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Integrating morality into Halacha.

שו”תCategory: philosophyIntegrating morality into Halacha.
asked 7 years ago

Peace be upon our holy rabbi, may God bless him.
Don’t get mad at me, but despite the rabbi’s attempts to explain to me why there are moral commandments even though they are two separate areas, I was not convinced. After all, halacha is Jewish law, and the fact that there are loopholes in the law (murderer in the Grama, etc.) does not mean that the law is supposed to be separate from morality. And the fact that, for example, the dry halacha refers to the rape of captives as to eating forbidden foods does not mean that they are separate areas. When we get to the laws of rape, the halacha will speak about them in all the severity of the law, but when we talk about sacred prohibitions, we compare them (and even today this is done, for example, there are ultra-Orthodox rabbis who discuss whether there are copyrights on the Internet, even though in their eyes the Internet is the height of impurity and the law applies here).
Despite this, there are several good sources in favor of the Rabbi’s method, so I thought of a solution to combine the two.
Halacha and human morality are separate. Despite this, there is an obligation to introduce morality into Halacha. In other words, when the Torah came down from Sinai, it was loaded with moral commandments, but more or less according to the morality of their time. In other words, the Torah took conscience and natural justice and gave it a binding religious dimension (everyone else is different. To act more morally than the Torah is ‘sanctify yourself with what is permitted to you.’) After the Torah, the Sages also continued the idea, and even the Rishonim did it a little. Today, when Orthodoxy trembles in fear of the Reformers, this matter has ceased.
In conclusion, morality develops with the human race and is universal. There is no such thing as Jewish or Gentile morality. However, the Torah obligates the people of Israel and, on a basic level, all of humanity to transform morality into a halachic category that is constantly evolving.
I hope I was able to explain well.


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מיכי Staff answered 7 years ago
I didn’t understand your difficulty. I don’t see any difficulty. By the way, you write that when the halakha reaches the law of rape, it will speak about it in all its severity. Where exactly does this happen? Or has the halakha not yet reached there? Is there a second act of the Mount Sinai status that I haven’t heard of? Please open my eyes and I will see wonders… As for your suggestion, I don’t see much difference. It’s clear that there are moral norms that enter into halakha, and yet the essence of halakha is not intended to achieve moral goals but religious goals.

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