Q&A: The Place of Emotion in Torah, in the Service of God, and Divine Morality
The Place of Emotion in Torah, in the Service of God, and Divine Morality
Question
Hello Rabbi, recently I listened to podcasts and debates you participated in (including older ones—whatever is on YouTube), and afterward I also listened in my free time to some of the courses you uploaded in the playlist on your YouTube channel. So before I ask the question, I’ll just note that I’ve learned a great deal from you, especially regarding intellectual honesty and the desire to strive for the truth even if that means challenging your most basic assumptions.
After that introduction, and since this is the first time I’m asking questions here on the forum, with your permission I’d like to ask two short questions:
1. It’s clear that religious emotions and religious and faith experiences are not proof or an argument for anything. My question is (and maybe you’ve already been asked this many times): where do you think emotion does have a place in the Torah / religious / spiritual world, etc.?
2. I heard you say that morality is not really connected to the commands of Jewish law, and that sometimes Jewish law commands that the “religious” value overrides the moral value. My question is whether it wouldn’t be more correct to classify this as human morality, which is ingrained in every person regardless of Torah, and divine morality, which is essentially the religious values that sometimes prevail. Then, when divine morality overrides human morality, it’s not that the person is not acting morally, but rather that Jewish law decided that in certain cases the scale of divine moral values overrides human morality—and so Jewish law is still moral in that sense.
Answer
- Nowhere. I’ve written here more than once about emotions and their lack of importance, and you can search the site.
- That’s just a semantic game. You’re calling rules that have nothing to do with morality by the name “divine morality.” You could also call the rules of chess “chess morality.”
Discussion on Answer
If I say they have no importance, then in my view they have no importance. These traits are tendencies and not necessarily emotions. And one can discuss whether character refinement has importance. It is indeed a means that helps proper conduct, but it is a means.
In any case, it seems that the value lies in working on one’s traits, not in the traits themselves.
Thank you
If you don’t see emotions as having importance in the service of God, where do you see their purpose in the Holy One’s world? It almost seems from your words that emotions only confuse us and that we should take only rationality into account, nothing more.
They have instrumental value, as aids to good behavior and as conveyors of information. Empathy tells us what the other person is feeling, and that way we know how to relate to him properly.
So Rabbi, how do you understand commandments that seem to address emotion, like “And you shall love the Lord your God” and “And you shall rejoice on your festival,” etc.?
Rabbi Michi,
Regarding the lack of importance of emotions in the service of God—
what about the whole area of character refinement?
Seemingly this is emotional work—not being cruel, not being cowardly, being joyful, being moderate, and so on.