[Avodah] Free Will Vs. Physics

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 07:07:05PM -0400, Rich, Joel wrote:
: [R' ???:]
:>> If you meant to do a mitzva and through no fault of your own you were
:>> unable to complete the action, you still get schar
:>> But not as if you had actually done it.

: [Cantor Wohlberg:]
:> That's true. If you had done it, you'd be in the first row.  If you were
:> unable to complete the action, you'd be in the second or third row.

RJR:
: I'm not sure this is a settled question-I have heard it both ways.

I think it's pretty straightforward. As Yishma'el was, people are judged
"ba'asher hu sham". So, it simply depends on whether trying and failing
creates the same roshem on the person as trying and succeeding.

This notion of judgment as a consequence of personal state, which in
turn is ha'adem nif'al lefi pe'ulosav is a central theme in the essays
in the first third of my handbook for Aseres Yemei Teshuvah
<http://www.aishdas.org/10YemeiTeshuvah.pdf>.

GCT and :-)@@ii!
-Micha