Q&A: On What Basis, Really
On What Basis, Really
Question
If it is agreed that reason cannot lead to faith or provide a reason for observing Torah and commandments,
and if it is agreed that the tradition is pure and uninterrupted nonsense,
then on what basis should we relate to our tradition at all??
Is there any claim against someone born to a Jewish mother, more than against any other rational person in the world? Is there any basis for the formation of some kind of “obligation” to cling to what we received from our forefathers? Is there any other reason to do so?
I am baffled.
Answer
If it is agreed that one need not observe the commandments, then one indeed need not observe them. That is true. By the same token, our sages already said (ibid., ibid.) that it is preferable to be a rich, healthy, young, and wise person than a poor, sick, old, and foolish one.
Discussion on Answer
Hello Moshe. What I meant was that your point is a tautology: if you assume there is no reason to observe the commandments, then indeed one need not observe the commandments. The statement I brought is a similar tautology (but with no connection to your point), just to illustrate how valueless tautologies are.
In principle there is a demand upon every person, since apparently this insight exists within him. If he doesn’t find it, then perhaps he didn’t search enough. With morality too, you could ask whether there is any claim against someone who does not find within himself the moral obligation. The answer is no, but the assumption is that it exists within everyone. In both cases it is possible that a person who truly searched did not find it, or does not understand that he found it, and then perhaps he would be exempt. God will judge each person for that, and I do not examine hearts and kidneys.
In my notebooks I answered these questions in detail. There I explained why, in my opinion, there is an obligation to observe the commandments. I cannot repeat all of that here.
Rabbi, in the past you said that if a person does not observe the commandments out of recognition of the Creator, he will not receive reward, and here you said that perhaps he would be exempt!
If he is exempt—then why did he come into the world, and moreover as a Jew, when it is known that every Jew has a destiny: to be a light unto the nations?
Neither reward nor punishment. See my article here:
I didn’t understand.
The question was where any kind of “ought” comes from, and you’re addressing it as though it assumes that one “need not” do something.
Seemingly, there is no “ought” here at all, and therefore no “need not” either.
Of course a person acts according to his habits (is that what you meant by “ought”?), but the question was whether there is any additional reason/motivation.
Did you mean to say that observing the commandments is “being poor, sick, old, and foolish”??
Is there any claim/demand against a person who does not find this “truth” in his heart?
If not, does that mean that basically the whole tradition amounts to something like: “it is a commandment for one who observes commandments to observe commandments”…?