Lately I have been pre-occupied with the question: Do we have free will or are we pre-desinted? Throughout the bible I can see scripture that can attest to both... so which is it? I can't say that I have truly been swayed either way, but I did find this excerpt, which I found in one of my husbands Barmitzvah books "The Book of Jewish Knowledge" very interesting:
On the contrary, Jewish teachings denied that man was naturally evil. In the apocalypse of Baruch, a post Biblical Jewish work written prior to the raise of Christianity, this optimistic view of the nature of man was colourfully expressed:
For though Adam first sinned and brought untimely death upon all, yet those who were born from him, each one of them has prepared for his own soul torment to come again, and again each one of them has chosen for himself glories to come... Adam was, therefore not the cause (ie:downfall) save only of his own soul, but each of us has been the Adam on his soul.
Traditional Judaism never taught the doctrine that salvation for the individual lay in his special election by grace or by a predetermined heavenly decision. In Deuteronomy 30:19 G-d addresses the Israelites with the challenge that they exercise their free intelligence and moral will:
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee
life and death, the blessing and the curse' therefore choose life".
The second-century Tanna (Sage) and teacher of ethics Rabbi Akiba, himself incorporated the essential point of this Mosaic teaching in the Oral Traditions, the Mishnah:
"Everything is foreseen (by G-d) and (nonetheless) freedom of choice is given" -Pirke Abot 3:19
The 'freedom' was the individuals violational choice to do good or do evil. G-d (so stated Yochanan ben Zakkai, the first century Judean religious authority) can be served only by those who exercise their moral will for doing good freely. "He cannot be served by slaves." This opinion was in line with the concept, general among the Jews, of the dignity of man, and of its corollary; that, having been made in the image of G-d, man was to imitate Him by striving to do good and create the perfect and the harmonious in society.
For eight centuries, Jews in every land have repeated word for word the memorable testament about the freedom of the will formulated by the medieval rabbinic - philosopher Maimonides:
Every human being is master of his actions, of what he does or leaves undone. If he desires to set out upon the good way and be a righteous person, he is free to do so... Man is the only being in creation - and no other resembles him therein- who by himself and through his own discernment and by his own thinking can differentiate between the good and evil... Therefore, do not listen to the idle talk of the fools among the heathen and of the stupid among the Jews who say that G-d decrees for man before he is born whether he shall act uprightly or wickedly. This is not so.
