Probing the Paradox Between Freewill and Determinism

Jews like to answer questions with questions, so if you ask me, “Does God know what I’m going to do next?” my answer is, “Who’s asking?”

In other words, it’s all about perspective.

From our perceptive, we have ultimate freewill. From the moment that I step out of bed in the morning I dictate each and every move I make. I am the absolute master of my domain.

Responsibility for our actions is a fundamental principle of Judaism. The entire system of mitzvot in the Torah is predicated on our ability to choose. If we had no freewill, what would be the purpose of the
All we can do is try to make the right decisions and actualize our potential. And that is exactly what God wants from us.
Torah’s intricate legal system?

The Jewish tradition also believes in the greatness of the human being, and in our ability to better ourselves. Though the obstacles to change and growth are great, they are not insurmountable. The only way that we overcome those challenges is through our own freewill decisions.

But there is another perspective: God’s perspective. Nothing happens without God wanting it to happen. No toe is stubbed and no skyscraper is built without God’s desire.  God is orchestrating every minute detail of our individual story, as well as the greater story of all of humanity.

But how can both perspectives be true? Isn’t that a contradiction?

Yes, and this is one of the great paradoxes that we cannot grasp. This brings us to another important point: God’s ways are not always revealed to us; sometimes believing in God demands humility.

The relevant question is: where should we put our focus? The answer is firmly on our own actions. We cannot live in God’s reality; we can only see the world through our own eyes. All we can do is try to make the right decisions and actualize our potential. And that is exactly what God wants from us.

Is the Torah Divine? It’s All in How You Ask

One would imagine a book written by God to knock the reader out of his seat before reading the first word. Yet an adult opening up the Torah for the first time could easily mistake God’s eternal message to humanity for simplistic children’s stories.

In fact that has happened, and in recent history certain scientists and thinkers have spent lots of time and energy trying to disprove the divinity of this text.

Some great minds have attempted to refute these claims through Bible codes or philosophical proofs. Personally, I find none of them convincing. But the question still stands: if the Torah is truly divine, then why isn’t it blatantly obvious?

For me, the conclusion that the Torah is a divine document came through asking the right questions.

The Torah is not a scientific treatise on the creation of the world, nor is it a history book meant to depict every detail from the beginning of creation. It may give us some insights into these topics, but that is not its purpose. Its primary objective is to answer existential questions about ethics, our ultimate purpose, and life’s deeper meaning.

In other words, the Torah is an answer to the question why, as opposed to the question how. Science can teach us plenty about how our world works; however, science is silent when asked why the world works the way it does.

Therefore, approaching the Torah requires that we must first and foremost recover the deeper questions about life. Once we have started to formulate them, we can begin to read the Torah through the proper lens. Only then can we start to sense the Torah’s divinity. And only through continued interaction and grappling with the text can we fully grasp its greatness.

Finding the God Within Us

When I reflect on my spiritual journey, I realize that it began before my immersion in traditional texts. It started while sitting behind an old wooden desk in Tallahassee, Florida, in my college apartment, writing in my journal. Though I couldn’t articulate it clearly then, the deeper my self-introspection, the closer I felt to God.

The burning search for meaning and truth is a Jewish tradition that dates back to Avraham. The midrash teaches that before Avraham heard the voice of God, he was a charismatic spiritual seeker traveling from place to place searching for answers.

According to the Chassidic master Rabbi Mordechai Yosef, also known as the Mei HaShiloach, God’s first message to Avraham is that he is looking in the wrong place. “Go to yourself,” God says. You are combing the physical realms, but if you really want to find Me, look inside yourself. The more that you search yourself, the closer you will come to Me.

A deeper relationship with self is a deeper relationship with God. This is not to say that any one of us is God; however, each one of us reflects a unique facet of God’s infinite personality. The deeper we delve into ourselves, the more we sense that divine spark inside us.

“Go to the land that I will show you,” says God to Avraham. This is the Land of Israel, which is symbolic of constant process. It represents development that never reaches finality. God’s message to Avraham is: search yourself and you will find Me, but know that this inner journey has no end. Just as you can never reach absolute self-awareness, so too you can never fully reach the infinite place in your heart where God dwells.