The next world/techias hameisim/any world after that- is a place to receive sechar for the work done in this world. I was wondering if in any of these worlds people will have free will (more specifically, the capacity to make a free-will decision).
Another similar question: will there be an avodas Hashem that we can/will perform in any of these worlds?
Answer
Free will is premised on the existence of a domain which need not submit to Hashem's will. As the Ramchal writes in the Daas Tevunos, the existence of this domain, while requisite for receiving reward for what we accomplish in this world, at some point will disappear, since ultimately Hashem's will is to reveal his oneness, and the existence of this domain is contrary to this end. So ultimately, there will be no free will.
There will be growth at this point, which Rav Dessler in the end of the first volume of Michtav MeEliyahu describes as a never-ending cycle of discovering Hashem's greatness, humbling oneself, and then discovering more of Hashem's greatness, and so on.
However, before that time, there will be the times of Moshiach. In this period of time, as the Ramban writes in his commentary on the Torah (Devarim 30:6), we will have free will comparable to what Adam HaRishon has before he ate from the Tree of Knowledge. While the distinction between this free will and our free will presently is not so well defined, the most classical approach is outlined by the Nefesh Hachayim: Just like one doesn't have a desire to put his hand in a fire, since he perceives the fire as outside of himself, so to was that existence of Evil before Adam HaRishon's sin. I'd recommend reading Rav Chaim Freidlander's Sefsei Chaim (Emunah VeBachira, Vol I). He has a whole section devoted to this subject.
But practically speaking (whatever that means in this context...) in the times of Moshiach we will have the ability to actualize the potential of our connection to Hashem, according with the effort we exerted while we still had full free will.
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