[Avodah] Tiqun Olam

[Michael Makovi]

A few months ago, in this present thread, I cited and discussed Howard
I. Levine's "Enduring and Transitory Elements in the Philosophy of
Samson Raphael Hirsch" (Spring 1963).

Inter alia, Levine says, "In line with this approach, Hirsch reverses
the traditional view of the highest goal of religious life: holiness.
We are accustomed to viewing holiness, the experience of the numinous,
as the very acme of religion. For Hirsch, however, holiness is but a
means of preparing us for the end purpose which is the life of service
to mankind. ... Rabbi Moses Chaim Luzzato provides a sharp antithesis
to the Hirschian view. ..."

The following is an excerpt from an essay I am writing on this
subject, comparing Rav Hirsch to the Kuzari on the subject of morality
and tiqun olam. I am writing another essay on the Meiri which covers
almost exactly the same ground as what I'm about to write. (YCT's
Meorot told me that as soon as I include the de rigour citations of
Jacob Katz, they would like to publish my essay on the Meiri.)

<<Excerpt begins>>

But we might wish to note that if “we are accustomed to viewing
holiness, the experience of the numinous, as the very acme of
religion”, then we should realize that not only Rav Hirsch, but
further the Prophetic mind in general will disagree with the Mesilat
Yesharim. In Rabbi Dr. J. H. Hertz's Early and Late (Soncino Press,
1943), we read, (“A Vindication of Religion”, p. 197),

<<Quote>>
An essential element in that [religious] vision is God's holiness. And
the Holy God can only be sanctified through righteousness, Isaiah has
for all time declared. That is, moral conduct is the beginning and end
of religion, and men and nations are to be judged purely by their
moral life. 'The righteous of all nations are heirs of immorality', is
an unchallenged dogma of the Synagogue.
<<End quote>>

One should not miss the far-reaching statements that Hertz has just
made. “We are accustomed to viewing holiness, the experience of the
numinous, as the very acme of religion” (Levine), for “an essential
element in that [religious] vision is God's holiness” (Hertz). But if
so, if God's holiness is really the essential element and acme of
religion, then, according to Isaiah, “the Holy God can only be
sanctified [ - made holy - ] through righteousness”. And therefore,
“moral conduct is the beginning and end of religion” (Hertz).
Moreover, “men and nations are to be judged purely by their moral
life”. This is an amazing statement. According to Rabbi Dr. Isidore
Epstein (Judaism: A Historical Presentation. Great Britain: Penguin
Books, 1959 and numerous reprintings thereafter. p. 14),

<<Quote>>
Belief in the one and only God was not demanded [of the non-Jew],
provided there is no idolatry, which Judaism condemns not so much
because it is false religion, but because it is false morality; the
Son of Noah is not charged the confess the one and only God of the son
of Israel. He may be a dualist or a trinitarian, as he wishes. This
conception of the Noah laws reveals the real significance of the
theocratic constitution of Israel: it rested not on the unity of the
state and religion but on the unity of the state and morality.
<<End quote>>

Apparently, the first Noachide command would not mandate strict
monotheism of the Jewish sort, but rather, would prohibit gross
heathenistic worship. In like wise, Hertz says (The Pentateuch, p.
759, on Deuteronomy 4:19),

<<Quote>>
[I]dolatry was for them [viz. the Jews] an unpardonable offense; and
everything that might seduce them from that Divine Revelation was to
be ruthlessly destroyed. Hence the amazing tolerance shown by Judaism
of all ages towards the followers of all other cults, so long as these
were not steeped in immorality and crime. [Emphasis in original.]
<<End quote>>

Similarly, Hertz says (ibid., p. 833, on Deuteronomy 20:10-18),

<<Quote>>
It is seen that the Canaanites were put under the ban, not for false
belief, but for vile action; because of the savage cruelty and foul
immorality of their gruesome cults.
<<End quote>>

(These passages are also found, with some minor but noticeable
variations, in Rabbi Hertz's Sermons, Addresses, and Studies, London:
Soncino, 1938. Vol 3. Pp. 215 and 219, under “Religious Tolerance”;
and Affirmations of Judaism, London: Soncino, 1975. Pp. 183 and 186,
under “Religious Tolerance”.)

This argument by Hertz and Epstein - that “men and nations are to be
judged purely by their moral life” (Hertz), that there is an “amazing
tolerance shown by Judaism of all ages towards the followers of all
other cults, so long as these were not steeped in immorality and
crime” (Hertz), that “It is seen that the Canaanites were put under
the ban, not for false belief, but for vile action; because of the
savage cruelty and foul immorality of their gruesome cults” (Hertz),
that “Judaism condemns [idolatry] not so much because it is false
religion, but because it is false morality” (Epstein) – this argument
would parallel one by Rabbi Ahron Soloveichk, brought by Rabbi Dr.
David Berger (“Jews, Gentiles, and the Modern Egalitarian Ethos: Some
Tentative Thoughts”, in Formulating Responses in an Egalitarian Age,
ed. Marc Stern, Lanham, 2005, pp. 83-108.
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/Jews_Gentiles_and_Egalitarianism_2.pdf):

<<Quote>>
This position is spelled out more rigorously in his [Rabbi Ahron
Soloveichik's] novellae to Sefer ha-Madda. Here he maintains that the
discriminatory laws against non-Jews result only from their status as
evildoers (their shem rasha). Non-Jews who behave righteously by
following the six Noahide laws other than the prohibition against
avodah zarah are not considered evil as long as their theological
error was inherited, as the Talmud suggests about pagans in the
diaspora, from their parents and is thus considered inadvertent or
even a result of compulsion.
<<End quote>>

Elsewhere, Berger remarks (Alex Ozar, “An Interview With Rabbi Dr.
David Berger”, YU Commentator,
http://media.www.yucommentator.com/media/storage/paper652/news/2007/12/17/KolHamevaser/An.Interview.With.Rabbi.Dr.David.Berger-3144750.shtml,
issued December 17, 2007),

<<Quote>>
And this raises larger issues about whether in order to get into olam
haba a non-Jew has to get a hundred on his exam. Does he need a
perfect score on the sheva mitzvos in order to have a helek la-olam
haba? Now I suppose that a straightforward reading of most discussions
of this matter would be yes. You have to observe all of the sheva
mitzvos, not six out of seven. However, there is a teshuva of Rav
Yaakov Emden, and you get a similar impression from a piece by the
elder Rav Henkin, and this appears to be Rav Ahron Soloveichik’s
position, that indicates that the observance of the moral commandments
is sufficient and that mistakes with respect to the understanding of
God would not keep you out. Sinners, Jews and gentiles, are not
punished forever but rather achieve a restored state.
<<End quote>>

To summarize: if the essential element and acme of religion is God's
holiness (Levine), then God is made holy only through righteousness
(Hertz citing Isaiah), and all men are judged only by their moral
conduct (Hertz, Epstein, Soloveichik, Emden).

<<End excerpt from my essay>>

Michael Makovi