There was once a blind rabbi who said he
would make a party for the rabbis if they could tell him that he was
exempt from mitzvot due to his disability. Not that he wanted to get out
of performing the mitzvot. On the contrary, he intended to keep all the
commandments but he wished to get credit for doing them as a volunteer. It
would seem logical to assume that a volunteer has a higher status in
performing mitzvot than one who is commanded. After all, those who are
commanded have no choice but to perform. The volunteer does so out of the
goodness of his or her
heart.
If this is the case, the question is, why do we celebrate Shavuot?
Shavuot commemorates the day we became commanded in mitzvot. If it is
better to be a volunteer than commanded, why all the hoopla about
receiving the commandments? It would have been better to have remained
uncommanded. Throughout the ages, some who have opposed our religion
argued that Avraham had the ideal religion of volunteerism and that the
Israelites at Sinai only needed commandments because of their stiff-necked
nature. Surely we cannot accept this characterization.
But in the end the blind rabbi we mentioned in the Talmud changed his
mind. He decided he would make a party for anyone who would show him that
he was obligated, "for it is greater to be commanded and to observe than
not to be commanded and observe." For example, what do you find more
difficult to do, to volunteer for a civic project or to pay local taxes?
Clearly, when something is an obligation, the evil inclination begins play
his tricks. "You don't need to do that now. Do it later," says
the evil inclination. "Who are they to tell you what to do?"
We celebrate today that we have a chance to perform despite it being
commanded.
Furthermore, some Jewish philosophers have argued, the value
of having a set law rather than one voluntarily performed by all is
that with law there is conformity and community. It would be very nice if
everyone could uncover the ultimate law on their own, but it might lead to
each one doing "what is straight in his eyes." By receiving the
Torah as a community, we were granted the possibility of becoming a
holy nation as a people and not just an odd collection of some good doers.
That's what we celebrate this holiday.
While it may be true that Avraham was able to intuit all the mitzvot on
his own, this would not usually be the case. Most people when left to
their own devices would interpret the law fairly subjectively at least in
some cases. We celebrate on Shavuot having an objective gauge of right and
wrong. Mind you, much is still left open for interpretation, but the Torah
at least gives us the guideposts for our morality.
Another approach is expressed in one of the morning
Psalms. "Never has He done so for any other nation, and He has not
informed them of mitzvot, Haleluyah!" The Torah is a gift.
Maybe we could have figured out how to be holy on our own (though I doubt
it), but the Torah is a gift, to know what is right, and not to have my
whole moral realm depend on my whim or my hunch.
Ultimately, we must do the mitzvot out of a sense of obligation but also
out of a sense of volunteerism and choice. The distinction between
volunteerism and commandedness is a false or misleading one. Yes, G-d gave
us the Torah and imposed it on us, but we also accepted it. Not for
nothing do we read the book of Ruth on Shavuot. In the final analysis, G-d
can give all He wants, but if I don't accept it as Ruth did, then it will
not be my inheritance. We thank G-d on Shavuot for the opportunity to be
commanded, to be a holy nation, to avoid relativism, and for the
opportunity to overcome our evil inclinations. We also thank G-d for
the opportunity to say "I do", to accept the commandments, and
to say "we will do and we will obey." Chag Sameach, good Yom Tov. |
