Q&A: A question about your latest column
A question about your latest column
Question
I wanted to post this as a comment on the column, but there’s some problem: when I submit a comment, the site writes to me, “Sending comment,” and then just doesn’t post the comment. And if I refresh, the comment gets deleted. Here is the comment:
Judaism is immoral, period. For so many reasons, but here are a few:
A. Killing people who never experienced revelation at all because they believe in idol worship. What the hell is that? Killing a person because of their religious beliefs??
B. Illegal slavery. You’re born and don’t get to choose whether to keep the commandments of God; you’re obligated to do so. And if not, in the best case they’ll flog you; in the worst case they’ll burn you in Gehenna because you decided to spill your seed over a beautiful captive woman. Let’s continue.
C. Assuming there is some advantage to observing the commandments and being obligated to observe them, then by the fact that God did not obligate everyone to keep the commandments, He is an evil God. I’ll also add that if the commandments are meant for His sake, then He’s a lousy God who can’t manage on His own.
If the wording came out a bit trollish and immature, I apologize; I sometimes lapse into substantive trolling.
Answer
You are making absurd assumptions and then drawing conclusions. Don’t assume, and don’t conclude.
A. Jewish law does not say to kill people who believe in idol worship under coercion.
B. I don’t know under what law this is illegal. State law? Did I commit myself to state law? Or the laws of morality? Are those also illegal slavery? A group that decides on binding rules has to stand by its commitments, whether in state law, a professional guild, or a religion. There is nothing wrong with that. All the more so here, where the lawgiver is the One who created you and the world, so it is entirely unnecessary for Him to ask for your consent or commitment. The question is what happens to someone who wants to leave the group and not accept its obligations. If he does not believe, then he is under compulsion. If he believes and wants to leave, then he is not acting properly (just like someone who abandons the laws of morality). So let him leave—and bear the consequences.
C. You assume the advantage is for the individual person who observes the commandments. But no—the advantage is for a world in which there are commandment-observers of various kinds and to various extents (gentiles, Israelites, women, men, priests, the High Priest). It is the distribution of tasks among different parts of the population that brings about the desired result. By the way, any gentile who wishes can convert. You didn’t want slavery imposed on us, and now you’re demanding that it be imposed on the entire world?
The wording didn’t come out trollish, but in my opinion your certainty does not reflect the quality of your arguments. There is room for improvement.