God and Man In Judaism

by R. Gidon Rothstein

Moment of truth. After two years taking Aruch HaShulchan ten simanim apart, what do we get? In truth, ten simanim was likely too small a gap, because we had more than a few repeat topics. Still, I think our discussions showed two main areas of concern for halachah: how we relate to God and how we relate to man.

There was overlap even there, because, for example, part of our concern in building marriages was how to conduct them with the tzeni’ut, discretion, appropriate to those who live aware of God’s constant Presence. Or, in reverse, part of how people related to each other (when frustrated, it seemed) was to forbid their possessions with a neder, making the items similar to those that “belong” to God, outside the pale of human use.

Relating to God

Even with the blurry areas, the God-focused parts of Aruch HaShulchan had certain themes, different from the Man-focused ones (with shared ones, too, we’ll get there). Interestingly, to me, the God focus popped up in Orach Chayyim, also, not just Aruch HaShulchan He-Atid, where we spoke about the Temple and its service.

The passages laid out how physical beings interact with or relate to God, a question whose answer involved defining the materials of building the Temple, its dimensions and surrounding areas, the people who served in various roles there.

Outside the Temple environs, we saw rules about the proper state for our physical bodies while praying to God, both in cleanliness and in avoiding bodily events that run counter to the awe-inducing experience (think burps or yawns), and which mitzvot we restrict because of our concern we will not be able to maintain the desired refinement (I’m looking at you, tefillin).

Besides our own bodies, we had to consider the area in which we prayed, what objects of nudity or filth needed to be covered or removed for prayer to proceed. Similarly, we had to think about how to treat mitzvah objects, which can be brought into a bathroom, what we do with them when they wear out.

Finally, we were told to bring God into our mundane lives, through Torah study, directing our business involvements to support mitzvah activities, develop relationships with Torah scholars, all in the name of maintaining the God-focus of our lives.

Last piece of this side of it, we saw examples of an instinct to do more than required, a search for confidence we were doing all we could for our best relationship with God. It’s why someone would volunteer to be a nazir , make any kind of neder, give money based on someone’s erech, and so on.

Relating to People

Turning to human interactions, money impacted families, partnerships, loans, and more. The goal always was to protect as many people’s rights as possible, especially those more defenseless than others. Repaying debts was a major focus, heirs to an estate doing it for the deceased, loan documents written with particular care to be sure the lender is repaid without affecting those who bought property from the borrower before the loan occurred.

Along with shetarot, documents, we had chazakah, the fact of residence for a certain time proving ownership (another example of where lack of clarity creeps into life).

While the good side of nedarim was about improving ourselves, it was also a weapon in human relationships, used to urge/coerce someone to be better, or express annoyance with oneself or the other.

The other people/relationship issue was marriage, almost wholly in Even HaEzer. It did remind us of how central marriage is to Jewish thought and experience, our concern with the couple relating to each other in a sanctified way, bearing and raising successful children, the problems when there are problems.

What’s True of Both

Power of Speech

In both realms, the impact of human speech made itself known. For the God-focused part, there was nazir, with other vows affecting both realms, as well as prayer and blessings, how we use our words to properly praise/supplicate God. When people contributed to the Temple, we saw them do it with a particular type of verbal commitment, arachin.

Many God-directed mitzvot are verbal, such as the recitation of Shema, study of Torah, telling of the Exodus story on Seder night, and the Grace After Meals.

In all these, what to say and when was the focus.

The Value of Certainty

Also in both realms, we learned the challenges of uncertainty. For the God area of life, we had to figure out the obligations of a nazir whose statements of commitment made unclear what s/he had agreed to do and was required to do. Ditto for financial donations where the defined target is unclear (such as an erech for someone of uncertain gender).

While the Sanhedrin strove to produce clarity, the possibility of a rebellious elder, a zaken mamrei, showed how it could go awry.

To Know What to Do, Know Who You Are

Status matters everywhere as well. The word often connotes social status, such as with wealth, but we saw it in the different ways and levels of service in the Temple, the rights and privileges granted by a life invested in Torah study, the importance of addressing the needs/concerns of the poor.

[I notice this, often, because people today often resist admitting some people deserve more respect, or more help, than others. And, of course, some want more respect or help than they deserve. Getting status right is important and challenging. But that’s not our current issue.]

A Wildly Unfounded Theory of Halachah

One time this year, I complained about AIs being too quick to draw broad theories. I certainly have not studied enough halachah, in this context or in general, to do it, either, but I’m moving to another topic next year, so let me make the same mistake as the AI:

AH seems to me to show us how Judaism guides the experience of living in a physical world, with a social human society, aimed at relating to God. Key pieces are how we approach it (what we say and think, hence the power of nedarim and related ideas), how we structure our society to foster that connection, and how we care for our physical surroundings, build our financial and social systems, to bring its full expression ever closer to completion.

The challenge is in the details, of course, as we have seen, and will continue to see wherever we look. My teacher, R. Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l, was known to question the source, nature, and extent of various halachot. For me, based on our study together, the questions could be reframed as who is doing what, when, where, and why. In answering those, we find our ways to a world closer to its purpose, to perfect the world in (under) the Kingdom of God.