[Avodah] basis of AZ

[Michael Makovi]

On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 4:39 AM, Cantor Wolberg <cantorwolberg at cox.net> wrote:
> M.M. wrote the following:
>
>  "You want to make them righteous, but you can't show yourself and boom
>  out "BE
>  GOOD PEOPLE", because then they'll be terrorized and have no free will."
>
>  If that's the case, then how do you explain that HaShem DID show
>  Himself and boomed out "Anochi HaShem Elokecha..." etc., which
>  terrorized the people but certainly
>  did not take away their free will?
>  ri

That's the other half of what Rabbi Kaplan says. The inferior
civilization either loses its identity TOTALLY ( = lose free will),
***OR*** they totally reject the superior culture wholesale, and
violently rebel and go into an isolationist period. We chose the
second option - chet ha-egel.

Rabbi Kaplan's point is that by revealing Himself to us, Hashem almost
destroyed us, but it's what He had to do - it was reveal Himself to
us, or to all humanity, with all the inherent risks.

In any case, I'd add that revealing Himself to only us makes a more
manageable group - imagine the entire world having to keep 613 and
such - it'd be chaos and insane bureaucratic overhead, if you know
what I mean. Choosing one people is much better for efficient
micromanagement.

Mikha'el Makovi