Q&A: Divine Morality vs. Natural Morality
Divine Morality vs. Natural Morality
Question
Rabbi Kook writes in Ein Ayah (on Berakhot) that where divine morality and natural morality “meet at the same inn,” one must be extra careful to act out of the command of divine morality and not natural morality, because afterward, in another case where there is a clash between them, the side of natural morality will prevail over the divine one.
What is your view regarding the relationship between them? To what extent are we obligated to each of them, and in which cases, if any, would natural morality prevail?
Thank you.
Answer
I don’t know what divine morality is. He probably means Jewish law, which in his view reflects morality, and in my view is unrelated to morality. So you’re asking what to do when there is a clash between Jewish law and morality? See the beginning of my book Movements Among the Standing, where I elaborated on this, and also in the series of recorded lectures here on the site.