings his grandfather's teaching that the daily blessing about the rooster discerning day from night alludes to this very gift of discernment and choice that Hashem implants in a person.
ונראה פי' היום שיש בכל יום בחירה חדשה
And it appears that the meaning of "this day" is that in every single day there is a fresh, renewed power of choice.
The key word is "this day" — it teaches that the gift of choice is not a one-time grant but is renewed every single day.
כי אחר שחוטא האדם מסתלקת הבחירה מהאדם כמ"ש ז"ל הרשעים ברשות לבם
For after a person sins, the power of choice departs from him, as Chazal said: "the wicked are in the control of their hearts" (Bereishis Rabbah 34:10) — they have lost their free choice and are ruled by their desires.
When a person sins, he can forfeit his free will and become enslaved to the pull of his heart, as Chazal describe the wicked as captives of their own desires.
ומ"מ הקב"ה מחדש בכל יום מ"ב ונותן בחירה חדשה לאדם בכל יום שיוכל להיות טוב מחדש כמ"ש לא יכשל בה ביום שובו כו':
Even so, the Holy One, Blessed is He, renews each day the act of Creation, and grants a fresh power of choice to a person every day, so that he can be good anew, as it is written, "he shall not stumble through it on the day of his return" (Yechezkel 33:12).
Yet because Hashem renews Creation daily, He also renews a person's power of choice each day, giving even one who has fallen a fresh start to choose good, so his past sin will not trip him up on the day he returns in teshuvah.
Summary: The Sfas Emes opens Parshas Re'eh by explaining that "See, I set before you... this day" teaches that bechirah, the power of choice between good and evil, is placed in each person's own hand. He cites his grandfather that the daily blessing thanking Hashem for giving the rooster the understanding to distinguish day from night alludes to this gift of discernment. He then draws out the force of the word "this day": a person who sins can lose his free choice and fall under the control of his heart's desires, as Chazal say of the wicked. But just as the Holy One, Blessed is He, renews the act of Creation every day, so too He grants a fresh power of choice each day, enabling even one who has stumbled to become good anew — so that on the day of his teshuvah, his earlier sin will no longer hold him back.