Free Will

Devarim (30:19) I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.

Avos (4:2): Ben Azzai said that one should run to perform an easy mitzva just as he would to do a more difficult one and he should flee from transgression. That is because doing one mitzva brings a second mitzva and doing one transgression brings a second mitzva. That is because the reward of a mitzva is a mitzva while the reward of a transgression is transgression.

Rambam (Shemona Perakim Perek 8) 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 marries a permitted woman legally, then she becomes his lawful wife, and if he does this for procreation  then he has done a mitzva. God, however, does not decree the fulfillment of a mitzva. If, on the other hand, a man has married a forbidden woman he has committed a sin. But God does not decree that a man shall sin.

Rambam(Teshuva #436): … For example the apparent contradiction to free will represented by the gemora which indicates that one’s spouse is predestined is to be understood as being dependent upon merit. In other words if this man or woman does a mitzva which gives them the merit of having such a spouse—then G‑d arranges that it happen that they marry each other. On the other hand if they do something which merits the punishment of having a marriage without peace and harmony—that will also occur…

Michtav M’Eliyahu(1:113): Point of free‑will- When two peoples are fighting each other their war is at their point of contact. Whatever is behind the army of one side – it is totally under their control and there is no opponent at all. Similarly whatever is behind the second army is entirely under the control of the second nation. If one side defeats the other side and pushes them farther back – then the renewed battle takes place where the armies now meet each other. However at the former point of confrontation – there is no longer battle taking place because it is now under one sides control. Therefore in reality there is only one front but potentially the entire area of the two countries can be the place of battle. The same thing can be said about free‑will. Everyone has free‑will – which is the point of meeting of his truth with the imagined truth – the outcome of falsehood. However most of his deeds are not at a place where truth and falsehood meet each other at all. For example there is much truth that man is educated to do and it would never occur to him to do the opposite. Similarly there are is much evil and lies which he is not aware that it is not fitting to do. Free‑will is only applicable at the point of contact between the armies of the yetzer hatov and the yetzer harah. Many people are constantly transgressing the laws of lashon harah because of habit and it never occurs to them that this is bad behavior. At the same time these people have no temptation to transgress Shabbos or not to pray or to ignore tzitzis or tefillin and other such things. That is because they have been educated and habituated in Shabbos, tefillin, tzitzis and other such things to such a degree that the yetzer harah has no chance of influencing them. However this point of free‑will does not stand constantly at one place. That is because if a person choses good a person goes up in level. Therefore by choosing good – those places that were previously under the influence of the yetzer harah – now come under the domain of the yetzer hatov. Those good deeds will now be done without any war or free‑will choice at all. This is what is meant by “mitzva causing mitzva”. Similarly the reverse is true. If he chooses bad, it pushes the yetzer hatov away from its place. Then when he continues to do bad, it will be done without free‑will choice because the yetzer tov had no presence in that place. This is what is meant in Avos (4:2) that “sin causes sin” and also “If a person does a sin and repeats it is because like it was permitted” (Yoma 86b).

Rabbeinu Bachye (Devarim 11:26): You can see that I am placing before you this day a blessing and a curse. … This verse teaches that man has freedom and absolute choice. If he wants to, he can conduct himself either in an upright or wicked manner. Everything is given to him to do as he wishes and is dependent upon his free choice… We learn from this that G d does not decree that a person should be either a tzadik or a wicked person but the choice is entirely his. If G d did decree that a person should be righteous or wicked … than how could He command us through His prophets how we should act? … What would be the significance of the entire Torah to punish the wicked or reward the righteous? Absolute free will is thus a critical principle and is the basis of faith.

Arvei Nachal (#23): G d created man for His honor and in order that there be reward and punishment in this world. This is the result of man having free will to do good or evil. However it is impossible to have free will unless man himself is a combination of good and evil. It is because of this man has the ability to turn from evil. Therefore when the good overcomes the evil – the evil turns to good and the reward is very great. The Zohar (2:184a) states that good exists only in turning from evil. In other words, even though the good is inherently good, however the evil which is turned to good has a much higher quality. This is stated in Bereishis Rabbah (9:5): “very good” is referring to death. In other words that evil that is turned to good is very good and it is called “very good”. Consequently this is what G d wanted in the creation of man. It is impossible to accomplish unless man is a combination of good and evil.