Free Will and Foreknowledge: A Suggestion for Rosh Hashanah from R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk

(15) Everything is foreseen, and freewill is given. And with goodness the world is judged. And all is in accordance to the majority of the deed.

(5) Perchance you will again object: Does not the Holy one, blessed be He! know all that which is to happen? He therefore either must have known, even before it came to pass, that such and such a man would be righteous or wicked, or He must not have known it; now if he knew that such a man would be righteous, then it was impossible for him not to be righteous; for if we were to say: that although He knew that he would be a righteous man, it was still possible for him to be a wicked man, then He did not know the thing to perfection? To this we answer, Know that with regard to the discussion of this problem, “the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea,” and that many principles of the greatest importance, and of sublime magnitude are pending thereon, but the following remark must be well considered: It has already been explained by us in the second Chapter of the Precepts relating to the foundations of the law, that the Holy One, blessed be He! does not know things by a knowledge distinct from Himself, as men do; for they and their knowledge are two distinct things; but He (whose name be exalted!) and His knowledge, are one. Now this idea, the mind of man is not able perfectly to comprehend; and in the same way as it is not in the power of man to comprehend or to find out the essentiality of the Creator, as it is said: For there shall no man see Me, and live, (Exod. 33. 20), so neither is it in the power of man to comprehend or fathom the knowledge of the Creator (i. e. the manner in which He knows things); this is what the prophet says: For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, (Isaiah 55. 8); now this being the fact, it must be admitted that we have not the power of understanding how the Holy One, blessed be He! knows all creatures and their doings; but this we undoubtedly know, that the actions of man are in his own power, and that the Holy One, blessed be He! neither forces him nor predetermines his actions. This fact is not ascertained by revelation only, but also by clear scientific demonstrations. Now in consequence of this principle it was announced to us in prophecy, that a man will be judged for all his actions, according to their nature, whether they be good or evil; this being the principle on which all the words of prophecy are based.

Raavad: This author did not act in the fashion of the scholars. For one does not raise a subject and not known how to complete it...