{"id":1949,"date":"2014-11-10T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T15:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=1949"},"modified":"2014-11-10T10:00:48","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T15:00:48","slug":"divine-foreknowledge-versus-human-free-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2014\/11\/10\/divine-foreknowledge-versus-human-free-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Divine foreknowledge versus human free will (1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an apparent paradoxical relationship between God\u2019s foreknowledge and our free will, as we\u2019ll soon see. A number of explanations have been offered about it by the Medieval thinkers, the Kabbalists, Chassidim, and others, but nearly all of them hearken back to Rambam\u2019s (either explaining it or arguing for or against it), so we\u2019ll present Rambam\u2019s own comments and explain it. He says in Hilchot<\/em> Teshuvah<\/em> 5:5:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps you\u2019ll then say, \u2018Isn\u2019t it true that God knows everything beforehand? [It follows then that] He\u2019d either know if someone will be righteous or wrongful or He wouldn\u2019t. [Accordingly,] if He knows that someone will be righteous, then that person can\u2019t not<\/em> be righteous, whereas if you claim that even if He knows a person will be righteous that person could be wrongful [anyway], then [you\u2019re saying that] God wouldn\u2019t have known something fully [from the first, which is absurd]\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstand that the response to that is as boundless as the earth and as wide as the sea and that many fundamental principles and lofty mountains are suspended upon it. But just know and understand what I\u2019m about to tell you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAs we explained in the second chapter of Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah<\/em>, God doesn\u2019t know with a knowledge that\u2019s external to Him as does man, whose knowledge is separate from his being.\u00a0 God and His knowledge are one [and the same], which is something humankind can never fully understand.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cFor just as we can never hope to fully understand God’s Essence, as it\u2019s written: \u2018No man can see [or grasp] Me and yet live\u2019 (Exodus 33:20), so too can we never hope to fully understand or grasp God’s knowledge. The prophet referred to this when he said: \u2018For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways, says God\u2019 (Isaiah 55:8). Since this is so, we consequently don\u2019t have the power to understand how God can know all created beings and their actions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBut know without a doubt that man’s actions are in his own hands, and that God neither impels nor decrees what he\u2019s to do or not do\u2026 \u201c [1].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In short, God does indeed know what you\u2019re going to do before you do, yet you\u2019re free to do as you will at that moment. Don\u2019t be confused by the seeming contradiction inherent to that, as in fact God\u2019s knowledge isn\u2019t what you think it is. Thinking you understand God\u2019s knowledge would have you infer that you\u2019re impelled to follow what He knows you will do, but disregard that logical leap: you simply have no point of reference when it comes to God Himself of His knowledge. Simply accept the tradition that you\u2019re free to act as you will, which is a reference you can accept as air-tight.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Also see Moreh<\/em> Nevuchim<\/em> 3:20 and Sh\u2019mone<\/em> P\u2019rakim<\/em> Ch. 8.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
\nFeel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————-<\/p>\n

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here<\/a> at a discount.<\/p>\n

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here<\/a> at a discount as well.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an apparent paradoxical relationship between God\u2019s foreknowledge and our free will, as we\u2019ll soon see. A number of explanations have been offered about it by the Medieval thinkers, the Kabbalists, Chassidim, and others, but nearly all of them hearken … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kabbalah-jewish-thought-ramchal-torah-hashkafa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}