Q&A: The Importance of History
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
The Importance of History
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi.
Why should I, as a Jew, trace the path of my forefathers and observe Jewish law? After all: 1. There is no unequivocal way to prove that this is indeed the path of historical Judaism. 2. Even if we accept the assumption that Judaism was in fact expressed throughout history by a small or large group through Jewish law, the possibility that we are persisting in their mistakes still cannot be ruled out.
What is so important about history?
Answer
Who said you need to trace history? You should keep the commandments because you should, not because our forefathers did. On the contrary, they too acted that way because they should.
I don't understand why a new thread was opened. I'll continue here:
Noah went on and wrote:
Quoting you: "Who said you need to trace history? You should keep the commandments because you should, not because our forefathers did. On the contrary, they too acted that way because they should." What does "because you should" mean? Where did that basic premise come from? I understand that you're assuming an axiom here, but why would a Jew who isn't part of the religious game, or who is in a religious environment and grew up in a religious family, accept that axiom?
And to that I replied:
The one making assumptions here is you. You assumed that the basis for keeping the commandments is an obligation to trace history, and therefore you raised objections. And I said that there is no such obligation, and that is not the basis for keeping the commandments, so the question is void from the outset.
Now you're asking a new question: why keep the commandments? That is a different question from the one you raised. Answering it requires a very long discussion: the existence of God, the revelation at Mount Sinai, the obligation to obey His commands, the meaning of the commandments. I can't get into all that here. If you want a principled answer to that, see the notebooks here. The first ones deal with the existence of God, and for your purposes especially the fifth notebook, and also the fourth, part 3 (there is a chapter there that compares the obligation to follow moral norms with the obligation to follow Jewish law).