All Is Foreseen, but Free Will Is Given On the Vicissitudes of Freedom

Each person was endowed with a free will; if one desires to incline oneself toward a good path and to be righteous, permission is in one's hand. And if one desires to intend toward a bad path and to be bad, permission is in one's hand. This is known from what is written in the Torah: "Behold, the human is become as one of us, to know good and evil." (Gen. 3.22) That is to say, "Behold, this species, human, stands alone in the world, and there is no other kind like it, as regards this subject of being able of its own accord, by its reason and thought, to know good and evil, and to do whatever its inclination dictates, with none to stay its hand from doing either good or evil; and, since that is the case, [the Torah says,] "Lest [Adam] put forth his hand, [and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever."] (Ibid.)

Rabbi Ḥanina said: Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except for fear of Heaven, as it is stated: “And now Israel, what does the Lord your G-d ask of you other than to fear the Lord your G-d, to walk in all of G-d's ways, to love G-d and to serve the Lord your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12).

All is in the hands of Heaven - Everything that happens to a person is in the hands of the Holy One, if one's life is long or short, if one is poor or rich, if one is wise or foolish, if one is white or black; all is in the hands of Heaven. But one's being righteous or wicked is not due to Heaven. That was conferred to the human being, provided with two paths, and one should choose the fear of Heaven.

Except for fear of Heaven - This is given to the human being, that they prepare their hearts for this, even though it is [fully] in G-d's capacity to prepare our heart for [piety], as it is written, "Like clay in the hands of the Potter, so are you in My hands, house of Israel." (Jer. 18:6) And it says: "And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh." (Ez. 36:26)

The statement found in the sayings of the Rabbis, (Berachot 33b, Niddah 16b, Megillah 25a) "All is in the power of God except the fear of God" is, nevertheless, true, and in accord with what we have laid down here. Men are, however, very often prone to err in supposing that many of their actions, in reality the result of their own free will, are forced upon them, as, for instance, marrying a certain woman, or acquiring a certain amount of money. Such a supposition is untrue. If a man espouses and marry a woman legally, then she becomes his lawful wife, and by his marrying her he has fulfilled the divine command to increase and multiply. God, however, does not decree the fulfillment of a commandment. If, on the other hand, a man has consummated with a woman an unlawful marriage, he has committed a transgression. But God does not decree that a man shall sin. Again, suppose a man robs another of money, steals from him, or cheats him, and then uttering a false oath, denies it; if we should say that God had destined that this sum should pass into the hands of the one and out of the possession of the other, God would be preordaining an act of iniquity. Such, however, is not the case, but rather that all of man's actions, which are subject to his free will, undoubtedly either comply with, or transgress, God's commands; for, as has been explained in Chapter 2, the commands and prohibitions of the Law refer only to those actions with regard to which man has absolute free choice to do, or refrain from doing. Moreover, to this faculty of the soul (i. e. the freedom of the will) "the fear of God" is subservient, and is, in consequence, not predestined by God, but, as we have explained, is entirely in the power of the human free will. By the word "all" (hakol), the Rabbis meant to designate only natural phenomena which are not influenced by the will of man, as whether a person is tall or short, whether it is rainy or dry, whether the air is pure or impure, and all other such things that happen in the world, and which have no connection with man's conduct.

[If a brother] became sick and sought treatment, the cost of the treatment is paid from his own resources [not from the family estate]. Ravin sent a ruling in the name of Rabbi Ela: They taught this only in a case where he became ill through negligence. But if he became ill through circumstances beyond his control, the cost of the treatment is paid from the middle, i.e., the common inheritance. What are the circumstances in which it is considered negligence? This is in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Ḥanina, as Rabbi Ḥanina says: All occurrences that befall a person are in the hand of Heaven except for colds and obstacles [paḥim], as it is stated: “Colds and snares are on the path of the crooked; one who guards their soul shall keep far from them” (Proverbs 22:5).

(15) Everything is foreseen yet freedom of choice is granted, And the world is judged with goodness; And everything is in accordance with the preponderance of works.

(14) He used to say: Beloved is man for he was created in the image [of God]. Especially beloved is he for it was made known to him that he had been created in the image [of God], as it is said: “for in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:6). Beloved are Israel in that they were called children to the All-Present. Especially beloved are they for it was made known to them that they are called children of the All-Present, as it is said: “you are children to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 14:1). Beloved are Israel in that a precious vessel was given to them. Especially beloved are they for it was made known to them that the desirable instrument, with which the world had been created, was given to them, as it is said: “for I give you good instruction; forsake not my teaching” (Proverbs 4:2).

All is foreseen, but freewill is given. And the world is judged charitably... One can ask: How is the notion that "all is foreseen" related to the statement that "the human is beloved, as it was created in the image of G-d?" Know that according to the stature of the human being, that is so dear, it would be fitting that all of its deeds, done for the sake of Heaven, would be clear and apparent before the Holy One, since the human being is near and dear to G-d, so how would its deeds not be foreseen before the Holy One!? Even so, according to our understanding of the notion that "the human is dear since it was created in the image of G-d," [we understand that] the image of G-d provides a complete existence to the human being. And when it has complete existence the how could its deeds not be apparent and revealed to G-d? That is all according to the stature of the Image, which bespeaks of this complete existence, fully known by G-d. But when one's existence is chaotic, then there is a concealment of presence from G-d, as has been explained.

And when it says "freewill is given," this is also per the human having been created in the image of G-d, and thus G-d gave free will to the human being, to do what it wanted, that a person is not detemined in their actions. Thus, the interpretation of the Mishnah is: "All is foreseen by G-d," but even so, "free will is given" to the human being to do according to what they will. If G-d sees that a person is inclined to sin, the Holy One does not prevent them from doing that sin, but free will is in their hands. This is because the human was created in the image of G-d (Gen. 1:27) and possesses a likeness in this way to the Holy One, having been created in the image of G-d. And this is not the case for the angels, who have no free choice; they only do what G-d has instructed them to do and cannot change their mission. But the human being, having been created in the image of G-d, is distinguished in being in its own domain, like G-d Who does what G-d wills. So does the human being possess free will to do what it will, defined by free choice.

(1) This statement includes great things and [so] it is fitting that this statement would be of Rabbi Akiva. And this is its explanation in brief on condition that you know all that came before it in the earlier chapters. He said [that] all that is in the world is known to Him, may He be blessed and He comprehends it. And that is his saying, "Everything is foreseen." And afterwards he said [that] you should not think that in His knowing actions [in the future], it is obligated by necessity - meaning to say that a person is forced in his actions to [do one] action out of the [many] actions. The matter is not like this, but [rather] freewill is in the hand of a man as to what he will do. And this is his saying, "and freewill is given." He means to say that freewill is given to every man, as we elucidated in the eighth chapter (Eight Chapters 8). And he said that the judgement of God, may He be blessed, with people, however, is with kindness and good - not according to the judgement that befits them, as He, may He be blessed, explained (Exodus 34:6), "of great patience and much kindness and truth" - and the rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said "'of great patience' with the righteous and the evil." And the prophet (recounter) said (Psalms 145:9), "Good to all is the Lord." And afterwards he said that the virtues do not come to a man according to the quantity of the greatness of the deed, but rather according to the great number of good deeds. And this is that indeed the virtues arrive by repetition of the good deeds many times. And with this does a strong acquisition come - not when a man does one great deed from the good deeds; as from this alone, a strong acquisition will not come to him. And the parable with this is that when a man gives a thousand gold coins at one time to one man to whom it is fitting and he does not give anything to another man; the trait of generosity will not come into his hand with this great act, as [much as] it will come to one who donates a thousand gold pieces a thousand times and gives each one of them out of generosity. [This is] because this one repeated the act of generosity a thousand times and a strong acquisition of it came to him [in this way]. But [the other] only aroused his soul with a great arousal towards a good act, and afterwards it ceased from him. And so [too] with Torah, the reward of the one who redeems one captive with a hundred dinar or [gives] charity to a poor person with a hundred dinar which is enough for what he lacks is not like the one who redeems ten captives or fills the lack of ten poor people - each one with ten dinar. And in this comparison and this matter is that which he said, " in accordance to the majority of the deed" - and not in accordance to the greatness of the deed.