[Avodah] decision on one’s own

[Joel Rich]

>From the recently published Aggadot HaRav (p. 76)
Thoughts?
However, there are questions about honoring parents, educating children,
giving charity, helping others, guarding one’s tongue, general questions
about faith, as well as various questions concerning thought and feelings,
that were not necessarily ruled on by rabbis. Simple Jews would render
decisions in such cases. Do you think that they knew how to learn Gemara? I
knew Jews who were incapable of reading even one line of Gemara without the
vowel signs. Nevertheless, I saw their conduct. As a child, I knew a
certain craftsman. In retrospect, if I visualize his conduct, I see that he
acted according to the Torah! And that Jew could barely get through the
weekly Torah portion. Somehow, there was a feeling inculcated in him from
generations ago, practically an instinct, telling him: Such-and-such is
Jewish, such-and-such is not Jewish.

The best scenario in Judaism is to render a decision on one’s own. People
are reluctant to do so, but that is the mandate: “To know My ways.” This
happens when a Jew develops a certain sense, a sixth sense in his life. He
does not have to think in order to know what is Jewish and what is not
Jewish, that this is the way one should act, and that is the way one should
not act.

kt

joel rich
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