Q&A: The Creation of the Universe
The Creation of the Universe
Question
Happy holidays!
I recently thought about the following point:
Just as all of us were created by our parents, and not directly by the Infinite One, blessed be He, so too perhaps the universe we are in was created by some higher being (who may itself have been created by another higher being), and not directly by the Infinite.
If that is really the case, the practical implication is that we have a double obligation (or even more than double), similar to our relationship with God and with our parents:
Just as we need to listen to our parents, but if that contradicts the voice of prophecy (the Torah), then prophecy prevails,
so too perhaps we need to rank the various prophecies we have received throughout history, the voices of conscience, the sense of justice, and all kinds of our intuitions, because maybe not all of them come to us from the same creator. Some come from a direct creator, and some from a more exalted creator.
What do you think?
Answer
My opinion is that good luck to us. I don’t understand the question. It’s also possible that the Torah was written by twelve gods and we need to rank them too. And so on…
Discussion on Answer
Even aside from his theory, which I don’t understand or its implications, indeed when there is a clash between Jewish law and morality, Jewish law does not always prevail. I discussed this at length in my book Paths Among the Standing and in my lectures on Jewish law and morality.
So you’re basically saying that we have no way of knowing whether this is true or not, and that it doesn’t really matter. Did I understand you correctly?
Correct
Yes, but according to the theory Elijah proposed, it could be that when morality and Jewish law clash, one should follow morality. ???