Questions tagged [free-will-bechira]
Questions concerning our freedom of choice in the presence of an Omnipresent Creator.
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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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