Why do we limit ourselves from eating all kinds of foods, wave branches around in late September, spend a week eating matzo, sacrifice animals in the time of the Beis Hamikdash, and do all the other weird things that we do? Without a belief in God, and in His revelation at Sinai, and the rest, these practices just become ridiculous. My reply: Incorrect. Without the context those practices become ridiculous. For example, painting your face and paying 10 dollars for hot-dogs seems ridiculous, no? But in the context of being a baseball fan it makes sense. Buying an esrog and waving it around seems ridiculous, except my father and grandfather did it, and doing it makes me happy, and gives me a feeling of community and connection to the past. That is the context that makes it NOT ridiculous to pay $50 for a fruit that youre only going to wave around in shul. A weak complaint: That payoff, provided by that context is merely a bi-product. This is not WHY these rituals exist. My answer: The why they exist isnt important here. Were discussing why we do it Why do we make Indian noises at a Braves game? Thats a ritual, with a reason behind it that you can probably figure out, but no Braves fan performs that ritual because of the original, inaugural reason. Braves fans perform it b/ of the significance and the payoff. The same is true of EVERY ritual, be they secular or theological. To translate, the OJ isnt waving his lulav because God told him, but because of one or more of the following: (1) he finds significance in listening to God in this instance, and/or (2) because he expects a payoff in the form of schar and/or (3) he receives some payoff (A feeling of satisfaction? the admiration of his peers?) from doing the right thing
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 15:56:22 +0000