Some posts on Morethedoxy.org

What motivates us?

Posted by Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky

1. Benjamin Fleischer Says:
   June 18, 2009 at 3:54 pm Regarding your specific example of Shabbat, the Torah itself gives many reasons:

   Exodus 23:12

   יב ששת ימים תעשה מעשיך, וביום השביעי תשבת–למען ינוח, שורך וחמרך, וינפש בן-אמתך, והגר.

   Six days you shall do your deeds, and on teh seventh you shall cease– in order that he may rest, your ox, your donkey, and that he may rest, the son of your maidservent and the sojourner

   Or Exodus 20:7 that we should cease from labor like God did in creation.
   Or Deut 5:11

   לא תעשה כל-מלאכה אתה ובנך-ובתך ועבדך-ואמתך ושורך וחמרך וכל-בהמתך, וגרך אשר בשעריך–למען ינוח עבדך ואמתך, כמוך. יד וזכרת, כי עבד היית בארץ מצרים, ויצאך ה’ אלקיך משם, ביד חזקה ובזרע נטויה; על-כן, צוך ה’ אלקיך, לעשות, את-יום השבת.

   You shall do no vocational labor your or your son, or your daughter, or your man-servant, or your maidservant, or your ox, or your donkey, like you. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and haShem your God took you out from there, with a string hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore haShem your God commanded you to do the day of Shabbat

   So, ultimately we may keep mitzvot because God says so (or for me, because that’s what Jews do). That doesn’t mean, however, that the mitzvot don’t have some purpose or benefit.

   Mitzvot haTeluyot baDavar einam mekayamot; batel haDavar, batel kiyum haMitzva.

   Perhaps the discussion is better understood in the light of the two main ways people observe mitzvot (and think about tradition in general).
   1) As an authoritarian system. Someone (god, rebbe, etc) tells you what to do, and you obey. Yirah.
   2) As a system that gives you meaning and identity and community and generally makes you feel more whole. Ahava.
   Generally, this sense of commandedness increases as you “go to the right”, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that people who hear and obey (naase veNishma) are better Jews. Judaism is about more than ritual mitzvot. “lo takir panim bamishpat; lo tefane el penei dal; ish et imo v’aviv tirau; lo tone et ha ger; etc”

2. Benjamin Fleischer Says:
   June 18, 2009 at 4:01 pm | To clarify point 2) that I made above
   point 1) is a one way interaction. You are told what to do.
   point 2) is a discussion. You have the mesora and you interact with it. Sometimes people call this picking and choosing, but

   You are only obligated to go to the court of your generation (and not previous generations) for decisions and they may decide according to what he deems right (Deut. 17:9, MT Mamr. 2:1, see Rav”ad there).

   A halakhic decisor must judge according to what is right in his eyes if the reason for a previous decision is perplexing (BT BB 130b, 131a).

   And where there is not support, sound reasoning may even overrule an ancient ruling (BT Brekh. 23b).

Maha – right
Yosef Kanefsky

1. Benjamin Fleischer Says:
   June 4, 2009 at 6:12 pm |  I was wondering what you would think of a ketubah like mine which was signed by two male witness, two female, and additionally by our female rabbi mesader kiddushin…
   • yosef kanefsky Says:
     June 8, 2009 at 5:35 am |  Hi Benjamin
     I would not personally have a ketuba signed in that fashion, as it may trigger technical issues within the halachot of edut.
     But beyond the technical, your comment brings up the larger interesting question as to whether it is feasible or desirable to set as a goal in and of itself that men and women do the same things and play the same roles. Sometimes this results in confusing redundancy, and in the end might serve to blur the real issue at had which (at least in my opinion)is that of maximizing opportunities for women The goal of maximizing opportunities will often – but not necessarily always – be the same as that of equalizing opportunities.
2. Benjamin Fleischer Says:
   June 4, 2009 at 6:17 pm Similarly, I wonder what you might think of this Teshuva from the Masorti movement in Israel (which is much more halakhically consistent with tradition than the American arm)

   Women as Mesader Kiddushin (Hebrew)
   Women as Poskot Halakha (Hebrew)