Q&A: Improvement at Someone Else’s Expense
Improvement at Someone Else’s Expense
Question
I read your article about the Holy One, blessed be He, being perfected through us, and your other articles about evil and logic,
and I wanted to ask: is His perfection important to Him at the expense of people’s suffering and pain? So is He an egoist?
You answered me briefly, saying, “His desires are truth and not an interest.” Maybe you mean that His perfection is not an interest but truth, and then whatever happens is what needs to happen and there’s nothing to be done?
But who decided that it is truth, if not He Himself? And as you yourself say, morality is divine, from Him, so again aren’t we left with a kind of circular game that causes abuse to created beings?
Or if you could explain what you meant in your answer.
Answer
In my view, morality too is not from Him. Only its binding force comes from Him. See column 457.
Discussion on Answer
If morality is not from Him, then it is as objective as can be. There’s no room for the question of who decided it. Who decided that 2+3=5? It is so because it is so.
I understand that there’s no room for asking who decided that 2+3=5, but who decided that His desires are truth? That was really the main question. (Rabbi Michi, sometimes because of how brief you are, it’s hard to understand your answer, and then a follow-up is needed—what in the Talmud is called “a short way that is long.” Of course, you answer endless emails every day—seems to me that should go into the Guinness records—besides all your other occupations. But still, just a tiny bit more explanation, though not like your long articles. Apparently there’s Michi-the-shortener and Michael-the-expander.)
One of the reasons for the brevity is the volume of questions, as I wrote to you.
Your question is also not clear, and you should clarify it better too.
Possibly, but you addressed a few words in my question and not the main point. On the contrary, if morality is not from Him, then why are His desires truth? Who decided that?