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I actually want to respond to RMB, but I think that a point I've
been making has gotten erased, so I'll start by citing myself and
RAM.<br>
<br>
Me:<br>
<<What I tell my son is that there are minimum standards that
everyone must strive to perform, but beyond that one has quite a bit
of flexibility about how much of an oveid hashem one desires to be,
and how one [imminentizes] that desire.>><br>
<br>
RAM:<br>
<<I am a very lazy person, but in my <b class="moz-txt-star"><span
class="moz-txt-tag">*</span>desires<span class="moz-txt-tag">*</span></b>,
I cannot imagine striving to be anything less than a <b
class="moz-txt-star"><span class="moz-txt-tag">*</span>total<span
class="moz-txt-tag">*</span></b> oveid Hashem. And I try to tell
my kids that this should be their desire too. I hope to hear that
"how much of an oveid hashem one desires to be" was an accidentally
poor choice of words.>><br>
<br>
RAM again:<br>
<<I'm not sure if I used the word "only" in this context. I'll
tell you what: Even if I did use that word, I'll retract it now and
say this: I am willing to concede that there are many legitimate
aspirations, and my point is that being a "<b class="moz-txt-star"><span
class="moz-txt-tag">*</span>total<span class="moz-txt-tag">*</span></b>
oveid Hashem" is the most ideal aspiration among them.>><br>
<br>
I know and admire people who try to be "<b class="moz-txt-star">total<span
class="moz-txt-tag">*</span></b> ovdei Hashem" (see H. Tshuva
10:3); unlike RAM, I don't want to be one of them.<br>
<br>
In this post I don't want to address RAM, I want to address the
people who claim that we don't disagree. RMB's post is a good
example:<br>
<br>
<<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...
<br>
<br>
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.>><br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
I do think one can whittle it down. I would, for example, like to
have a really good vibrato on the violin some day, but that wouldn't
be on my list of what RAM calls "ideal aspirations". But how one
can whittle RMB's criterion down to something acceptable is not an
easy question.<br>
<br>
That's the main point I wanted to make, but RMB's post was so long
that it deserves some nitpicking:<br>
<br>
<<There is a central message to Yahadus, and we should be able
to figure
out what it is from the Torah. Presumably this is about including
Hashem
in our plans, actions, and perspective on what happens to
us.>><br>
<br>
I cited a Rambam ("ha'ikkar hagadol shehakol talui bo") paraphrasing
a Mishna in Berachos to support this, but I think it needs better
evidence. 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.<br>
<br>
In fact multiplicity is an inherent feature of humanity and of the
world we live in. Shouldn't it equally well be an inherent feature
of the Torah? It certainly seems to be.<br>
<br>
<<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.>><br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<<Tangent: Where does the Rambam say this?>><br>
<br>
Shmonah Perakim, Perek 8. In Kafih's translation it's on p. 262.
Arguably either he changed his mind before writing the MT or he was
polemicizing.<br>
<br>
<<Actually, RSS says qedoshim tihyu is <b
class="moz-txt-star"><span class="moz-txt-tag">*</span>it<span
class="moz-txt-tag">*</span></b>, not just <i
class="moz-txt-slash"><span class="moz-txt-tag">/</span>a<span
class="moz-txt-tag">/</span></i> 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.>><br>
<br>
I think this deserves a new thread. There's a mahlokes between the
Rambam and Ibn Ezra (in Sefer Yesod Mora). Ibn Ezra argues that
mitzvos are hierarchical; some include others as special cases. The
Rambam (and as far as I know all contemporary halachists agree with
him) flattens out the hierarchy and argues that each mitzvah has an
independent domain. You seem to be construing RSS as following IE.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
I think RSS is doing that with Kedoshim Tihyu. I think he could
have done something similar with many other mitzvos.<br>
<br>
<<Picture if one Elul (or maybe even on a Hebrew birthday --
vedai
lachakima beramiza <grin>) we did this for our Avodas
Hashem...>><br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
IIRC the Gaon in Kol HaTor alludes to this, as does Rabbi Kook in
Orot HaTeshuvah. I construed the midrash about Ya'akov Avinu
sleeping at the bottom of the sulam and his picture at the top of
the sulam as alluding to this.<br>
<br>
<< Picture
being able to tie why you're going to the store to what it is you
plan on
accomplishing in your life's avodah. I think it would be very
powerful in
making all of life, even recreation or side interests, holy --
however
it is you define holiness.>><br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
David Riceman<br>
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