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The Nephilim - strange giants in the Torah and in your life |
Question of the Week:
I am fascinated by the
Euthyphro dilemma asked by Socrates:
"Does G-d want us to do good deeds because they are morally good, or are good deeds morally good because G-d wants us to do them?"
If good is good without G-d, we don't need Him as a source of morality. But if good is only good because G-d says so, then good is not true good, it is merely an arbitrary construct. So either G-d is unnecessary or goodness has no real meaning.
How would Judaism answer this?
Answer:
Good question. If you know what I mean.
Judaism takes a clear position on this dilemma. There is a striking statement in the Midrash that answers it unequivocally:
In the beginning of creation, G-d viewed the deeds of the righteous and the deeds of the wicked. But we do not yet know which of them He desires. When it says, "And G-d saw the light, that it is good," we know that He desires the deeds of the righteous, and does not desire the deeds of the wicked.
Midrash Rabba Bereishis 1:7
Good is only good because G-d chose it to be. G-d is not bound by anything, and could have chosen otherwise. He could have said "Thou shalt steal," and "Do not help the poor and needy." Helping old ladies across the street would be the wrong thing to do, but mugging them would be honorable.
Now you may argue, anyone with a healthy conscience knows that stealing is morally repugnant and helping the needy is a righteous and upright thing to do. But our conscience is also created by G-d. If morality would be inverted, we would be wired accordingly. Luckily for all those old ladies trying to cross the street everywhere, G-d chose the other way around.
Does this mean good isn't really good? Is morality nothing more than a whimsical fancy? Not at all. Only humans are whimsical and arbitrary. G-d is absolute. Good is absolutely good because the Absolute One made it so. Morality is defined by the infinite scale of G-d, not the finite nature of human feelings.
Just like a tree is a tree and a mountain is a mountain, good is good, because G-d made it that way. Stealing is not just bad because it feels wrong, it is really bad, even when I can justify it. Helping the needy is not just good because I feel warm and fuzzy when I do it, it is absolutely good, even if I don't feel anything.
The real dilemma is this: without G-d, how can anything be good or evil? Who decides? That's a really good question.
"Good" Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss
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