Morality I did not follow.
Hello Rabbi, regarding the Rabbi's lessons on Torah and morality, I would be happy if the Rabbi could give me sources from the Maharan and Maharal for why the Rabbi said they claim that morality is not always identified with Halacha. If there are other Rishonim or Acharyim who think this way, I would be happy if the Rabbi could also provide them.
And if the rabbi could explain to me how to define the concept of morality, I would be happy.
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For a definition of morality, see the fourth notebook.
Maharal, Be'er Gola , Be'er Hashani (p. 1-2, in the Maharal Books edition):
In chapter 2 of Dabba Metzia (21b), they said that it is not necessary to return the loss after the owner despairs. And this seems far-fetched to people, for a person to take what is not his, and he did not work or bother, and covet someone else's wealth. And this is not according to the religion of morality, because the religion of morality requires that the loss be returned even after the owner of the loss despairs of the loss.
And the reason for this is that moral religion requires something that is right to be done according to the correction of the world, even though reason does not require that thing, only that such is the correction of the world. Therefore, moral religion sometimes contains substance in something, even though according to reason and straight law it should not have been done. And sometimes moral religion is extremely lenient when that thing does not need to be done according to the correction of the world, even though it is not right according to reason, only according to moral religion.
Therefore, according to the law of etiquette, the lost item must be returned after the owner of the lost item despairs, and this is a serious matter. And vice versa, if he finds a silver or gold item and announces it once or twice, and no one else claims the lost item for a year or two, then he is delaying it for himself and using that item, because there is no worldly correction in this, since if he announces it several times and waits a year or two or more, it will not come again.
And this is not according to the Torah, but if he finds a silver or gold vessel and declares it many times, it is forbidden to him forever. Only let it be laid up until Elijah comes, he will never touch them. So they have become very strict.
And all this is because the words of the sages are according to the Torah. All the words of the Torah are estimated by reason, and as is proper according to reason, so is proper to do. And as the Torah said (Deuteronomy 4): "And you shall keep and do it, for it is your wisdom, etc." And it is not a moral religion that places things according to reason and according to thought, and the Torah is completely rational, and the Torah does not turn to reason.
Sermons of the Eleventh Rabbi
You shall appoint judges and officers for all your gates, etc., and they shall judge the people with just judgment. (Deuteronomy 16:18)
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhak wrote in his commentary (Deuteronomy 16:18), appointing righteous and experts to judge justly. And he was compelled to interpret it this way, since if it came only to appoint judges to judge justly, it is already written after it (ibid. 19) that judgment shall not be perverted, so he interpreted that it came only to say that the judges appointed would be worthy to judge justly, that is, that they would be righteous and experts. And so it is explained in my book (judges according to what is written there) that judgment shall be just, and has it not already been said that judgment shall not be perverted, that you shall not say that such and such a man is handsome, such and such a man is my relative, that is, and I will appoint a judge for us, therefore it was necessary to warn that we appoint an expert and righteous person. And certainly, the language and judge the people on his own behalf proves that it is not a positive commandment, but it is the language of description and narration, but in the same baraita that is explained in my book, he further proves from what is written after it that judgment shall not be perverted. This is the meaning of the text, as the Midrash of our rabbis z"l.
But to the layman, the text is as follows. It is known that the human race needs a judge to judge between its members, otherwise each one will swallow his fellow man alive, and the world will be ruined. Every nation needs a political settlement for this, until the sage said that the group of rascals agreed among themselves on honesty. And Israel needed this as did all other nations. And besides this, they needed them for another reason, which is to set the laws of the Torah straight, (and to set) [and punish] those who are liable to be beaten and those who are liable to be put to death by the court of law who violate the laws of the Torah, despite the fact that there is no loss of political settlement at all in that offense. And there is no doubt that in each of the parties two issues will arise, one that will require that a person be punished according to a true law, and the other that he does not deserve to be punished according to a true just law, but will be obliged to punish him according to the correction of the political order and according to the needs of the hour. And the Lord, blessed be He, singled out each of these matters for a special purpose, and commanded that judges be appointed to judge the true just judgment, and He said, "And judge the people with true justice," meaning He came to explain to these judges what they would be appointed for, and what their great power was. And He said that the purpose of the appointments was to judge the people with true justice itself, and their power could not exceed that. And because the political arrangement would not suffice with this alone, God completed His correction with the king's commandments.
And we will explain further when we assume one side of the parties, then both of us in the chapter were examining (Sanhedrin 42) let our rabbis know him as follows: "He permitted himself to be killed in the midst of a conversation, etc. There is no doubt that all of this is appropriate from the standpoint of justice, because why would someone be put to death, if not because he knew that he had involved himself in something that was punishable by death and had transgressed against it, and for this he would have to receive a warning for it, and all the other things discussed in that baraita, and this is true justice itself, which is handed down to the judges. But if the transgressor is not punished except on this path, the political system will be completely ruined, and bloodshed will increase and they will not escape punishment. Therefore, God, blessed be He, commanded for the sake of the restoration of the world by appointing a king, as it is written in this parasha (Deuteronomy 17:14-15), "When you come to the land, etc., you shall not set a king over you, etc.," which is a commandment in which we are commanded to appoint a king over us, as it came in the acceptance of our rabbis, the late (Sanhedrin 22), and the king can decide without warning according to what he sees necessary for the political establishment.
It was found that the appointment of the king is the same in Israel and other nations that need a political arrangement, and the appointment of judges is special and more necessary in Israel, and as he further mentioned and said (Deuteronomy 16:18), "And they shall judge the people with just judgment," meaning that the appointment of judges and their ability is that they shall judge the people with true just judgments themselves.
And I explain this further, and say that just as our Torah is distinguished from the customs of the nations of the world in the commandments and laws, they have no political correction at all, but what is drawn from them is the flow of divine abundance into our nation and they have adhered to us, whether that matter appears to us as the matters of sacrifices and everything that is done in the Temple, or whether it does not appear like the rest of the laws whose meaning has not been revealed, in any case there is no doubt that divine abundance would have adhered to us, and applied to those actions, despite their being far from the straw of reason. And there is no wonder in this, because just as we have pondered many of the reasons for natural beings, and with all this their reality is consistent, all the more so it is fitting that we should ponder the reasons for the flow of divine abundance and they have adhered to us. And this is what our Holy Torah is distinguished from the customs of the aforementioned nations, which have no business with this at all, but with the correction of the matter of their gathering.
And therefore I believe and it is worthy of belief that just as the laws have no introduction at all in the correction of the political arrangement, and are a self-cause close to the world of divine abundance, so the judgments of the Torah have a great introduction, and as if they are shared between the cause of the world of divine affairs in our nation and the correction of the matter of our community. And it is possible that they would have turned more to the matter, which is more sublime in elevation, than they would have turned to the correction of our community, because that correction, the king whom we will set over us, will complete our affairs, but the purpose of the judges and the Sanhedrin was to judge the people with a true and just judgment in itself, from which the divine matter in us will continue to be adhered to, from which the arrangement of their mass affairs will be completely completed or not completed. And because of this, it is possible that some of the laws and regulations of the aforementioned nations will be found that are closer to the correction of the political system than some of the laws of the Torah. And we lack nothing in this, because whatever is lacking from the mentioned correction, the king would have completed. But we had a great advantage over them, because since they are just in themselves, I mean the law of the Torah, as the Scripture says, "Judge the people with a just judgment," the divine abundance will continue to cling to us.
And for this reason, the chief of the judges and their chosen ones stood in a place where the divine abundance was visible, and this is the matter of the pillar of the people of the Great Knesset in the chamber of the scepter (Medot 5:44). And therefore, our rabbis, may God bless them, said in the first chapter of Tractate Avoda Zara (8:2), when the murderers rushed in, saying, "We will come out of the earth and establish a son, and you shall do according to the word that they will tell you from that place" (Deuteronomy 17:10), indicating that the place is a cause. And from this side, everything that our rabbis, may God bless them continues (Sanhedrin 7:1). Every judge who judges a case of truth deserves that the Shekhina should be with them, as it is said (Psalms 42:1): God stands in the assembly of God, he will judge among God.
And in this way, what our rabbis, z"l, said in the first chapter of Shabbat (10a): Every judge who judges a true and true case, even for one hour a day, is raised up by the Scripture as if he had become a partner with the Holy One, Blessed be He, in the act of Genesis, as it is written here (Exodus 18:14) from morning until evening, and it is written in the same way (Genesis 1:5) And there was evening and there was morning. And this partnership alludes to what we said, that just as in the act of Genesis, we see in the practice of the lower ones that from him came into being everything that came into being, so every judge who judges a true and true case, that abundance continues, whether his judgment is completely completed, a political correction, or not. Just as in the act of sacrifices, despite being completely far from the law, the divine abundance was seen, so in the judgments of the Torah it would continue and abound, even if, according to the political arrangement, it required more correction, which the king would complete.
And it was found that the appointment of the judges was to judge the laws of the Torah only, that they were just in themselves, as he said, and they judged the people with just judgment, and the appointment of the king was to complete the correction of the political order, and everything that was necessary for the purpose of the time.
And do not make it difficult for me what we have said in the chapter "The End of the Judgment" (Sanhedrin 40a) Rabbi Eliezer [ben Yaakov] says, "I heard that a court of law prepares and punishes things that are not from the Torah, and does not transgress the words of the Torah, but rather makes a reservation for the Torah, etc., from which it appears that the appointment of the court of law is to judge according to the correction of the times and the time. And this is not so, but at a time when there will be a Sanhedrin and a king in Israel, the Sanhedrin [are] to judge the people in just judgment alone, not to correct their affairs more than that, unless the king gives them his power. But when there is no king in Israel, the judge will include both powers, the power of the judge and the power of the king. For we find in the chapter The End of the Law (ibid. 44:1) that Amasa said to him, "Achin and Rekin, I will demand, I will forget it." The Rabbis, in the tractate, opened it, saying, "It is written (Yehoshua 1:18) that every man who turns his mouth, etc., can, even according to the words of the Torah and Talmud, say (ibid.), "Be strong and courageous." Here we have given Joshua the power of kingship even though he was not a king, and so our rabbis, the blessed ones, demanded (Midrash Rabba Shemot on the text in ibid. 3:5) and he became king in Yeshurun (Deuteronomy 33:5), alluding to Moses.
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