Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
The idea that we have free will is at the core of our ethical system. How can we be held responsible, if we are predetermined? On the other hand, If God is all-knowing and knows ahead of time how will we act, how can we be free to chose?
Throughout the years, Judaism had to struggle with this dilemma and came out with a variety and , at times, even conflicting answers.
The Hebrew Bible seems to promote the idea of free will when it urges us to “choose life” (Deut. 30:19, see Hertz, The Pentateuch, p. 882), and yet, it acknowledges that, at times, we don’t seem to have any choice in our actions. For example, In the Book of Exodus, we are told that God “will harden Pharaoh’s heart” (7:3), and thus deprive him of his freedom of action.
In the Mishnah, 2nd cent. CE, both assertions are made and, consequently, the problem is left unsolved: “Everything is foreseen, yet, freedom of choice is granted” ( Pirke Avot 3: 15).
During the medieval times, some Jewish philosophers promoted the idea of free will, whereas others denied it. Thus, for example, Maimonides, the great Jewish Aristotelian who lived in the 12th century Spain , defended the idea of free will by saying that “Man’s conduct is in his own hands” (Mishneh Torah, Knowledge, 3:2) based on the assumption that there is no resemblance between our knowledge and God’s knowledge. We do not know how God knows. Whereas Malbim, the 19th century Ukrainian Jewish bible commentator, denied that we can have freedom of choice based on the belief that “ God must have immutable foreknowledge of everything and so man has neither choice nor free will and should not be responsible for his actions” (On Job. 10:6:1).
Others , echoing the Talmudic statement that “everything is in the hands of heaven , except for the fear of heaven” (Ber. 33b), kept a middle position on this subject. For example, Gersonides, the 13th century French-Jewish philosopher, argued that God knows the choices which we will make but does not know the specific actions we actually carry out.
I follow the middle position and maintain that most of our deeds are predetermined by our physical constitution and our social condition, yet, we do have a few free choices among the alternatives presented before us.
What do you think?
