[Avodah] RYBS TEEM Musings

[Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer]

Micha Berger wrote:

>  :> the term in 1965's The Lonely Man of Faith, Soloveitchik insists that 
> :> tzelem 'signifies man's awareness of himself as a biological being and 
> :> the state of being informed of his natural drives' (75-76).
>
> : Fascinating take on "Tzelem Elokim." One wonders what the zayde (in this 
> : case, R' Chaim *Volozhiner* would have had to say about this. Is there 
> : any precedent in earlier Jewish sources for this definition?
>
> I understand TLMF as saying that tzelem E-lokim is self awareness. And of
> what is one self aware? What exists at a plane "below" that awareness? His
> biology and its drives.
>
> Self awareness is the flipside of bechirah. One can only consciously
> choose if one is conscious of the process of choosing. And so, RYBS's
> position as I understood it isn't that far from the Meshekh Chokhmah
> (although not the same), who identifies tzelem E-lokim with bechirah.
>   
Do we know that dolphins are not aware of themselves, their biology and 
their drives?
> : "Natural law" sounds to me like Rousseau. Is RYBS suggesting that  human 
> : beings are "naturally" ethical?
>
> I believe so... That HQBH created us with a yeitzer hatov.
>
>   
Yes, but he says: "Firstly, in order to experience the ethical norm, 
external divine intervention is necessary. Only through the divine 
command can man transcend his natural biological self and experience the 
ethical...." etc.

I don't see a YhT as distinct from kiyum mitzvos here.

YGB
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