Mishpatim 5762 - February 8, 2002
Editor's note:
Re: G‑d and morality: a story, a question and an essay
I've always found it interesting to read two different articles expressing
different views on the same subject. Even better: to read two different views,
see them disagree with each other, but also see that they're both right, or even
that they're both essentially saying the same thing.
This week's edition of our Magazine includes three articles — a story, a question-answer dialogue and an essay — on the subject of G‑d and morality. What makes an act moral or immoral? Can there be "morality" that is independent of belief in G‑d? Is there something compelling about goodness that makes G‑d desire it, or is it completely arbitrary? Each of our three writers approaches the issue in a different way, and says different, even differing, things about it. (For added measure, you can look a at fourth article and its follow-up discussion, which I wrote a while back for Week In Review).
Do they ultimately disagree? I'm not sure. Tell me what you think.
Of course, this week's Torah reading is Mishpatim — the primary source of the Torah "logical mitzvot." So there's lots on the subject in our Parshah Section as well.
The "That's How G-d Made Me" excuse, the "Sorry I Lost It" excuse, the "I'm Special" excuse, and the "What's the Use" excuse
If my ox gores your ox, how much do I have to pay? It depends. Did it gore in my yard, in your yard, or on the street? Was this the first time it's gored, or has it gored before? Is this what G-d and Moses were talking about on Mt. Sinai?
If my ox gores your ox, how much do I have to pay? It depends. Did it gore in my yard, in your yard, or on the street? Was this the first time it's gored, or has it gored before? Is this what G-d and Moses were talking about on Mt. Sinai?
A Russian peasant once said to his friend: "You know, Ivan, I have been thinking, it is really very stupid for us to pay taxes to the Czar."
I said yes immediately, afraid that if I thought about it first, I would lose the courage. The idea of sharing an entire night with someone straddling two worlds seemed awesome to me.
Are good things G-dly or are G-dly things good? What would the Chassidic masters say of the Socrates- Euthyphro debate?
Kant was certainly correct when he said that the essence of a moral judgment is that it is categorical. That, however, is not the end of the problem of understanding the basis of morality. In fact, it is just the beginning of the problem
It’s G-d’s world. Everything He gives is good, the sweetest good.
But it is often a good far too great for us to understand. We imagine it is not good, because that’s the only way to make sense of it with our small minds.
Yet the truth is, He gives us all the good we can handle. If we could take more, He would g...
