Degrees in the service of God
Hello,
I heard your lecture on the subject of Torah and Mitzvot.
There, the Lord explains that the first, necessary, basic level of serving Hashem (fulfilling the commandment of God) is that which stems from the very commandment of Hashem. The choice to fulfill the commandment is out of a commitment that is not accompanied by considerations of profit or loss.
On the other hand, you add and explain that a higher level is the level of fulfilling the mitzvah out of “love or fear,” which, according to you, means considerations of benefit or profit of one kind or another (“not for its own sake”).
As far as I understand, the order is supposed to be reversed. That is, a person who fulfills the mitzvah out of considerations of benefit (earnings, security, relationships, etc.) is serving himself. Not the Name.
Whereas a person who chooses to worship God only out of pure obligation is the one who fulfills the mitzvah for its own sake, because the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah.
Does the concept of “love or fear” (I would emphasize love as opposed to fear) not, then, refer to a more sublime spiritual level/insight that is independent of considerations of benefit or profit and nothing else?
Otherwise I can’t understand the order of importance you voted on…
thanks
Hello Erez.
When I say benefit, I do not mean interest, but values such as love and fear of God. My argument is that keeping a commandment in order to reach love or fear is also not keeping for its own sake. Only keeping as an independent value is keeping for its own sake. I have clarified this from the words of the Maimonides in Halacha 87:35, who explains that one who worships idols out of love or fear is exempt. Only one who worships out of acceptance with God is obligated. And the same is true regarding worship of God (one against the other, God has done). This is how Baal Nefesh HaChayim explains in Shaar 4 the obligation to learn Torah for its own sake (following the Rosh Nedarim, do commandments for the sake of doing good and speak in them for the sake of the Torah). See Rafi Mahal’s reply to the Maimonides (although he defines love in this way there, he means a different, intellectual concept of love).
Beyond this division, there is also the division of Thos, which divides between two types of study not for the sake of it: study for the sake of the kantar and study for the sake of honor or money. The two levels I listed here are above the two levels of Thos.
Hello Rabbi,
I'm a little confused… So I can't understand why in the lesson you ranked the work of Hashem out of obligation in the lowest place. Lower than that done out of the motivation of work out of fear or love?
Isn't work out of pure commandment a more “mature” recognition/insight after acquiring the “habit” (which comes at the stage of ”not for its own sake”)?
Best regards,
I did not rank it that way. On the contrary, it is the highest level. What I argued is that there is also room for work out of love and fear, but it is on higher levels. In other words, the most basic level is commitment, and on top of that, love and fear must be added. Commitment without love and fear (level A without B) is work for its own sake, but it is not perfect. Work out of love and fear (level B without level A) is not work for its own sake.
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