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Maamar III: On Command and Prohibition — Introduction
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As a preamble to this maamar: since it has been established that the Creator (mighty and exalted) is eternal and nothing existed alongside Him, His bringing things into being was an act of generosity and grace on His part.
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The greatest of His benefactions to creatures was giving them existence — that is, bringing them into being after they were not — as He said to His chosen: 'All who are called by My name, whom I created for My glory' (Isaiah 43:7).
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Then He gave them a means by which to attain complete happiness and perfect bliss, as it says: 'You make me know the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand pleasures forevermore' (Ps. 16:11).
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And that means is precisely what He commanded them and prohibited to them. Now the first thing reason considers when it reflects on this is: could He not have granted them the complete blessing without commanding or prohibiting anything?
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In clarifying this, I say: making their efforts in what He commanded them the very cause of their reaching everlasting bliss is the better course.
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Reason holds that one who attains a good through labor deserves double what one receives who did no work but was given a gift — reason does not sanction equating the two.
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For this reason, our Creator inclined us toward the richer portion — so that our benefit through recompense is double the benefit of the one who receives without working.
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Section 1. Having set out this preamble, I begin by saying: our Lord (mighty and exalted) has made known to us through His prophets that He has a law by which we are to be judged.
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It contains statutes He has legislated for us, which we are obligated to guard and perform sincerely, as He says: 'This day the LORD your God commands you to observe these statutes and ordinances; you shall keep and perform them with all your heart and all your soul' (Deut. 26:16).
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Then we found that rational reflection requires that legislation be given to us and that neglecting it is impermissible. I shall now explain several things and categories that reason requires in this regard.
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Reason requires that every benefactor be met either with a return benefaction if he is in need, or with gratitude if he is self-sufficient and needs no recompense.
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Reason also requires that the wise not permit themselves to be insulted and slandered; it therefore follows that the Creator must forbid His servants from receiving Him in such a manner.
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Reason also requires that creatures be prevented from transgressing against one another in every form of wrongdoing; it follows that the wise must not permit them to do so.
Reason also permits a wise authority to employ a laborer in some task and pay him his wage, so as to expose him to his own particular benefit — since this benefits the worker without harming the employer.
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When we gather these four categories together, their sum constitutes the laws our Lord has commanded us.
He has bound us to knowledge of Him, worship of Him, and sincere devotion to Him, as the first wise man said: 'And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing soul' (1 Chr. 28:9).
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Then He forbade us from receiving Him with vile insult — even though it does not harm Him — because it is not befitting wisdom to permit such.
And He did not permit some of us to transgress against others or wrong them, as He says: 'You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another' (Lev. 19:11).
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These three categories and what attaches to them constitute the first type of legislation. To the first belong: humbling oneself before Him, worshipping Him, standing in His presence, and the like.
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To the second belong: not associating partners with Him, not swearing by His name falsely, not attributing base qualities to Him, and the like.
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To the third are added: practicing truth, righteousness, justice, and fairness; avoiding the killing of rational beings; the prohibition of adultery, theft, deception, and fraud.
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And that one love for his brother what he loves for himself, and all that falls under these headings. Every category that is commanded has been planted in our minds as something we esteem good; every category that is prohibited has been planted as something we find repugnant.
The second type consists of matters concerning which reason does not, of itself, judge them good or repugnant.
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Of themselves — yet our Lord added commands and prohibitions concerning them to multiply our recompense and happiness through them, as He says: 'The LORD desired, for the sake of His righteousness, to make the Torah great and glorious' (Isa. 42:21).
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Thus what is commanded of them became good, and what is prohibited became repugnant — by virtue of the obligatory worship involved — and the second category came to resemble the first.
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And yet, upon reflection, these too must have some partial, rationally discernible benefits and reasons — just as the first type has great benefits and extensive rational grounding.