Q&A: Religious Values
Religious Values
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Happy holiday.
You wrote in several places that commandments have religious values, which are something different from moral values.
I wanted to ask what exactly the difference is between the different kinds of values. After all, the obligation to obey the Torah is itself basically moral (gratitude / obligation toward the One who created me).
And more than that: the One who commanded the Torah values is presumably the same One who commanded the moral values, so again obedience to both is based on the same foundation. So what exactly is the difference?
Thank you very much.
Answer
I do not think that the obligation to observe commandments is a moral value. The gratitude being discussed here is not gratitude in the moral sense. See my article:
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
The fact that the same being commanded both does not mean they have the same weight or that they are of the same kind. The fact is that most commandments do not have moral reasons.