[Avodah] Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, hashgacha pratit, and free will

[Chanoch (Ken) Bloom]

I'm reading sefer Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh (in English), and I'm puzzled
by the author's (Rav Itamar Schwartz) conception of hashgacha pratit.
In chapter 4 of volume 1, and also chapter 11 of volume 2, the author
presents a very expansive conception of Hashem's hashgacha, that seems
to leave very little to a person's free will. His primary example is:

"Let's say that we ask a person who is about to buy a table, a set of
chairs, or something similar, 'Do you think you really have control
over what kind of table you will buy, or do you believe you cannot
determine this at all, and it is Hashem Who decrees exactly what you
will buy?' Most people, apparently, know the truth that a person
doesn't really have the ability to determine which table he will buy."
(vol 1 p 98) He continues the chapter to explain how to develop
in one's heart the understanding that it is Hashem who makes these
decisions, and how you have no control over these things.

He justifies this based on (Berachot 32b) "Everything is in the hands
of Heaven, except for the fear of Heaven" (see vol 1 p 100), and
the statement (Chullin 7b) "No one bruises (or even lifts) a finger
down below unless a proclamation is issued from above."

I find his approach hard to accept intellectually, becuase it strips
humans of almost all free will. I'm hoping someone can better explain
his position to me, or present sources that make this more
understandable.

First off, the emendation he makes to the statement from Chullin 7b is
not in the gemara -- there it only says "No one bruises a finger down
below..."

Secondly, he appears to be in conflict with what the Ramchal  says in
Derech Hashem (2:3:4) that a person decides what they want to do, and
Hashem decides what level of help to give that person, or what kinds of
obstacles to put in a that person's way. Elsewhere (I forget where),
the Ramchal explains that Hashem has free will to affect the whole
series of angels and forces that interact this world from the top
down, and that man has the free will to affect the whole series of
angels and forces from the bottom up.

(It does seem to be appropriate to ask from the Ramchal, since the
way he quotes the Ramchal seems to suggest that that he bases his work
off the derech in the Ramchal gives in Mesliat Yesharim)

Lastly, though I suppose Rav Schwartz is not required to accept it,
REED explains "Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except for the
fear of Heaven" differently (as talking about the nikudat habechira),
in a way that allows humans much more free will.

How am I to understand Rav Schwartz in light of these issues with his
conception of free will and hashgacha? (And how does he understand the
Ramchal, and REED?)

--Ken

-- 
Chanoch (Ken) Bloom. PhD candidate. Linguistic Cognition Laboratory.
Department of Computer Science. Illinois Institute of Technology.
http://www.iit.edu/~kbloom1/