Q&A: Torah and Morality
Torah and Morality
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I really enjoy your writing and your way of thinking—it’s truly fascinating, interesting, and helpful for putting things in order in my head.
In the interview you had with Yaron London about the three books you had just published, you said that there are situations in which morality and Jewish law are in conflict, and that it is not always the case—perhaps in many cases—that the Torah commands a moral wrong (as with homosexuals, as you said).
In addition, you said that when such a conflict exists, Jewish law does not always take precedence—and that you would prefer the moral imperative over the divine imperative.
So, to put it a bit bluntly, I would say: is your god human morality, and not God? Do you justify that statement? If not, why not?
For example, in the famous case—according to you, Abraham is not a good person, but he is righteous in relation to God, because he wanted to kill Isaac, to spill blood. That is the opposite of what you are trying to say. If so, one of the central messages of the Torah is that a person should be a servant of God and not a servant of morality or justice or compassion or any other human, moral value.
Just to note—I also feel that my soul is being torn apart when there is such a conflict.
Answer
First, read Column 15. In addition, at the beginning of the third book there is a detailed discussion of Jewish law and morality, and everything is explained there.
My claim is that morality also comes from God. Therefore, when there is a conflict between Jewish law and morality, it is a conflict between two religious values. And from that it follows that there is no way to determine in advance which of them is preferable (though I do make a distinction there between different kinds of conflicts).
I did not understand the example of the Binding of Isaac. What do you see there? Indeed, Abraham was commanded to carry out an immoral command, and so he was in conflict. But when God Himself tells him to act that way, that itself decides the conflict, and therefore in the Binding of Isaac Abraham chose the path he chose.
Incidentally, even if he had decided in favor of Jewish law and against morality, or the other way around, that would not mean that he is not committed to both of those systems. There is no choice but to decide, because it is impossible to fulfill both commands. When a person violates the Sabbath in order to save a life, it is not correct to say that he is not committed to the Sabbath but only to life. He is forced to violate the Sabbath because of the value of life, but both are important to him.
For more detail, see the book there.