Questions tagged [free-will-bechira]
Questions concerning our freedom of choice in the presence of an Omnipresent Creator.
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Free will at the aggregate level
Discussions about free will typically focus on the micro level, examining how an individual can have free choice in a (potentially) deterministic universe.
But does freedom of choice exist at the ...
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How do you reconcile Hashem knows everything from knowing himself and your thinking [closed]
BH
Hi so Rambam says Hashem knows everything from knowing himself Yesodei Torah 2:10, so when he does the action of knowing is this keter or daat?
Also how do you reconcile our knowing with Hashem's? ...
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The Nachash and Bechira [duplicate]
How could the nachash in gan eden be punished if animals don’t have bechira (as is the implication of the Rambam Hil Teshuva 5:1, and Sanhedrin 108)?
Also, any sources would be great.
Thanks for your ...
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Can a person die if it’s not Hashem’s will?
I learned about a machloket between Rishonim, regarding free will and its power on other people. The basic argument of the machloket was that either free will is so powerful that one could commit a ...
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Eradication of Free Will under a functioning Biblical legal system or Talmudic education
It is frequently argued that the lack of direct Heavenly intervention in the Creation was designed to allow for a free "pressure-free" choice between good and bad. E.g. when a person breaks ...
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Paradox of being commanded to not do something when out of control?
One of the principles that comes out in discussions about drinking and doing mitzvot, is that the alcohol impairs one's self control, and thus they aren't doing the mitzva properly [e.g. some sources ...
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Does True Belief Negate Free Will? [duplicate]
How can we say we have free will to sin or to abstain from doing mitzvos, while simultaneously saying that we believe in perfect faith in the punishments and rewards promised regarding these actions?
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Examples of Hashem changing His mind - is the explanation always the same?
There are times where there is a hava amina (automatic assumption) that Hashem changed His mind, and the standard commentary is "obviously, Hashem didn't really change His mind, it is to teach us ...
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Free Will after Exodus
There are many sourcese.g. 1,2, that discuss what happened to the world after the splitting of the sea, and the giving of the Torah, implying that the whole world heard what happened. Everyone knew ...
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How is the hardening of pharaoh’s heart reconciled with the fact you can always repent
There is a principle in Judaism that it is possible to repent for any transgression, even idolatry. My question is, how is this reconciled with the fact that hashem hardened pharaoh’s heart in the ...
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If the Merozians don't have free will then why did Devorah and Barak curse them?
This is related to this question, but isn't the same thing.
This answer maintains that aliens (ie. extra-terrestrial beings) may exist but can't have free will because (according to the Lubavitcher ...
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Can aliens really not have free will?
This answer maintains that aliens (ie. extra-terrestrial beings) may exist but can't have free will because: -
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According to Torah, only man was created with free will, not any creature lower (e.g. ...
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Are there some humans in history who are an exception to the idea of free will?
We all talk about the idea that God has an ultimate plan and that we are all existing within that plan.
That said, humans have free will as we are judged by our actions due to this free will.
My ...
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Let's Kill Hitler
There is a popular moral question - if you had access to a time machine that was capable of allowing you to do so, should you go back in time and kill Hitler when he was a child, before he had a ...
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Does the fact that G-d rewards and punishes show that there must be free will?
From the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 5:4) it seems that if not for the concept of free choice, there would be no concept of reward and punishment.
The question is: even if there would be no concept of ...
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Halakha and practicality of a halachic state
Is there a practical issue with trying to govern a state in a theocracy by Halakha without divine revelation? Even believing it’s okay to have a Jewish state exist before moshiach, would it still be ...
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Can malochim be human?
The word malach technically means "messenger", as in a messenger/agent of Hashem. Does that mean that a malach necessarily has to be a supernatural being, or can it be a human, possibly ...
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Who was Rambam responding to when he argued for free will against the idea that everything is pre-destined/pre-determined? Did any thinkers believe it
It is well known that Rambam advocated against the ideas that everything is pre-destined and pre-determined and that he believed in (absolute) free will for humanity. The fact that he felt that it was ...
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How did Saul prophesy after his rebellion?
In 1 Samuel 10, Saul was said to be given a new heart, and the Spirit of Hashem rushed upon him, and he prophesied with a group of prophets. (Please forgive my ignorance of Hebrew.) In 1 Samuel 16:14 ...
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Why does Hashem force us to follow His commandments?
I understand that we have free will and are punished for doing things that hurt others, and are rewarded for doing the right thing. What I do not understand is, why does Hashem send us to Gehinnom for ...
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Free will of people with mental disorders
It is said that God cannot affect people's free will and that is why he does not manifest himself directly. However, what about psychiatric problems in this category? They somehow alter people's ...
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Source for God creating the world to test the angels/souls
Is there a jewish source (even remotely) simmilar to the following story:
The angels/souls* in heaven were praising God, saying how awesome and great
God is, but God said to them "you only ...
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Does explicit revelation really take away our free will?
I've seen it expressed in various answers and comments here (and elsewhere in general) that Hashem did not reveal things like explicit scientific knowledge in the Torah, performs regular open miracles,...
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Source for "God created this world so that we serve Him with free will"
Rabbi Manis Friedman has (in my opinion) a very beautiful and logical teaching as to why God created this world. He says (although I might be mixing my own ideas in here) that God created this world ...
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Tanya's description of Divine assistance to benoni and freedom of choice
In Likutei Amarim Chapter 13, the Tanya says (quoted here, with explanations interpolated)
Yet, inasmuch as the evil in the left part of the beinoni’s heart is in its native strength, craving after ...
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Free will after Moshiach [duplicate]
In the Rosh Hashana amida (at least nusach Ashkenaz), there is a tefilla that the whole world should recognise Hashem as King and that all wickedness should evaporate like smoke. I presume that this ...
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Being punished for things beyond bechira point
According to Rabbi Dessler's idea of a "bechira point", if something is beyond my bechira point and I transgress it, does that mean that I won't be punished for it because it is beyond what ...
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Can God influence man to sin?
We know that God is Sovereign, Creator of all things, whether spiritual or physical, and nothing escapes His control or goes against Him.
So, from what is written:
"However, [God hardened Pharaoh'...
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Is Mishlei 16:4 saying that Man does not have free-will / freedom of choice?
Shalom.
My JPS English Tanakh translates Mishlei 16:4 as 'The LORD made everything for a purpose, even the wicked for an evil day'. This rendering implies (to me) that the wicked were made wicked, ...
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Question on Shmonah Prakim
In ch. 8 of Rambam's Shmonah Prakim (Rambam's introduction to Pirkei Avot), he discusses free will. After maintaining that even the Egyptians had free will, despite Hashem telling Avraham that his ...
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Can God do bad?
Man has free will. He can choose to do good or bad.
Does God have free will? Can God choose to do bad things?
If we say that god does only good, isn't that putting a limitation on him?
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Can someone's free will affect a prophecy?
When a prophet gets a prophecy, can my free will change the prophecy or is the future event set in stone?
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Life choices how to know if one made the good choice
G-d Himself tells us to choose between life and good, and death and evil. Sometimes good is translated as prosperity here and evil as destruction or adversity.
הַֽחַיִּ֖ים וְאֶת־הַטּ֑וֹב וְאֶת־...
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Emunah and failures?
Rav Arush in the Garden of Emunah apparently has a concept that failures are from Hashem see here :
Before making a mistake, a person has apparent free choice not to make a mistake. But, after the ...
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Are Nisyonos Lifnei Iver? [closed]
How are Nisyonos not considered Lifnei Iver?
One shouldn't place themselves into a Makom Nisayon1, and is Chayiv for sinning even if one doesn't sin (such as transgressing by passing a house of ...
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Why were the plagues necessary if God hardened Pharaoh's heart?
The Torah tells us that God hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the Israelites go. [Ex. Ch. 4-14] Some commentators [e.g., Sforno] explain that this was in order to allow Pharaoh to ...
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Does G-d's overt presence invalidate one's free choice?
It is frequently claimed that the reason for the current Haster Panim (lack of G-d's overt presence in the physical world) is that it is necessary for our free choice. In other words, if G-d's ...
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Egalitarian references in Chazal
I'm trying to find references in Chazal to the principle that people are judged/rewarded based on the choices they make, regardless of their specific role in society. For example, I believe I have ...
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Is it possible to pray to Hashem for a specific person as your prospective spouse?
I understand in the first Amud of Masechet Sotah, an individual’s future [first] spouse is predestined. Is there a possibility of praying to Hashem, such that one may change the decree and designate a ...
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Freewill and rewarding dogs
If animals don't have freewill, why are dogs rewarded for not having barked at Jewish people during the Exodus from Egypt? (Exodus 11 and Exodus 22)
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How to understand "a person only sins if a spirit of foolishness enters him?"
The gemara in Sotah 3a states:
ריש לקיש אמר אין אדם עובר עבירה אא"כ נכנס בו רוח שטות שנא' (במדבר ה, יב) איש איש כי תשטה אשתו תשטה כתיב
Reish Lakish says: A man commits a transgression only if a ...
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What if the wicked son didn’t know better?
We say at the Seder:
רָשָׁע מָה הוּא אוֹמֵר? מָה הָעֲבוֹדָה הַזּאֹת לָכֶם. לָכֶם – וְלֹא לוֹ. וּלְפִי שֶׁהוֹצִיא אֶת עַצְמוֹ מִן הַכְּלָל כָּפַר בְּעִקָּר. וְאַף אַתָּה הַקְהֵה אֶת שִׁנָּיו ...
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Do insane people have free choice?
We know that Hashem gives everyone free choice. But when examining the traits of an insane person, it is clear that someone can be so mentally ill that it is impossible for them to control what they ...
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Was Adam HaRishon's eating from the Tree of Knowledge really a sin
Most of the characterizations I have seen portray eating of the Tree of Knowledge as a sin.
Yet (I personally, with no validation for my surmise) would be inclined to think otherwise. My reasoning is:...
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Do nochrim have free choice in the 7 Laws?
There is a teaching that Jews have bechira chofshis, and only as regards their performance of mitzvot. (I don't have a source for the first claim offhand; please help. The source for the second claim ...
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Can Angels "fall"?
According to this answer, the Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer (among other works) references an idea that angels "fell" -- were somehow separated from their holiness and "became" human.
This answer states ...
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How do we exercise free will when influenced on so many levels?
In Judaism, there is a concept of free will; but, from many sciences and probably our own experiences we know for a fact that many factors influence our decision-making process, and many of them ...
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what is the nature of future visions which never come to be?
In a number of places chazal describe someone, for our purposes we will dub the 'seer' as seeing the future descendants of certain people, such as Moshe before he killed the Egyptian or Elisha before ...
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What makes the choice to do good or evil?
I understand some of bechira but this has always puzzled me: If we are equally inclined to do good or evil, what is it that makes the final choice?
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Will people have the capacity to act out of free will in the next world?
The next world/techias hameisim/any world after that- is a place to receive sechar for the work done in this world. I was wondering if in any of these worlds people will have free will (more ...
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