[Avodah] Machnisei Rachamim

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 01:25:24PM -0500, Ken Bloom wrote:
: Regardless of the mechanics of such a thing, there is a very simple
: rayah that one who is lemaalah min hazeman *can* have free will and make
: decisions. Hashem is lemaalah min hazeman, and he can make decisions and
: have free will.

No reasoning WRT HQBH is "very simple".

To have free will means that Hashem could have chosen otherwise and
still been the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Just, Merciful, Kind... Let me
just say "haKel haGadol haGibor vehaNora" so that R' Chanina won't yell
at me.

Is that true? Hashem's choices are not always the single most optimal
solution?

What choices does Hashem have?

Think of all the problems of hakol tzafui vehareshus nesunah. Well,
in a decider who is outside of time, the decider is also the metzapeh.
And as a mental excercise, try defining the concept without speaking
of impacting the future and being unconstrained by the past.

I'm not saying that bechirah chafshi and lemaalah min hazeman are
necessarily incompatible. I am asserting that the combination, if it
exists, is inherently incomprehensible. If mal'akhim do have bechirah,
or if the deceased retain bechirah yet leave the flow of time, it's not
bechirah remotely like the sense in which we experience it.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             You will never "find" time for anything.
micha at aishdas.org        If you want time, you must make it.
http://www.aishdas.org                     - Charles Buxton
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