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The Binding of Isaac as an Example of the Conflict Between Morality and Halacha

שו”תCategory: moralThe Binding of Isaac as an Example of the Conflict Between Morality and Halacha
asked 7 months ago

I heard in several lectures (YOUTUBE) by the Rabbi the example that the Rabbi gives (sometimes in response to a question) from the Tying of Isaac that sometimes we will have to choose Halacha over morality.
What doesn’t sit well with the view that the Rabbi presents is that morality is also from a divine source. The reason it doesn’t sit well is that, unlike our study of Halacha today, which is built on analytical techniques, and therefore Halacha has (in the Rabbi’s opinion) nothing to do with morality (as I understand it from the Rabbi’s words, not in the methods of study and drawing conclusions and therefore not in the result of Halacha, but perhaps I’m wrong about this in my understanding of your words), God’s word to Abraham, which is the Halacha and moral source, had to be both moral and ethical. Therefore, it is not clear to me how in this example the Rabbi presents a separation between the moral and the ethical.

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מיכי Staff answered 7 months ago

It has nothing to do with the question of how we study Halacha. The disconnect between it and morality is the result of examining its contents. I wrote columns about this and you can read them. For example, 541.

מיכאל replied 7 months ago

You addressed part of the question. The question was about the command to tie Isaac. If God is the source of morality and the source of halacha, then when He speaks to us with a direct command, the command must be both halakhic and moral, it cannot be just one of them. This duality is with us, with us there is such a thing as halacha and such a thing as musar. And if what I wrote is correct, I am not clear about the command to tie Isaac and its morality, unless we go to cancel the timeline, meaning that in the end God did not really want a real tie. But then the question will arise again that we can always say to listen to halacha because wherever it is on the timeline, the morality will take its place...

מיכי Staff replied 7 months ago

I answered everything and directed you to the relevant column.

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