Marc Chagall
tables Alliance - A law that liberates
The first ten words proclaims liberation of man in God's name.
Israel moves from bondage to serve the Creator.
Treaty Avot, Chapter 6, Mishna 2
Rabbi Joshua son of Levi teaches: "Every day a heavenly voice out of Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) and proclaims:" Woe to the creatures because of shame carried to the Torah, because whoever does not deal with Torah is a despicable man, and he deserves applies these words: "a beautiful woman for no reason is like a gold ring on snout of a sow. " And it says the tables (the Act) were divine work, and the writing was divine scripture, engraved on the tables. Harout Do not read "burned" but Herut "freedom" because only one is still engaged in the Torah. And anyone who engages in Torah stands, as it says (Numbers 21, 19): "They marched from Matana
to Nahaliel and Nahaliel to Bamoth.
Note
The end of education is based on an allegorical reading of three cities through which the Hebrews in the desert. Matana "gift" , referring to the giving of the Torah. Nahaliel "God is my inheritance" and Bamoth "elevation." It is by receiving the Torah and the acceptance of the divine heritage that man rises and s 'freed of all material easements.
The concept of freedom
In Judaism, the notion of individual freedom can be perceived in two distinct ways. First, individual freedom is reminiscent of the concept of free will , and thus human responsibility in history. But this same freedom also leads us to ask ourselves whether Judaism is a religion of laws and practice, it is possible, under the pretext of this freedom, to reject any block and decide to live our Judaism without feeling "forced" by the commandments.Before answering this question, it seems important to go in detail on the first aspect of individual freedom, namely the notion of free will. To realize the importance of this concept, we need to think about the text of the Ten Commandments, this seminal text of Jewish thought, especially the first of these commandments. "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt." In this simple phrase that speaks to Jewish tradition, the Torah and in the first place, considered to be the first commandment incumbent upon the man's freedom. Thus, even before being subjected to any other law, God is seen as a liberator God who gives man the opportunity to live his life as being free. Perspective while highly similar, it is important to note that the first feast Jewish liturgical calendar, the feast of the first month of the Jewish year, Passover is the festival of freedom . This celebration, which in remembering the liberation of our ancestors from slavery in Egypt, we are invited to reflect on our own freedom and the responsibilities arising therefrom, is chronologically seven weeks before the festival of Shavuot, which commemorates the gift of the Torah - that is to say, the giving of the law - as we teach that Act is possible only if the Ibert is given to man to respect or violate.
It appears clearly that Judaism places the individual freedom above all other considerations. Without this fundamental freedom, nothing is possible, because if we are not free, if God decides our actions in our place, we can be as small as puppets, without any responsibility in our history and without power decision. It should, however, fully measure the scope of this fundamental freedom that is ours, and the weight of this responsibility. Indeed, being free and responsible for our actions bring about, by God, a certain detachment and distance from world affairs. It can not be otherwise. In a world where God and the people of Israel are united by a Brit, that is to say by the Alliance, human freedom requires limiting the power of God. Without this removal, and therefore if God continues to be present at any time and any place, how can man remain accountable? is this bold idea expressed Kabbalah Luria (written about the 15th century Safed) and resumed in a wonderful piece, Andre Neher, one of the greatest thinkers of modern Judaism: "The alliance teaches that history is made by the simultaneous association and unbreakable commitment of two people in it: the Creator and the creature, God and man. Only through the cooperation of God and man that is born and the story moves forward with its practical and ethical dimensions and meta-ethical, physical and metaphysical. Cooperation - and this is the most important and least understood of the alliance - which simultaneously limit the power of man and the power of God. That man's power is limited, it is natural and is the result of his condition as a creature. But the notion of limiting the power of God involves designing banal, and lightly accepted by almost all religious men, the omnipotence of God. But God is not the Almighty, as suggested by the superficial and vulgar language. God is the being who agrees to limit its power . "
The second consequence of that individual freedom is that freedom of man than God's omniscience. Said simply, this amounts to suggesting that not even God knows provide the choices and decisions men. So, having created man free, God not only accepted it but self-limiting, in addition, he introduced the story of an uncertainty factor. This same idea back when Andre Neher wrote that "in creating man free, by giving free will to one of its creatures - the man - God brought the universe into a radical uncertainty factor, no divination or divine wisdom, no math, no programming, no prayer nor can neither foresee nor prevent, or integrated into a predetermined p spective. The free man associated with God, improvisation made history "free
Thus, man can no longer claim to escape the responsibilities assigned to it, and more specifically to the responsibility he owes to his neighbor. This heavy responsibility and infinite, is expressed very concisely in a text where Talmudic Rabbi Aquiba is questioned by the Roman emperor who asked him why, if the Jewish God is a God of justice who supports the poor, helping - Does not he even the poor. What Rabbi Aquiba responds by saying "God does not himself so that we, men, can escape the damnation by doing it ourselves." For this answer Rabbi Aquiba expresses the idea of infinite responsibility that falls to the free man to fill the needs of his neighbor. This responsibility is such that God is unable to do for us. This notion of responsibility is also expressed in chapter four of Genesis, in the episode of the murder, when Cain kills his brother Abel. After Cain had laid hands on his brother and his blood shed on earth, God speaks to him and said, "the voice of thy brother's blood cries to me, what hast thou done?" And Cain respond by seeking to escape liability, "Am I my brother's keeper?". One way to remind God that He is supposed to be the guardian of his brother, that God must be responsible for the actions of men, and that As such, he can not ask him to account for his actions. Yet in the Jewish interpretation of this passage, it is responsible for the Cain with a freedom and a free will it is for him to take his faults, and God can only observe from the sidelines Passive tragedy unfolding before his eyes.
This passage from the story of Cain and Abel also raises another key issue related to the concept of freedom and responsibility. A few verses later we read in the text of the Torah God warns Cain about the consequences of his act: "If you improve, then you will be forgiven, but getting better if you do not, then the fault will remain lurking outside your door. "The Rashbam - the little son-of Rashi explains this somewhat obscure verse as follows: If Cain found the strength to do teshuvah and understands mistake he has done, God will forgive him for cons in the opposite case, not only is there will be no forgiveness, but the fault will remain as a stone lurking outside his door who always will stumble, because his mistakes become too heavy for him to wear. It is as if Cain was in danger of being sucked into a spiral of evil, committing fault upon fault until he lost consciousness of his actions, especially the ability to react and to correct themselves. The question implied by the Rashbam in this comment relates to the course imitates the of free will and therefore responsibility. In describing this spiral of evil that may take Cain, the rabbinic tradition teaches us that the dynamics of things carries with it the ability to destroy the control that we exert on ourselves, making us unable to exercise our freedom and our free will.
limit this notion of free will and asked, we have now to answer the second question is related, too, on the border of freedom and about the possibility offered to us, using this freedom we give to Jewish tradition, to reject all laws of Judaism. Can you live as a Jew and as a free man without feeling controlled by the laws of the Torah? In addressing this possibility with lucidity, I think we must admit that Judaism can consider such a hypothesis.
freedom of each being, as we have seen, the foundation of Jewish thought, you can use this liberty to reject Judaism. But the question that really arises is whether in doing so, we create conditions that will allow generations following, not only ours to live in freedom? A second question, the answer seems to be negative by cons. Rejecting the Act, is to reject the idea that to live in a free society I should be able to impose on me a number of restrictions that guarantee the freedom of others. Without the law, I certainly enjoy my freedom but I do not create conditions that enable others to enjoy theirs. Thus, in a Jewish perspective of the concept of individual freedom, my responsibility to others imposed upon me a certain limit my own freedom, just as God was willing to limit itself to ensure our existence of free men.
is this idea expressed by the Talmudic sages when commenting on verse 16 of the 32th chapter of Exodus, note: "Do not read Harout AL Loukhot Ha 'engraved on the tables, but Al Ha-Herut Loukhot 'freedom on the tables, the only person who is truly free is the one who understands that the Torah (the Act) is the source of the free "(Eruvin 54a).
Sefarad
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