*This was written in a rush so sorry if it's unclear at parts
After a week of lounging around at Ohr Sameach, I finally decided to go to class. I sat in on a lecture by Rabbi Gottlieb, an internationally renown Jewish scholar, a few days ago. He talked about reward and punishment; specifically, the utterly incapable way that justice works in our world. Evil people, serial killers, get off scot-free while horrible things happen to truly good people. We are left with two options to confront this dilemma: dismiss morality entirely as being a societal fabrication, basically a lie we tell people to keep them in line – or – we can choose to believe that g-d is ultimately in control of the reward and punishment for our behavior, leaving the good people to be rewarded in the afterlife and the people who aren’t as good to be… not as rewarded (Jews don’t believe in the punishment of Hell, only less reward, which is a punishment in itself).
These two different explanations have vastly different consequences for our behavior. If we dismiss morality, citing all the injustices in the world as examples, then we are left with nothing. We are just insignificant beings on a floating rock in space, scrabbling with the other primates for a bigger piece of the pie, and none of it really matters in the end. The other way of looking at morality, from the traditional Jewish perspective, is to have faith that good and bad will be meted out in the end, according to some system. We don’t necessarily claim to know how it all works, only that there is justice in the end apportioned by G-d. Interestingly, even Hitler noted this philosophy as being strictly Jewish: in Mein Kampf, he writes, “The Jews have stained the human race with conscience and morality.” Hitler saw morality and social conscience as a weakness to be exterminated. However, we see that 60 years later, the Jews are still around, just like we have been for thousands of years, while every other government rises and falls around us. Perhaps Hitler wasn’t the most astute historian, as it certainly appears from the record that morality is a strength.
We have the freedom to make up our own beliefs. Take that as an assumption, and if you disagree, then talk to a Rabbi or someone smarter than me, because I don’t know how to handle that. Now, practically speaking, do you want the monkeys on a rock pointlessly floating through space philosophy or the be a good person, do the right thing, it will all work out in the end philosophy? We all have a purpose to our lives. Many of us spend it either relaxing and enjoying life’s pleasures or working hard for material success. Why not have the development of ourselves as a person, as a good person, be a priority? Why shouldn’t the goal of your life be to be the best person you can be? What is so wrong with that?
Why not be good?
From what I’ve learned, there are 4 big things not to do and 2 big things to do in order to be good. There’s a lot of extra stuff in the Torah about what it means to be a good Jew, but a lot of that seems kind of superstitious to me. These are the 6 Big Things. If you follow these 6, you’re good.
4 Things not to do: Kill, Steal, Lie, Gossip.
2 Things to do: Keep Shabbat, Keep Kosher
Gossip is said to be just as bad as killing/stealing/lying. Gossip is bad because, especially in today’s day with the Internet, you can do a huge amount of damage to a person in a short period of time with virtually no effort. L’shon Hara is gossip, and you are supposed to avoid it all costs, even if it’s true and warranted. This part was really hard for me to accept – if someone does something horrible, shouldn’t everyone know about it? After all, reputations have to be earned, and if someone is clearly a horrible person, then talking about it actually serves a purpose.
The reason why l’shon hara is so bad is because there are always 2 sides to every story, and it’s not in our hands to mete out punishment. Often times, emotions cloud the issue, and other times, the gossip doesn’t actually serve a constructive purpose – for example, telling people that Dave wets the bed every night isn’t really doing any good, especially not for Dave. Examples of the rare exceptions when gossip is permitted are: when someone is entering a business agreement with person X, who has been known to be deceitful and a cheat in business dealings, or when someone is preparing to marry person Y, who is indisputably having an affair. But these cases are few and far between, and most times, we just like to gossip because it creates a social camaraderie among the gossipers. However, it is causing the subject of the gossip a lot of harm, a lot of which can be irreparable. In a way, you are killing them – you are destroying their reputation, their life. When a person gets embarrassed, the blood rushes from their face and they turn very pale before blushing red. Even physiologically speaking, it’s not unlike murder. So, it all comes back to treating people how you’d like to be treating and loving your fellow man. Gossiping is very bad, and if you hear it, you are supposed to tactfully change the subject.
Keeping Shabbat and keeping kosher serve important communal roles as well as providing for the dignity and humane treatment of the animal. Shabbat is just awesome, and I think anyone who gives it a decent shot would agree that it’s just fun and you don’t really need to subscribe to a higher belief to enjoy it. Keeping kosher can be inconvenient and costly at times but it also has benefits, like knowing the meat is of decent quality when there’s food scares about Mad Cow disease.
Basically, I think everyone should have morality in their lives, regardless of their religious beliefs. The 6 Big Things are things that anyone can follow that will enable them to have this morality in their life, again regardless of their religious beliefs.
Why Not Be Good?
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