Question

With God’s help, the Rema said (the second one; Column 4): “When joyful events happen to us, like the establishment of the State of Israel, this is a trigger to give thanks to the Holy One, blessed be He, for the creation of the world and for our own creation.” And Isaiah said (the second one) in the name of God: “Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and also made.” And Isaiah said (the third one) in his own name: “The religious stance, that is, my recognition of my duty toward God, does not stem from the fact that I know He created the world. Because if He created the world, that is irrelevant for me. And even if you say that He governs the world, what does that mean? That I know, or that I think I know—and in fact, subjectively there is no difference between a person knowing and thinking he knows—that an old man sits in heaven and pulls the strings of the world. Does that obligate me to anything?!” And I said, with less pathos: if the Holy One, blessed be He, created everything for His glory and for His own sake, and the Rabbi wants to thank Him for our creation, then this is seemingly thanking Him for having acted, כביכול, out of His own self-interest. In addition, when God demands of us acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, He obligates us to dedicate our lives to His service, when our lives are in fact the reason we thank Him. Isn’t there a logical paradox here? Perhaps for these reasons Leibowitz said what he said, but I find it hard to accept. What does the Rabbi think about this?