[Avodah] The Main Idea of Judaism

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 04:49:36PM -0400, David Riceman wrote:
:> If so, then perhaps we can just create a new parent ideal which 
:> combines those hierarchies into one. Starting with something like: 
:> Hashem made us to be autonomous creative beings who...

:> If you believe Hashem made us so that we should value other pursuits as 
:> ends in themselves (and I'm not asserting that, just paraphrasing my 
:> understanding of your point), then that too is part of the ideal of 
:> being what He made me to be.

: This is a different ideal than being an oveid hashem.  Part of being an 
: oveid hashem is precisely to abandon those aspects of one's personality 
: which don't fit into the mold.  In fact, as I tried to point out in 
: earlier posts, this ideal is so general as to raise the question of how 
: one can fail to meet this particular aspiration.

Let me recast my earlier thought...

Mimah nafshach. Either:

You believe that the pursuit of personal interests and creativity
is not part of Hashem's plan for your life. In which case, how can
one justify defying Hashem's plan?

Or:

You believe that HQBH making us creative and curious beings is a
positive, and that He expects us to pursue our own interests. If
so, then one /is/ following Hashem's plan for their life. He wants
us to pursue our own interests, and you are.

:            Why should there be a central message? The Abarbanel (in Rosh 
: Amana IIRC) denies that Judaism has ikkarim, and I think one can argue 
: plausibly that Western ethical theorists have gone wrong partly because 
: they spend too much effort looking for single unifying principles.

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 10:02:06PM +0100, Daniel M. Israel similarly:
} I've been review this thread from the beginning, and unless I missed
} something, it seems like there hasn't been much (or any) argument against
} the idea that there is a "main idea" of Judaism.

Actually, RDB already asked this question back on the 5th
http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol30/v30n085.shtml#10 :
> I'm still not 100% sure I understand what you are getting at, since what
> Hashem wants from people, broadly, is to transform their will to His Will.
> He has many things He wants us to accomplish, and the goal is for us to
> want to accomplish them all.

As I replied the next day:
= I think the gemara that introduces the whole notion of 613 mitzvos does
= just that -- tries to then sum them up with a Mission Statement for Life.

Does R' Simlai not start with 613 mitzvos, and then show how various
nevi'im consequently shrink them down to fewer and fewer principles?

For that matter, there is also not only Mikhah's "Mah tov umah H'
doreish mimekha KI IM...", as per R' Simlai, there is also MRAH's.

And the gemara lists various tanna'im's shitos on what is the "kelal
gadol".

Continuing that quote, I then gave a functional answer:
= People find Mission Statements useful, and I think one's avodas H'
= suffers if they can't contemplate a mental image of the forest rather
= than focusing on the various branches.

People need Mission Statements in order to stay inspired and on
target. That's why organizations craft them.

Back to RDR's current post:
:= Actually, RSS says qedoshim tihyu is *it*, not just /a/ mitzvah. Which 
:= can make sense, "qedhshah" isn't as specific as "akhilas matzah", after 
:= all. Here's the relevent quote, right after discussing the Toras Kohanim 
:= and the Ramban on "Qedoshim Tihyu": And so, it appears to my limited 
:= thought that this mitzvah includes the entire foundation and root of the 
:= purpose of our lives.
...
: I don't think that's what he means.  There is a long exegetical 
: tradition of playing up the significance of particular mitzvos.  In 
: Hazal it takes the form mitzvah X shakul k'neged kol hamitzos. There's 
: an essay attributed to the Ramban (printed in Chavel's Kisvei Ramban) 
: which derives Taryag Mitzvos from asseres hadibros.

RSS takes the Toras Kohanim (qedoshim tihyu - perushim tihyu) and the
Ramban's famous exposision of it and defines qedushah as exclusive
commitment. It's not just the standard pedagogy that would make RSS
say that qedushim tihyu is central, it's inherent in his translation
of the word qedushah.

However, that doesn't answer our question. Total commitment to what?
To some particular mission statement? To "kol haTorah kulah"? RSS
says it's to hatavah. But the mitzvah itself appears to me to explicitly
about making the pursuit of Hashem's Plan exclusive of other interests.
Perhaps one could even say "qedoshim tihyu" is the obligation to make
Hashem's Plan for your life as you understand it as much the sole goal
in your life as possible.

Something similar appears to be the message in Shema, "bekhol levavekha,
uvekhol nafshekha, uvekhol me'odekha". It would seem one isn't supposed
to be spending resources on things that aren't aimed at leading to
ahavas Hashem.

:= Issur and chiyuv are categorical. If they covered every possibility, 
:= there would be no variety, no human component to avodas Hashem after the 
:= poseiq does his job.

: This is the opinion of the Hovos HaLevavos, that Torah, when fully 
: individuated, has no reshus, everything is either obligatory or 
: forbidden.  He argues that the options are to leave room for individual 
: variation.  I find his opinion scarily totalitarian.

I didn't intend to discuss that, though.

I am talking about personal expression in how one worships G-d in
particular. If all of the Torah's desiderata were issurim or chiyuvim,
how a person follows the Torah would have nothing to do with who the
person is.

I am not talking about whether following the Torah is all a person
does, or not.

We touched on something related to that earlier in your post -- the
notion of whether Hashem wants us to follow our own pursuits. But this
isn't the same thing.

:= Picture if one Elul ... we did this for our Avodas Hashem...

: I've used a version of this as a Yom Kippur derasha.  It's not enough to 
: do tshuva for sins or even for dispositions: picture who you are now, 
: who you wish to be next year (or in a Shemita or Yovel), and how you 
: expect to make the transition.  The mechanism of transition is the most 
: important part, and, as you hint, you need to break it down into small 
: steps.

I'm not sure how the two are related. I didn't suggest a way to break
down change into small steps. I gave a way to relate as many of my
daily activities as possible to whatever it is I hope (or better: I
think Hashem Wants for me) to accomplish in life.

: Why doesn't it work just as well for just a little time every day? Not 
: everything you do at work ties directly into the Master Plan.

Again, I think it's supposed to, although I know you don't. So obviously
my tool will reflect my perspective. And no, the whole point of the
tool is to encourage ever more time doing things you believe to be more
important by keeping ultimate goals in mind during life's small decisions.

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Zion will be redeemed through justice,
micha at aishdas.org        and her returnees, through righteousness.
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