Q&A: Work for a Higher Need
Work for a Higher Need
Question
Good Moed, Rabbi!
First of all, thank you for all the podcasts you’ve participated in recently—enriching and instructive as always.
The Rabbi often says that it cannot be that human morality is the purpose of selection, because morality is aimed at creating a good society, and if that were the reason then there would be no need to create a society, and in any case it would not need to be moral. In short, the Rabbi holds that necessarily work is for a higher need.
I of course do not understand that higher need, but why does it not seem plausible to you to say that a moral society in itself is that higher need? It is quite possible that there is some satisfaction in casting into a problematic world people with free choice, and that they would choose of their own will to create an exemplary moral society. If you add to that the faith/insight that the source of morality is divine, it could fit even better with work for a higher need (?)
I would be happy to hear your answer.
Answer
I’ve been asked this here more than once. It is not likely that there is some further purpose to that moral command. And even if there is, it is for the improvement of the person himself, and that cannot serve as an explanation for his creation. Beyond that, even this would have had to be told to us. And finally, the tradition presents us with a revelation in which other goals are set out.