[Avodah] The Purpose of Yahadus and Crime Statistics

[Akiva Miller]

.

R' Micha Berger wrote:

> How would you justify assuming the payoff is so much smaller
> than the demanded investment? If the difference between those
> who follow sheqer -- the crime or volunteerism stats in a
> different religious commuunity of a similar income profile
> -- aren't visibly worse, without needing formal pollsters,
> than following the Emes, what exactly is Yahadus about?

In an earlier draft of this post, I wrote that if religious Jews are
so much more ethical than others, and that this effect were so visible
that it would be obvious even without formal statisticians, it would
pose serious problems for Bechira Chofshis. And perhaps, for this
simple reason, the effort is doomed to failure, since Hashem will do
what is necessary to balance things out.

But then I realized, as RMB put it:

> The Torah describes itself to be a means of producing better people.

I could ask him for sources, but why bother? Even if the sources in
Torah Sheb'ksav could be debated, the sources in Chazal are
overwhelming. Can anyone count the stories in which a person was seen
being unethical, and an investigation revealed that he wasn't Jewish
after all? The extent to which such stories are literal or metaphor is
totally irrelevant; the point is that there *IS* an expectation for
the typical Jew to be noticably better in these areas.

So instead, I'll try a different approach...

> ... ... what exactly is Yahadus about?

I can't speak for anyone else, but for *me*, Torah is about obedience
to the Creator. Not because of any promise of reward or threat of
punishment, but because of (in no particular order) gratitude for my
life and all that came with it, and because (as one cynic once put it)
"when all else fails, read the instructions".

If we would simply put in the time and effort to follow the User's
Manual (a/k/a Torah), this universe would run as it ought to. That
would include everything that Rabbi Berger expects from a group of
ethical Torahdik people. I do agree with him, that if enough of us
were doing Torah the way we ought to be doing it, the effects WOULD be
visible, even without statisticians.

The difference is of cause and effect. When I see a preacher exhorting
people to join his religion in order to get a good afterlife, I am not
impressed, because I see it as selfish and non-altruistic. When
someone wants us to be frum to make a Kiddush Hashem, I see it as a
little better, but it is only a matter of degree. Granted that it
isn't selfish, but it's not Lishmah either. If Shmiras Hamitzvos is a
tool to a more socially equitable world, is that "what Yahadus is
about"?

Maybe I'm being too demanding, and too simplistic. So let me be clear:
If a person is careful with his Bein Adam L'chaveiro because he knows
that's Hashem's plan to avoid strife and make a better world, that is
a truly great thing. My only point is that if the project doesn't seem
to be working, he must keep in mind that the better world would only
have been a SIDE BENEFIT to his mitzvos. It is not the ikar reason for
doing them.

Akiva Miller