Uniqueness

asked 3 years ago

Your Honor,

I watched some of the rabbi’s lessons on faith. A question regarding lesson 3 where the rabbi said that from a religious perspective it is worse to eat pork than to murder since the prohibition against murder belongs to the category of morality, which is not Jewish but universal to humanity, whereas abstaining from eating pork is particular to Judaism and makes it unique, and therefore the murderer is a vile person and also a flawed Jew but still a Jew, while the eater of pork is “not a Jew” since he has violated a law that nullifies the uniqueness of Judaism. Apart from a fundamental objection to these things, I am not clear about the argument. What is the issue of uniqueness? What importance does uniqueness have as uniqueness, and what is its religious value in itself? Separation from the Gentiles for the sake of separation from the Gentiles? And if this is indeed a question of uniqueness for the sake of uniqueness, is this not just a purely folkloristic argument? A matter that the rabbi opposed (rightly in my opinion) in lessons 1 and 2. I would appreciate an additional explanation.

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מיכי Staff answered 3 years ago

I don’t remember exactly what I said there anymore. I’ll tell you what I think, and I assume that’s what was said there. I have no doubt that I never said or even hinted that eating pork is worse than murder. That’s just a logical and halachic error. I will preface my position by saying that there are two independent categories: Halacha and Mosar. Mosar is universal (there is no such thing as ‘Jewish morality’), and therefore what defines Judaism is Halacha, and only Halacha. But Halacha itself includes both murder and pork. The difference is that murder also has a moral dimension, while pork does not. From all accounts: the prohibition of murder has a severe halakhic prohibition and a severe moral prohibition. So how can the prohibition of eating pork, which is a lighter halakhic prohibition, be ultimately more severe than murder? The uniqueness in my picture is not a measure of severity but a correct parameter to define something. If you want to define a Jew (as in the process of conversion), choose parameters that distinguish Jews. Therefore, in defining a Jew, it is more correct to rely on the prohibition of pork than on the prohibition of murder. Someone who refrains from murder may also do so because of other values, and not because of Halacha, and therefore it is a poor measure to examine whether he is faithful to Halacha. This is in no way related to the question of severity, whose position I described above.

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יונתן replied 3 years ago

Indeed, the rabbi clearly said that murder is worse than eating pork (forgive me if it wasn't clear from my words) but he distinguished between the general moral parameter and the specific halakhic parameter, and thus the rabbi created a barrier between the unique and the moral. I don't agree (following the path of Hirsch, etc.) but the matter is completely understandable. My question is different, what is the religious-faith value (the lessons were about faith) in giving preferential consideration to the unique and the differentiating? What is important? Aren't there such definitions that belong to scholars who see Judaism/religions as a sociological/anthropological/relative nationalistic phenomenon? After all, we are burdened with duties, moral and religious, and we are commanded to do them regardless of their uniqueness, and the greater our sins, the greater the ”gap”, so to speak, between us and Him’ (As for your seasons, they were different, etc.). Therefore, in my opinion, there is no religious value in the uniqueness of the commandments/laws in themselves; their uniqueness, or lack of uniqueness, is a result of their doing and is none of the religious person's business. Isn't introducing such a definition into the religious-faith layer "submitting" to the same traditionalism that the rabbi himself opposes?

No, can there be a religious value in the uniqueness of Judaism?

מיכי Staff replied 3 years ago

If you're asking what I wanted to say in class, I'm sorry, but I don't remember anymore. It was years ago. In any case, I explained my position on the matter and I don't understand what the question is here.