Q&A: Morality in Studying the Hebrew Bible
Morality in Studying the Hebrew Bible
Question
Hello Rabbi, recently you posted another column in which you reiterated your view that morality cannot be learned from the Hebrew Bible. It seems to me that there is a fairly simple way to test this claim by means of a thought experiment.
There are two children—Reuben and Simeon. Reuben and Simeon are identical in every parameter one could imagine in their childhoods (genetics, education, growth conditions, etc.) except for one difference: Reuben’s parents instructed him to devote two hours every day to studying the Hebrew Bible (for the sake of the example, with a commentary that gives him only word explanations and nothing more), while Simeon’s parents instructed him to devote four hours a day to reading any other text. Reuben and Simeon fulfill their parents’ request from the moment they learned to read at age 4 (gifted children) throughout their childhood and into adulthood. In your view, do you think that at age 18 Reuben and Simeon would be completely identical in their moral outlook?
It seems very hard to say yes, and if the answer is no, then it follows that morality can indeed be learned from the Hebrew Bible, and the basic point here also applies to people who did not grow up like Reuben.
In my view, no person who approaches Bible study with an already existing set of values really performs a total projection, only a partial one, and the more he studies, the more his worldview will incline toward the “author’s intent” of biblical morality. Just as, for example, when one culture dominates another, that domination only rarely erases the subjugated culture; rather, over time it is more likely to create some kind of homogeneous version of the two cultures.
Answer
First of all, it is hard to draw conclusions from a thought experiment. Run it, and then we’ll see. Second, any two people with different biographies will make different moral decisions. Third, that means the Hebrew Bible has an influence, but that does not mean one learns from it. The weather and my diet also influence me.
Instead of making declarations and proposing thought experiments that no one is going to conduct, it is better to focus on examples that no one manages to provide.
Discussion on Answer
Correction to the last sentence: *I find it hard to accept any claim other than that it exists solely to educate
I don’t see any point in continuing this discussion. You can retreat into all kinds of shelters and hair-splitting in order to avoid bringing examples. The fact is that there is no example of a moral lesson learned from studying the Hebrew Bible. The fact is that a considerable part of the religious public does not engage in the Hebrew Bible, and nevertheless they are fully observant Jews and their values are reasonable, and no claim is made against them. The fact is that many gentiles and secular people study the Hebrew Bible, and their values are not essentially different from those of their peers, and likewise they are different from ours.
I explained that influence is not learning. As stated, the weather and my diet also have an influence.
The examples you gave (the value of human life, the importance of transmitting and preserving the tradition of the fathers, social responsibility) are not good examples, as you yourself explained.
All right, I no longer have the energy for this discussion, which has taken place here dozens of times already. I’m done.
I’m inclined to think that you tend to ignore the arguments themselves, but as stated, it’s hard to argue with a person who feels he has exhausted the discussion
Can really anything have an influence? Suppose the same thought experiment, except that now the only difference between Reuben’s childhood and Simeon’s is that Reuben eats an omelet for dinner while Simeon eats toast. Or the only difference is that for Reuben it rains 100 days a year and for Simeon 50 days a year (again, I stress that every other detail of their childhood would be completely identical, down to the level of their genetics at birth). Is it still really so obvious in these two cases that Reuben and Simeon would reach age 18 with a different set of values, as it was obvious in the first case I proposed?
And in my view there is no real practical difference between influence and learning; when you are influenced by something, it is because you are learning from it, consciously or unconsciously.
And what examples exactly are you looking for? Examples of values that can be learned from the Hebrew Bible? A few can be given (the value of human life, the importance of transmitting and preserving the tradition of the fathers, social responsibility, etc.).
Could it be that I am merely projecting values that already exist within me? Maybe. But as I said, I believe that the more a person studies, the more his moral world will become similar to the moral world of the biblical authors (according to the example I gave of the fusion of cultures). And even if you tell me that the examples I gave are examples of simple values (I seem to recall writing that somewhere) and therefore it is “unnecessary” to learn them from the Hebrew Bible, I would tell you that yes indeed, a value by its very nature is supposed to be a fairly simple and intuitive matter (even if not agreed upon), and the repeated reinforcement of values whose importance the Hebrew Bible stresses helps a person organize those values within his personality so that they do not just “float around” in the recesses of his mind without any real implementation.
I will conclude by saying that when Dr. Haggai Meseg was asked in some lecture what the purpose of the Hebrew Bible is, and the questioner suggested that it is a theological book, Haggai Meseg replied that theology as we understand it today is a Christian term invented in the Middle Ages, and the Hebrew Bible hardly deals with such matters at all. In fact, the Hebrew Bible is nothing but an educational book that grounds its messages through a tendentious description of events and of the relationship between man and God throughout history. And indeed, in my reading of the Hebrew Bible, I find it hard to accept the claim that it exists for any purpose other than education…