Subscribe to Receive PDF Hilchos Teshuvah – Chapter 5: Free Will Halachah 1 — Human Free Will Every person is granted free will. If one desires to be righteous, the choice is his; if he desires to be wicked, the choice is his. No force compels a person toward good or evil.
If one desires to be righteous, the choice is his; if he desires to be wicked, the choice is his.
No force compels a person toward good or evil. This is what distinguishes humanity from all other creations.
Halachah 2 — Rejection of Predestination
It is false to believe that God decrees at birth whether a person will be righteous or wicked.
Every individual may become righteous like Moshe or wicked like Yerovam.
All character traits—wisdom, foolishness, mercy, cruelty, generosity, or stinginess—are chosen by the individual alone.
A person is therefore fully responsible for his actions and their consequences.
Halachah 3 — Free Will as a Foundation of Torah
Free will is a fundamental pillar of the Torah and mitzvot.
God presents humanity with life and good, death and evil, blessing and curse, and leaves the choice in human hands.
Without free will, commandments, reward, and punishment would be meaningless.
Halachah 4 — Divine Knowledge and Human Responsibility
Although everything occurs according to God’s will, human beings act by their own choice.
Just as God established natural laws for creation, He established that humans possess free will.
Therefore, people are judged according to their deeds: rewarded for good and punished for evil.
Prophetic rebuke and moral accountability depend entirely on this principle.
Halachah 5 — God’s Foreknowledge and Free Will
Although God knows all that will occur, His knowledge does not negate human free will.
God’s knowledge is not separate from Him, as human knowledge is from humans; rather, His essence and knowledge are one.
Human intellect cannot comprehend how divine foreknowledge and free will coexist.
Nevertheless, it is absolutely certain that a person’s actions are his own choice and that he is judged accordingly.
This principle underlies all prophecy, reward, punishment, and the call to Teshuvah.