[Avodah] The Main Idea of Judaism

[Lisa Liel]

On 7/5/2012 1:33 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 05, 2012 at 02:03:45PM -0400, hankman wrote:
> : I think the answer is trivially simple! It is to do the rotzon of
> : HKB"H at all times to the best of your ability. All the rest is detail
> : and that is far from trivial.
>
> I thought the whole question was "What one theme is central to His Ratzon
> for what we should be accomplishing in life?"
>    

I think the theme itself should be that we need to do Retzon Hashem. 
Recursive as that may sound.


On 7/5/2012 2:22 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> 1- Tell me how you view Hashem's goal for a human, so that one can plan
> how to conform to His Will for them?
>    

First, Hashem's goal for a human depends on the human.  In many, many 
ways.  To start with, Hashem's goal for a Jew and Hashem's goal for a 
non-Jew are not the same.  But for that matter, Hashem's goal for a man 
and Hashem's goal for a woman aren't the same.  Nor are Hashem's goal 
for a Kohen and for a Zar.  Or for you and for me.  There are 
commonalities in some of those cases.  Hashem's goal for Jews is for us 
to keep His Torah.

> 2- What I find more interesting, because #1 has SO MANY valid answers,
> all of which are necessarily incomplete, how would you reach an answer
> to #1?
>    

By applying context.  Do you mean what's Hashem's goal for us in terms 
of how we make a living?  Or what's Hashem's goal for us in terms of 
what we believe?  Or how we treat fellow Jews?  Or how we treat 
non-Jews?  Or how we act in a time of war?  Or how we raise our 
children?  I think you're making a false generalization.


On 7/5/2012 2:35 PM, Ben Waxman wrote:
> On 7/5/2012 10:07 PM, Doron Beckerman wrote:
>>  But he bolds and underscores that it doesn't mean to believe in 
>> Hashem, it means to live by one's belief in Hashem, and to be putty 
>> in Hashem's hands.

> Similarly (?) the Sfat Emet says repeatedly that one has to batel 
> himself to Hashem or to the Am or to the Torah.

Asei retzono retzonecha k'dei sheHu yaaseh retzoncha kirtzono.  I think 
that and "v'zot haTorah asher sam Moshe lifnei Bnei Yisrael al pi Hashem 
b'yad Moshe" are probably the most concise two-line definition of Judaism.

Lisa