Is free will explicitly rooted in the Torah’s text, or could it be an illusion in some deeper theological sense?
Q. I was asked where in the Torah does it say that we have free will and if this free will is an illusion of free will (which does not mean that we should do bad)
All of the commandments of the Torah are based upon the fact that man has Free-Will to do or not to do them (BTW, Chazal refer to bechira and not bechira chofshit because there are many instances in life where one doesn’t have totally “free” will, e.g. his height, place of birth, family, people he will or will not meet, etc.). Without man’s will, there is no reward and punishment, so the tochechot of P. B’chukotai and Ki Tavo and the concept of Tshuva (Dvarim 30) would be irrelevant. If nevertheless, you’re looking for explicit psukim, see Dvarim 11, 26-28 and 30, 15-20.
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