God sends Moses to Pharaoh to tell him to let the Hebrews go out of Egypt.  He then tells Moses, ‘I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and he will not let them go.’

This passage from the Bible supports the idea of an all-powerful God who controls human actions.  How do we reconcile this with the prophetic tradition that Rabbi Olan champions, according to which God says to humanity, “I set before thee this day good and evil, choose thou the good”?

In this sermon, Olan tackles the age-old enigma of determinism versus free will.  He discusses the ways in which, in the modern age, physics, psychology, and sociology have largely replaced God as forces that appear to take away our free will.

How does Rabbi Olan defend the prophetic belief in free will?  You’ll have to listen to the sermon to find out.

*Written by Joshua Hirsch.*