Free Will | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | January 13th 2026

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Everybody I hope uh you're well hashem uh the reign should bring fertility to erat is um today the share is dedicated anonymously for the raffle of bascalina may she have a rafu is and then I have a very bit of a strange dedication it is also dedicated anonymously elo nish every nishama from adam harishon until day. Okay. Uh Basm all the namos should have Okay. Uh Basm all the namos should have an aliyah and um as I said last week I was not here. Uh although if I had a choice I should have cancelled this week probably probably instead of last week but okay I didn't want to do I didn't want to do two weeks uh two weeks in a row. uh but uh as I indicated we were going to digress a little bit to talk about the Rambam but but not necessarily so much of what he's talking about in the letters uh in his letters to Yoseph Ben Yehuda his beloved Talmud as well as Yehuda his beloved Talmud as well as Yoseph Iban Jabar who was if you remember he was the less educated person who was very very devoted to the Rambam. Uh the Rambam briefly touches on an issue of fatalism which was very very important in Islamic philosophy and that is the notion that God decrees everything that's going to happen to you and as a result whatever you do never makes a difference. Uh the the fatalism would basically mean uh if you put yourself in a dangerous

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1. 0:00Everybody I hope uh you're well hashem uh the reign should bring fertility to erat is…
2. 5:44idea because that really takes out this element of this this passive fatalism that whatever I…
3. 11:26Free agent, free will. And the Rambam uses language that to some degree might be regarded…
4. 17:10did you realize and actualize and activate and dedicate to our bul in a good way.…
5. 22:48Because he gave less of his potential to the right. So when the Rambam says going…
6. 28:29heaven his brother and God says what are you upset? You do your best I will…
7. 34:06So for most of us, and of course I'm not addressing the issue embarrassing somebody publicly…
8. 39:49Now a second issue is the apparent contradiction between moral free will and divine omnipotence. Omnipotence…
9. 45:26Question number two is free will a contradiction to divine omniscience? Again, be sure you know…
10. 51:07the future but God is above time. So from God's perspective, although this is also going…

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