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On morality

שו”תCategory: faithOn morality
asked 5 years ago

I listened to the rabbi’s interesting series of lessons on the subject of Halacha and morality. It was clarified in the lessons that morality also has a divine source, and therefore the commitment to it is equivalent to the commitment to Halacha. In light of the words of the Book of Principles, Part 1, Chapter 8, on “Polite Religion,” I wanted to ask:
1) If we indeed say so, that the halakhic obligation is indeed equivalent to the obligation to the halakhah, what morality will bind us? Everything that seems to us now as moral is equivalent to a halakhic source? And after all, tomorrow it may become clear to us that what we considered moral until now is nothing more than a moral flaw.
2) In most cases, there is no precise definition of the most correct moral act, especially when one gets down to the details of time, place, and context. (I mean, every person with moral awareness is aware of moral values ​​such as kindness, truth, and the like, but most of the time he cannot decide precisely and objectively when one should support one action or another in the context of those values. For example, a person who is late for work and sees an old woman in front of him who is having difficulty crossing the road, should he help her or not?) If so, how can we decide what the moral act is when one gets down to the practical details? (This is in contrast to the halakha, which gets down to the details of the exact details and gives definitions of time, place, and context.)
 

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מיכי Staff answered 5 years ago

Every time I am puzzled by those who ask this question: And are there unambiguous indicators in Halacha? And are there no arguments there? There is a clear decision for every situation? A person has a mind and must use it. The hope for certainty and unambiguousness is childish and unrealistic.

ישי replied 5 years ago

But Halacha has clear sources from which Halacha can be extracted. This is not the case with morality. The majority acts on emotions. So why would this contradict Halacha?

מיכי Staff replied 5 years ago

Yishai, are you sure you understood your question? I don't. Read carefully what has been here so far, and think again if there is anything here that requires further attention.

הפוסק האחרון replied 5 years ago

Every action you take has good and bad. So when you come to decide which action to choose, look for where the good outweighs the bad.
In cases where the gap between good and bad is large and prominent, there is no question.
In borderline cases, there is a question. But because it is a borderline case, where the amount of bad is close to the amount of good, the answer doesn't matter as much as you think.

If you have difficulty with borderline cases, flip a coin.

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