Nov 10, 2026 · 57 min · 10 segments
Free Will! Rambam uses the laws of Teshuvah to explore the philosophical concept of free will in relation to the statement of the Mishnah that, 'everything is foreseen, yet freedom of action is given'
Rishut l'chol adam netzunah.
Reshoot is itself an interesting word.
We could spend a lot of time on these four words.
Reshoot is permission.
It is the ability to act without the need to check with someone else.
So we use this language in halachic literature a lot.
We've seen it actually before.
Someone is in someone else's reshoot.
It means in their domain, in their power, in their sphere of choice, their locus of control, whatever your preferred analogy is.
Rashut is about the freedom of action in particular.
Not about will per se, but about action.
So Rashut, freedom of action, let's say, is given to every person.
Now, by phrasing it this way, he's also evoking the famous statement of Rabbi Kiva in Pirkei Avot, which is probably the best Jewish commentary on free will up until this current text, which is that HaKold Zafui verashut netunah.
So he's actively referencing that with this language of Roshut Netunah and emphasizing it is to all people.
There is no one accepted from this.
إِمْرَطْسَ لَهَتْهُ تَطْصْمُ لَدِرْخْ تَوَىٰ فِي الْحِيُّطْ صَدِيْكَ عَوَشُدْ بِيَدَوْا If someone wants to turn themselves, to reorient themselves, we might say, onto a good path and to be a righteous person, a tzaddik, then the power is theirs.
The power is theirs.
The ability to do that is in their hands.
And if instead he wants to orient himself to a bad path, and to be a wicked person, The power is in his hands.
He has that ability, any individual.
Rishut l'chol adam netzunah.
Reshoot is itself an interesting word.
We could spend a lot of time on these four words.
Reshoot is permission.
It is the ability to act without the need to check with someone else.
So we use this language in halachic literature a lot.
We've seen it actually before.
Someone is in someone else's reshoot.
It means in their domain, in their power, in their sphere of choice, their locus of control, whatever your preferred analogy is.
Rashut is about the freedom of action in particular.
Not about will per se, but about action.
So Rashut, freedom of action, let's say, is given to every person.
Now, by phrasing it this way, he's also evoking the famous statement of Rabbi Kiva in Pirkei Avot, which is probably the best Jewish commentary on free will up until this current text, which is that HaKold Zafui verashut netunah.
So he's actively referencing that with this language of Roshut Netunah and emphasizing it is to all people.
There is no one accepted from this.
إِمْرَطْسَ لَهَتْهُ تَطْصْمُ لَدِرْخْ تَوَىٰ فِي الْحِيُّطْ صَدِيْكَ عَوَشُدْ بِيَدَوْا If someone wants to turn themselves, to reorient themselves, we might say, onto a good path and to be a righteous person, a tzaddik, then the power is theirs.
The power is theirs.
The ability to do that is in their hands.
And if instead he wants to orient himself to a bad path, and to be a wicked person, The power is in his hands.
He has that ability, any individual.
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