Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Values of an Ideal Society: Then and Now
In class we discussed what an ideal Jewish society would look like in the time of the Beit Hamikdash. We discussed the values that this society would entail, falling under the categories of beliefs, practices, interpersonal relationships, and government. These ideals range from Bein Adam L'makom (mezuzah, tefillin, having a Beit Hamikdash, etc.) to Bein Adam L'Chaveiro (intermarriage, how to treat the orphan and the widow). We were asked to rank which values we think would be most important during the time of the Beit Hamikdash. It was apparent from our answers that we believed that the ideas pertaining to our relationship with G-d, mitzvot Bein Adam L'Makom, were essentially more important than the Mitzvot Bein Adam L'Chaveiro.
Next I ranked the importance of these values relating to my own life. It was very clear from the results that it was mostly, although not entirely, the opposite of how I ranked them relating to the time of the Beit Hamikdash. In my own life, it seems that the values Bein Adam L'Chaveiro are the ones I can relate to the most, the ones I feel are most important to me. My relationship to G-d seems to take a backseat to my relationships with others.
It makes sense to me to think that Bein Adam L'Makom would be more important during the time of the Beit Hamikdash because we could feel G-d's presence more closely. We had Naviim to guide us through life and important decisions. We had a centralized place of worship and sacrifice. There was the possibility of clear miracles from G-d. I feel like it would be so incredibly easy to feel G-d's presence, believe in G-d, even have a close relationship with Him.
Today, this is absolutely not the case. We don't have a Beit Hamikdash or Naviim or clear-cut miracles. During a time when it is incredibly difficult to feel G-d's presence in our daily lives, it can be hard to maintain the values of Bein Adam L'Makom. It is safe to say that some Jews don't even believe in G-d at all. If this is the case, you can only imagine what would happen if G-d decided to punish us. There is so much corruption and evil in our world; why hasn't G-d punished us like he did when we were sinning during the time of the Naviim? It is an interesting thing to think about. What would happen if we knew G-d was planning on punishing us for all of our sins? Would we turn our lives around? Would we commit to G-d?
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I think you hit on a really good point. That during times of the Beit Hamikdash the most important mitzvot were the ones between man and G-d, and in modern days the most important mitzvot are between man and man.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason why Hashem doesn't punish us like he did at the time of the Beit Hamikdash is because we struggle differently. For example why don't we get Tzaraat anymore when we say Lashon Harah? Because at the time of the Beit Hamikdash Lashon Harah was not the same at it is today. They didn't normally say Lashon Harah in a normal conversation as much. Today all we talk about is gossip which Hashem knows is an almost impossible thing to try to get us to stop. Hashem only punishes people for things He knows they can easily (for the most part) do.