How does the Rabbi infer that what created us is “He” and not “it”?
How does the Rabbi understand that God has a will?
What is the purpose of observing the commandments in the Rabbi’s view?
Isn’t this purpose to perfect the human being and society (according to Maimonides’ words in Guide for the Perplexed, it seems that it is)?

I addressed all this in the book. I’ll explain briefly.
A. It has to be “He” and not “it,” because if it is “it,” then we are talking about a mechanism that itself requires explanation. Beyond that, He revealed Himself to us and said that it is “He” and not “it.”
B. The purpose of observing the commandments is to attain religious goals and ends. I don’t know how to say more than that, and it is also not reasonable that I should know. After all, those goals lie outside our world (because goals within the world cannot serve as an explanation for its creation).
C. As stated, no. I do not accept Maimonides’ view, unless he means to say that this is the purpose from our perspective and not from the perspective of the Holy One, blessed be He. See my column 457 on this.

Thank you very much, you helped me!
I really appreciate your work!

My pleasure.

But the fact that only 0.2 percent of the world’s population received an instruction book explaining the reason for creation teaches that there is some additional purpose to creation, and perhaps more than that, it teaches that this encounter, if it happened, adds nothing to the question of why the world was really created. After all, the seven Noahide commandments were not born in that encounter. Unless, of course, we assume that there are 9 billion people who are simply unnecessary.

They are not unnecessary. Their role is to create a healthy human infrastructure and an environment within which the Jewish people exist.
Although in my view even that is a bit megalomaniacal. It is more reasonable that they have the roles their own religions set before them. The exclusive discourse as though we are the important ones and everyone else is mistaken and marginal is a discourse for our own internal needs.

Well, that proves my point. If we can arrive at a reason for humanity’s existence even without the Torah, then why assume a line of reasoning that says revelation and encounter are needed here? After all, 99.8 percent of the world gets along without it. Especially according to your view that God does not intervene in the world at all, and even the story of the giving of the Torah itself may very well suffer from inflation, exaggeration, and changes—so what compels us to think that such an encounter happened, or even that such an encounter should happen?

I don’t understand this insistence. The discussion is about the purpose of the creation of the world, not the purpose of creating Yossi the Haredi or Ahmed the Muslim. The creation of the world was in order that humanity should strive for the realization of religious values. This is done in such a way that most of the world provides infrastructure, and the minority acts in the field itself. It is a division of tasks within humanity, exactly like the division of tasks within the Jewish people between Israelites and priests.

So in short you’re saying exactly what you rejected one line earlier. We’re the privileged ones, the exclusive ones, the “priests” of the world. We’re the central purpose.

I’m insisting because you based the argument on “why He created us,” but the people and Judaism alone, including the encounter with God, do not provide a sufficient answer. Unless we say that every religion realizes the values for whose sake the world was created—which is rather forced, especially since they often contradict Judaism and are based on individual testimony rather than an encounter with an entire people.

I’m sorry, but on the subject of reading comprehension you’ll have to look for help elsewhere. I’m ending this here.