Q&A: Moral Elevation Arising from Jewish Law
Moral Elevation Arising from Jewish Law
Question
Hello and blessings,
From my familiarity with your approach, you draw a clear distinction between morality and Jewish law, such that there are many commandments that we have no moral obligation to fulfill, only a religious one.
Have you read the book “To the Perplexed of the Generation” by our master the Rabbi of blessed memory, where he explains how many “statutory” commandments lead to a more moral world? It is important to me to emphasize that his explanations there are practical, not mystical. For example, he explains that the commandment of covering the blood, which seemingly is just a statute, creates in the collective subconscious of the nation the understanding that there is shame in killing animals, which will lead to refraining from doing so when the general moral level improves.
Or, for example, Rabbi Uri Sherki’s explanation that the commandment of tefillin helps repair the world in the following video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgewOKD1ulk
I would be happy to hear what you think.
Thank you very much, and all the best.
Answer
Not only have I read it. I taught it. The explanations are lame and really not convincing. Just like in Part III of The Guide for the Perplexed. They are nothing more than homiletic flourishes.