Why God Created Us With Free Will and Awareness – A Jewish Perspective

Ittai asks: "Hello. I understand that the Creator of the universe has a plan and a purpose, but on the other hand He is infinite and boundless. How can we possibly grasp His infinite mind?"

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Hello Ittai, and thank you for your question.

Did you know that when a mosquito bites, it first injects an anesthetic contained in its saliva, along with an anti-coagulant? This tiny, millimeter-sized mechanism allows the mosquito to obtain the proteins it needs from blood in order to produce its eggs.

Why does the mosquito have an anesthetic in its bite? The scientific answer is to get the proteins it needs, since otherwise its victims would feel the bite and kill it. Why does it have an anti-coagulant? To keep the blood from clotting before it can drink.

If I ask you why we have a heart, you would agree that it is to pump blood and deliver oxygen to the brain. Why do we have lungs? To bring oxygen into the body. Why do we have a liver? To filter the blood and produce proteins. The examples are endless. All natural scientists recognize that it is possible to discern purposes and functions in creation. Clearly, God created a logical world, and gave us the intellect to understand its purposes — at least on the level necessary for us.

From this tiny mosquito we learn two crucial points:

1. The world was created with wisdom and logical purposes.

2. We were given the intellect to recognize these purposes.

We can investigate God’s will and discern human purpose, just as we study animals or the human body in science. God create us with awareness so that we might be aware of ourselves and of Him. He gave us the ability to know Him and to seek connection with Him which is evident in your questions. No other creature asks about God, because He placed within us a soul that longs to find Him.

Why did He give us free will, if not to test us in choosing good over evil? Why did He instill within us a spiritual drive and religious longing, if not so we could strive to come closer to Him? These answers point directly to our purpose.

Humans are without doubt the crown of creation: the only beings who can think about their Creator, seek conscious connection, and choose to believe or to deny, to embrace His commandments or to reject them. Our intellect and free will are divine gifts intended for fulfilling that purpose.

As King David wrote: "He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? He who instructs nations, shall He not correct? He who teaches man knowledge — doesn’t He know human thoughts?" (Psalms 94:9–10)

The same God who created light waves and the process of vision gave us eyes to see. Similarly, He created our minds, enabling us to perceive His existence and understand His will, at least to the degree necessary.

The fact that every nation throughout history has invented religions testifies to human nature itself created by God. The longing for divine revelation drives people to search for life’s purpose, to distinguish good from evil, and to seek rules of justice and morality. It is also what drives humanity to look for the right way to serve God.

We know God’s wisdom is infinite, as evidenced by physics, biology, and the complexity of life. We also know He would not entrust His truth privately to one individual who might lie or err. A true revelation must be public, to an entire nation.

Judaism is unique in this. It is the only religion that reports national-scale miracles witnessed by an entire people: the Ten Plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, the revelation at Mount Sinai, the pillar of cloud and fire, forty years of miracles in the desert, and the conquest of the Land of Israel. Ours is the only Torah given before an entire nation.

God revealed His will in human language. Just as He gave us speech, so He spoke to Moses in words we could understand — “The Torah speaks in the language of man”, like a father speaking to his young children in terms they can grasp. That is why the Torah says: “You are children to the Lord your God.” (Devarim 14:1)

God is not merely a “higher power” or “cosmic consciousness,” as some mistakenly believe. He is the Creator and Ruler of the world, our Father and King. He created a logical universe with clear purpose. If even the mosquito’s bite has meaning, how much more so do the intellectual and spiritual faculties of human beings.

Indeed, God is infinite, but He created a finite world, structured so that we can comprehend enough of it to live with meaning. He gave us the Torah, His direct revelation, to show us His will — so that we may fulfill our purpose and receive goodness in this world and the next.