Q&A: Morality from God — a Clarification
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Morality from God — a Clarification.
Question
Hello Rabbi,
1. Is there morality and meaning for a person on the assumption that there is no Torah and no God? If all morality comes from God, then without the Torah telling us about the image of God, who says there is supposed to be morality toward a human being?
2. If God gives meaning, how does that create morality? In other words, what is the connection between the good and evil supposedly embedded in us and the fact that there is a metaphysical mentality in the universe, namely God?
3. What is the overlap between morality and good and evil? For example, killing a murderer is an immoral act but a good one. Are good and evil and morality always the same thing?
Answer
- The wording is confused, and I’m not sure I understood the question. Is there meaning to morality without the Torah? Certainly yes. Without God—in my opinion, definitely not. See the fourth notebook, part 3.
- I didn’t understand what “the good and evil embedded in us” means. The tendency to do good and avoid evil? That is not connected to morality. Morality is a decision, not a tendency. But a decision requires there to be a standard and a source of validity for the values of good and evil from which one chooses. See the notebook there.
- I didn’t understand this hair-splitting. Killing a murderer is a thoroughly moral act. However, if it is possible to save oneself by injuring one of his limbs, then it is forbidden to kill him, and in that case the act is not moral. Perhaps you mean to say that killing a person is bad, but if he is a murderer then it is good; so this is a case of one value being overridden, between the value of human life and the value of punishing the offender. I do not see any point in making different definitions for morality and for good. At most, this is a conflict between values.