Have you ever felt too much pressure from being religious? Did you ever wish you could just relax a little from all this responsibility? You may not be alone. On time, on the eve of Passover a Rabbi and his wife were about to retire for evening. The wife, after slaving away at cleaning for Passover while at the same time cooking and taking care of her ten children said to her husband “the truth is, I just hate the chagim” (holidays). The Rabbi answered “don’t worry honey, everyone hates the chagim”.

Gemara Kiddushin 31a states: For Rebbi Chanina said one who performs a mitzvah having been commanded to do so is greater than one who performs a mitzvah without having been commanded.

Tosfos explains that the one who performs a mitzvah having been commanded to do so is more worried and anxious about fulfilling his obligation. Yet the one who is not commanded has “bread in his basket” and if he desires he can just rest.

The responsibility to do mitzvoth can sometimes feel like a tremendous burden. Feeling locked in, obligated or enslaved, whatever the context may be, can cause a person to rebel or even risk their lives to escape.

To fulfill the words of his father, Shlomo HaMelech used this foundation of human nature to cause the death of Shimi ben Geira.

Kings 1:1: 36 &37: And the king sent and called for Shimi, and said to him, Build a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and do not go from there anywhere. For it shall be, that on the day that you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, you shall know for certain that you shall surely die; your blood shall be upon your own head.

Many people have spent their entire lives in Jerusalem, yet Shlomo HaMelech in his wisdom knew that when Shimi ben Geira would be commanded to stay, he would have a tremendous drive to leave, even at the sake of his life, and this is exactly what happened.

So what is all this Jewish pressure? Is this really what Hashem wants from us? Wouldn’t it be better if we could really be “spiritual” and serve Hashem out of love in a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere?

In parshas Chukas first verse in Bamidbar 19:2 it states: “This is the statute of the Torah” (referring to the mitzvah of the Red Heifer). The Or Hachayim asks, Why did the Torah call this single commandment “Torah”? The Torah should have simply written “Statute”.

He answers by saying, “On a moral ethical plane we may see in the words “Status of the Torah” a message telling us that whosoever observes this commandment although it is labeled as a statute lacking rationale is considered as if he had observed the whole range of commandments contained in the Torah. The reason is that when we observe a commandment which is completely beyond our understanding this is equivalent to a declaration of faith in HaShem and in His Torah. It is as if one declared one's preparedness to observe all the commandments given the opportunity to do so. Who knows if Hashem did not present this commandment, as a statute (without rational), in order to enable us to make such a declaration by means of observing it.”

The Rambam the Mishna Torah Hilchos Melachim 8:11 states this principle even in relation to the seven laws of Noach. Anyone who accepts upon himself the fulfillment of these seven and is precise in their observance is considered one of "the pious gentiles" and will merit a share in the world to come. This applies only when he accepts them and fulfills them because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded them in the Torah and informed us through Moses, our teacher, that Noah's descendants had been commanded to fulfill them previously. However, if he fulfills them out of “intellectual conviction”, he is not a resident alien, nor of "the pious among the gentiles, nor of their wise.

To be a true servant to Hashem one must go beyond their “comfort zone”. It is the pure unconditional service to the Creator which is desired from above. The “healthy pressure” which the Torah and its commandments create is an opportunity for us to express our true love and gratitude for Hashem.

The Path of the Just Chapter 19 states:
Those with true understanding are entirely unmotivated by self interest, their sole aspiration being to magnify the honor of God and to give Him pleasure. The more deterrents that cross their path, making it necessary for them to give more of themselves to counteract them, the more will their hearts fortify themselves and rejoice to show the strength of their faith, just as a general, famed for his strength will always thrust himself into the heart of the battle, where a victory will serve all the more to reveal his prowess. The joy that comes with every opportunity to express the intensity of one's love is well known to every lover of flesh and blood.

Based on the teachings of the Rosh Yeshiva of Mirrer Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz z’tzal

Please forgive a question that does not address your main point: If a born Jew is a good person and follows G-d's moral teachings only out of intellectual conviction, is he denied a place in the world to come? And if so, what happens to him? Is this stated in the Torah itself?
Thank you.

It is impossible to for a Jew to keep all the mitvoth out of out of a intellectual conviction because many of the mitvoth are without reason(chukim),such as not eating milk and meat or not wearing shatnuz (garments of linen and wool)etc.

Exactly. That is why I wrote only about following G-d's "moral" teachings - not all the teachings. What happens to such a Jew?

Dear Paulette,

I'll stick with a technical answer. The talmud says all jews have a share in the world to come. (The exact nature of the world to come is not clear.)Actually only a few people in history (listed in perek chalak of Sanhedrin) do not have a place in the world to come. It just may be that you may have to suffer awhile before you get to the world to come to atone for your sins. You may also have a hard time getting where ever it is if you caused other people to sin, since you can't do teshuva.
As for your specific question, it apparently never occured to the Rabbis that someone could be a moral person without believing in some sort of divinity. Humanism was way after their time. Modern Jewish thinkers can give learned responses but it does not have the impact of the Oral Law.
I don't think that most religious jews think that certain commandments are a burden. Most people are religious because they enjoy it. That somethings are difficult, it is like training for a football team. It is a lot of work and not very pleasant but playing the actual game makes it worthwhile. (That people don't enjoy mitzvot and see them only as a burden is the Chassidic characterization of Misnagdim.)
The athiest tells the Rebbe that neither of them are going to heaven. The athiest is going to heaven as he is an apikorsus. The Rebbe isn't going because there isn't any such place.

Aryeh Shore

quote:

Originally posted by Paulette:
Exactly. That is why I wrote only about following G-d's "moral" teachings - not all the teachings. What happens to such a Jew?

Why not keep all the mitvoth? Which mitvoth do you have a problem with?

Dear Rabbi Mitterhoff and Laurence Shore,

My initial question was posed on a philosophical level, but since you know my history you answered personally. I will answer personally back, although I'll be repeating myself and I usually get misunderstood or scolded for it!

First, why do you say I am unable to repent? The few times when I have accidentally wronged people, I have truly been sorry and have asked their forgiveness. (I have never purposefully wronged someone.) In addition to intense prayers at Yom Kippur, I very frequently talk to G-d, asking Him to guide me and begging His forgiveness should He actually be there and I am ignoring all of His non-moral commandments. The day I truly believe, I will obey ALL the commandments for the rest of my life, and be forgiven.

(Usually, when I respond to someone else's post, my response assumes Hashem exists, because I am trying to respond TO the person and because He might, and I enjoy exploring all the facets of that possibility.)

NONE of the mitzvos felt like a burden to me when I believed. Oh, sometimes there was a slight physical burden, such as craving something not allowed during the days of Passover, but this was always far outweighed by the closeness I felt to Him while performing the mitzvos and by feeling warm inside that I was pleasing Him.

Now, as a strong doubter, it is too difficult to keep the mitzvos. I don't truly believe I'm doing them for Someone. Sometimes I keep a few mitzvos for the wrong reasons. I'll light the candles on Shabbos to feel closer to my late grandmother, or I won't bring a ham-and-cheese sandwich to the computer right now no matter how much I want one because I come here to discover G-d, and I don't think He will reveal Himself to me at the moment I am eating ham and cheese.

You might argue, "Why not give up ham and cheese all the time (and follow all the mitzvos all the time) to give G-d more of an opportunity to reach you?" Well, I WAS observing all the mitzvos when knowledge of Him left me. I continued to observe the mitzvos for quite a while. Nothing. And I do believe - with all my heart - that if there is a G-d, He understands me, knows that I'm a good person, and forgives me for not observing the mitvos that people perform when they truly believe. Some people on this forum have tried to convince me otherwise, but a god who could not love me and forgive me as simply a good person is not a just god, and so, not G-d in my opinion.

By the way, I DO appreciate the technical answer!

(Before my post immediately above, I looked up "teshuva" in a Hebrew glossary and it said "repentance." After I posted, I found the same word in a different post, seeming to mean something entirely different. What does it mean? Thanks.)

quote:

First, why do you say I am unable to repent? The few times when I have accidentally wronged people, I have truly been sorry and have asked their forgiveness. (I have never purposefully wronged someone.)

I was referring to people who cause a large number of people to sin, that is the public, the people referred to in talmud caused people to become idol worshippers or deny the divinity of the oral law. Of course, as you can find on any discussion of teshuva, if you know who cause to sin or cause harm, you can correct it. In American law, it is a common problem if a big company is convicted of defrauding its consumers, how do you recompensate all those people, most of who you have know idea whom they are.

Aryeh Shore

"Teshuva" means return.
The other context you saw it in was most probably reffering to the popular title for a Rabbis written answer to a question in jewish law. There the literal translation - "return" - would be reffering to a return on the question.
In our context, the literal translation of "return" better describes the true nature of the "teshuva" process, than the word repentance. Repentance implies sin but the true nature of teshuva has nothing to do with sin, as we find that even the truly rightoues have to do teshuva. As well, and perhaps more relevant to this disscussion is that when one does Teshuva they are simply "returning" to their true place. Teshuva is the relization that the jewish soul is eteranly bound with Hashem, sometimes covered sometimes revealed but always connected, and the process of returning to this true nature. In other words doing Teshuva doesent mean creating somthing new just revealing whats already there.