Welcome to the world of medieval Jewish debate. The subject: the purpose of the 'mitzvot,' the commanded deeds of holiness that constitute Judaism. At the core of the discussion, to whom is religion directed? Should Judaism exist to meet the needs of human beings, or should it exist to meet the needs of God?
Many Jews whose piety is a point of pride and the object of great cultivation often claim that our efforts should be directed toward meeting divine needs. For such people, Judaism exists to assist God. When Jews ask what they can get out of Judaism or Jewish practice, they are expressing a self-centeredness that is corrosive to true religiosity. If we are at the center, then we displace God to the periphery. Only by directing our spiritual life to God's concern, only by satisfying God's loneliness can our Judaism possess the balance, power and ability to lift us beyond our own limited perspectives.
There is much to be said for this viewpoint. Moderns often fail to take God seriously. We prefer to believe in God without the consequences of believing in God. With God reduced to a cosmic "Big Buddy," we can tailor our Judaism to make us comfortable at our current level. If we were to recognize God as a commanding presence, then Judaism would not merely provide option but direction as well, compelling a struggle to attain higher levels of insight, caring, community and response.
The other extreme, of maintaining a religion that is always affirmative, always accepting, and always condoning, has many advocates as well. Viewing religion exclusively as a response to human needs, these Jews argue that each individual can best set the parameters for his or her own Judaism, and that the central institutions of Judaism should facilitate those choices, rather than imposing fixed standards.
This approach, as well, has much to commend it. Religions tend toward a certain insularity and self-satisfaction. By emphasizing the legitimacy of human needs and the reality of contemporary perceptions, this view of Judaism restores the imperative of caring for God's children. Yet, left by itself, this viewpoint elevates individual desire as the ultimate criterion of right and wrong, thus often confirming a person's laziness or ambivalence when clear guidance and lofty standards might have been more helpful.
Both extremes -- of placing God at the center or of seeing each person's perspective as the pinnacle -- have a valid insight, and both go too far in their exclusivity. The balance of traditional Judaism -- the balance of the living traditions of Torah, Talmud and later rabbinics -- is one which insists on the merit of both positions as complementary, leading to a higher synthesis together than would have been possible without their interplay.
Today's Torah portion contains one such instance. The 'parshah' opens with God's instructions to Aaron, "When you light the lamps [of the menorah], let the seven lamps give light at the front of the lampstand." Aaron promptly fulfills God's decree.
The 'midrash,' Bamidbar Rabbah, notes that the way the Menorah was set up would mean that its light was shed on the worshipers and their service. In answer to the question of "Who needs the light?" the 'midrash' responds that God ordained the lighting of the Menorah wicks to provide for human growth, rather than to meet a divine need.
The Holy Blessed One said to Moses, "It is not because I require lamps that I have reminded you about them, but only in order that Israel may acquire merit." God is all light and does not need Israel's light. Why, then, did God command you to kindle lamps? In order to enable you to acquire merit. This 'midrash' rejects two extreme possibilities -- that we light the Menorah simply to satisfy a divine need or that we light the Menorah simply to benefit ourselves. By accepting the importance of both perspectives -- the human and the divine -- the 'midrash' provides a fuller impulse which underlies Jewish observance.
Jewish observance is inextricably bifurcated. We act in order to respond to God's command and to meet the psychological and spiritual needs of Jewish individuals. The mitzvot 'harmonize' two otherwise conflicting agendas, through the performance of sacred deeds, Jews care for themselves while also loving God. We grow to meet the standards which Judaism provides us, and in the process, we make of ourselves better people, more rooted in our Judaism, and better followers of the living God.
Shabbat Shalom!