Life for the observance of mitzvot
Good evening Rabbi,
I recently read the fifth notebook, and the obligation to observe the mitzvot is still not clear enough to me. The claim that the mere act of bringing a person into existence is like a parent creating a child and having a pledge in the body of the created person is problematic and raised several questions in me.
- Does this mean that the nature of the charge is purely subjective?
It is true that a person has certain obligations or affiliations to his parents, but only to a certain extent. The rabbi gave an example of biological parents with whom a child had no contact, but this example is problematic because the nature of the connection is relatively weak, the person is not commanded to be guided and some would say bound by a ramified system of laws that concern every moment of his life. Furthermore, if the child were to feel that not only is there a disconnect but that there is a negative influence of the parent on the child, for example in parents who beat, I doubt whether the child would be obligated to the parents.
2) The Rabbi claimed in the MA that today there is no visible providence or at least it is reserved for rare cases. If there is no providence then the reason for keeping the mitzvot constitutes a loose one-way connection that some would even say abandons to the spirits of the world. How is such a connection supposed to obligate a person in such a total way?
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- I didn’t understand what you mean by subjective? Maybe your intention is weak? The degree of ontic gratitude is the degree of dependence. God Almighty is the source of everything, including me, and therefore the commitment to Him is more total than to the parents.
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1) I meant each according to how he feels the strength of the obligation.
2) Gratitude is a moral motive, and morality is something dependent on time and place, so why would it oblige me? Suppose I do not believe that the need for gratitude is so great that I am obliged to obey the laws from my way of thinking (to love and fear) to the way I tie my shoelaces.
What's more, in fact, due to lack of care, my actions will have no personal impact on me. And considering that the terms the next world and heaven appear only in later writings from the Tanakh and the likelihood that they are later additions is not negligible, I do not see room for a strong force of obligation.
I would be happy if the rabbi could give more reasons why to keep the Tarig mitzvot or strengthen the claim about ontic gratitude.
1. Absolutely not. What you feel is irrelevant. The question is what is true. Even if you feel gratitude with a weak intensity – then you will be wrong. Indeed, in practice you will observe less, but by mistake. It is like someone who does not feel a moral obligation will not behave morally. Does this mean that morality is subjective?
2. My argument in the article is that ontic gratitude is not a moral motive. In any case, if you do not believe in this, do not observe (but of course you are wrong. See section 1). What is the question?
You are asking questions about reward and benefit when my whole point was to explain that these are not the reasons for observing a commandment. The moment you want reasons, you are no longer obligated and there is no work of God here. See also at the end of the article in the discussion on “for its sake” (as I think it also appears In the notebook):
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%98%D7%95%D7%91%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%A8-%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%98%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%92%D7%99%D7%94/
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