Q&A: Appreciation for God
Appreciation for God
Question
Hello Rabbi, from childhood we are educated to admire God. Jewish sources are full of words of praise for God, and our emotional intuition as well sees God as an object of appreciation. But is there really any reason to appreciate Him and honor Him? After all, if He is perfect by nature, then He has no choice but to make good decisions, and likewise good and just deeds. Why should I appreciate God if He does not really make (or has not made) any effort to be the perfect being that He is? Appreciation for Him can be aesthetic, like appreciation for a beautiful landscape, but no more than that.
My question comes from a desire to understand, despite the emotional difficulty involved in raising such a question.
Answer
I do not see any reason in the world to admire God in the sense you describe. One can admire His perfection in itself (like being impressed by something perfect), not the fact that He attained it. Along these lines, see my article on gratitude.
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%98%D7%95%D7%91%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%A8-%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%98%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%92%D7%99%D7%94
Discussion on Answer
I’m not sure that the commandment to love God is about emotion. It’s worth discussing love in general, and I have dealt with this in several places. In my book Human as the Grass of the Field, and in my article on emotions in Jewish law:
So then where does the expectation that we love Him come from? I can perhaps see Him as a kind of ideal to which I am committed and that I want to emulate, but how can I develop feelings toward God?