Performing a mitzvot for no reason
Is there any point in keeping a mitzvah that is not a lishma? (Without addressing the possibility that from lishma comes lishma). I would appreciate it if you would address 1) the lions, and (assuming there is a difference between them) – 2) someone who keeps the mitzvahs from the wrong motives, because he is mistaken. For example, a person who thinks that one should keep the Torah because his Rebbe said so (and if one really should keep a mitzvah if and only if the Rebbe said so, then a person who keeps a mitzvah even though the Rebbe did not say so)
And if you think there is no “point” in observing a mitzvah in this way, is there anything good about it in a religious sense?
thanks
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Very simple.
The one who learns (or practices) in order to tease – Noah was not created and his teachings become the elixir of death for him.
The one who learns (or practices) for the sake of honor, etc. – From not for its own sake comes for its own sake
The one who learns (or practices) for its own sake – This is the high degree about which Antigonus Ish Shucho wrote in Pirkei Avot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 3
See the commentary on the Mishnah by Rambam in the introduction to the chapter “Chalk” Tractate Sanhedrin.
I meant a Jew who keeps the commandments not because G-d commanded, but for any other reason. Even if he does not believe in G-d.
One. A person who leads a moral life not because he is moral, but for any other reason, is better than a person who leads an immoral life, because moral actions have meaning, beyond intentions.
Is this also true for a Jew who keeps the commandments? Is there anything good in my putting on tefillin, simply because I have commanded and kept them?
If he does not believe, then in my opinion his actions have no religious value. There may be value in maintaining the framework or in the fact that his children may truly keep the commandments. His actions, on the other hand, are worthless. Thus is the Rambam's Soph Mahalalach.
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