[Avodah] Categorical imperative

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 04:09:15PM -0400, David Riceman wrote:
: As usual when I look at the Maharal, I understand only a small fraction 
: of what I suspect is there, but I'll give it a whirl since no one else 
: seems to be doing so...

I have a bigger problem learning Maharal; my mind fills in the gaps in
my comprehension -- Rorschach inkblot test style. That caveat in mind,
here's how I understood the Tif'eres Yisrael ch 6.

The key is to note that he discusses how the two shitos in gemara explain
the problem with a shaliach tzibbur who says "al qan-tzippor yagiu
Rachamekha" in a different place than his own theory of taam hamitzvos
(the holistic question -- the reason for the whole enterprise). With an
explanation of the Rambam and Ramban's shitos in between, as far as I
can tell as I discussed it in v26n138 at
<http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol26/v26n138.shtml#14>.

The shitos in the gemara as to what's wrong with such a chazan, as per
my understanding of the Maharal, are:

1- "It arouses jealousy of other animals". The implication is that
G-d doesn't run all of the world equally, and thus some species have
a reason to be jealous of others. It opens room for polytheism or
incomplete theism.

2- "Mitzvos are nothing but decrees." We can not assign attributes to
HQBH. Hashem chose these mitzvos because of pure Will, not because of
this middah or that.

It seems that to the Maharal, din is more than a middah that contrasts
chessed, since it means our following His Will. It doesn't imply a
character trait of G-d's. Also, it would seem that the Maharal agrees
with the Moreh that speaking of Hashem's Will doesn't violate Negative
Theology (the idea that the only thing we can assert about Hashem
Himself is what He isn't).

I don't know why the usual teirutz, that we mean Hashem acts in a manner
from which we would emulate Rachamim, doesn't work. Like "Avinu, Av
haRachaman, racheim aleinu..." Perhaps, as per the Moreh and the Gra,
we could distinguish between anthropomoriphications made by neviim and
crafting one's own. More likely in my eyes is that the Maharal feels
the gemara is objectiving because the chazan in question phrased it as
a motivator, not the action itself.

An interesting tangent would be what the above says about the Maharal's
understanding of the 10 sefiros. But I am not capable of even guessing
at that one.

After explaining the Rambam and Ramban, the Maharal then defends the
Ramban's position from this critique, since he assigns desired attributes
for people. It could be pure Divine Will that we be rachmanim.

But this he objects to as well, even while saving the Ramban from being
branded by the same "kefirah" label as the hypothetical chazan.

He objects to the Rambam's placement of cart and horse. (Starting with
the words "Aval midivrei chakhamim nir'eh that one should not say that the
mitzvos which Hashem yisbarakh gave are for the sake of the recipient...")

Leshitaso, mitzvos are decrees, causeless. Hashem then created a universe
and people such that derakheha darkhei no'am. It's not that HQBH wishes
us to be rachanim that He told us to send away the mother bird, but
rather because He commanded us to send her away, Hashem made it so such
behavior would have results that are ne'imos.

In terms of the Euthyphro Dilemma (as reformulated for monotheists):
    Is an action morally good because G-d commands it, or does G-d
    command it because it is morally good?

The Maharal appears to come down on the side of "because G-d commands it",
and thus of Divine Command Theory.

However, while we can't assign explanations to the will of G-d, the
commandments aren't really arbitary in the usual sense of the word. In
the sense that they do correlate to something, actually - to everything:
they correlate to the world that Hashem created in consequence to His
choice of commandments and the people whom He commanded.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Weeds are flowers too
micha at aishdas.org        once you get to know them.
http://www.aishdas.org          - Eeyore ("Winnie-the-Pooh" by AA Milne)
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