Q&A: What Is Good?
What Is Good?
Question
Hello Michi
Is what God does good, or does God do what is good?
That is, is there some absolute good that God is subject to (assuming that God does only good), or is whatever He does good,
Answer
This is the Euthyphro dilemma, on which much ink has been spilled.
As I understand it, the good is not determined by the Holy One, blessed be He, but is necessarily defined (something like the rules of logic). He is only the one who obligates us to conduct ourselves accordingly. In other words, if He were to command murder, that would not make it good.
Discussion on Answer
It remains a morally bad act, but it is necessary from the standpoint of Jewish law. The fact that the Torah commands something says nothing whatsoever about whether it is moral or not.
So why does the Holy One, blessed be He, command us to do immoral acts?
See column 15, and at length at the beginning of the third book in the trilogy.
Rabbi Kalner argues that this is a question that assumes God is an idol. Whether the Greek gods determine morality is a valid question, but the Jewish conception of the Holy One, blessed be He, is that He is precisely the same source that also causes things to be perceived as good or bad, and therefore the question does not arise.
And what about the cases where He actually does command us to kill? (Amalek, the seven nations, the idolatrous city, or anyone who worships idolatry,)