![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Apple.jpg\" "\\"Apple\\"")
<\/a>Knowledge between Good and Evil.) Once they ate the fruit, they discerned good and bad. One might think that\u2019s a desirable thing but, as Maimonides explains in his Guide for the Perplexed<\/em>, the \u201cgood versus evil\u201d dichotomy supplanted man\u2019s original way of seeing things, which was \u201ctrue versus false.\u201d\nThis is a problem because true and false are objective. Something either is or it isn\u2019t. Good and bad, on the other hand, are matters of opinion. Classical music is good and rock is bad. That is, unless you\u2019re a rock aficionado. Hamburgers are excellent\u2013unless you\u2019re a vegetarian, some of whom feel that eating meat is akin to murder. The good\/bad thing colors every aspect of our lives. Once I\u2019ve decided that a thing is \u201cgood,\u201d I\u2019m more likely to overlook its flaws. If I\u2019ve deemed it \u201cbad,\u201d I will find fault no matter what.<\/p>\n
This is the case in every political debate: health care, the environment, marriage rights, gun control, the Middle East, you name it \u2013 each side of any issue sees itself as \u201cgood\u201d and the other as \u201cbad.\u201d There can only be one \u201ctrue,\u201d but everyone writes their own definition of what\u2019s \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n
This good\/bad dichotomy raises its ugly head in matters of religion as well. \u201cI can\u2019t understand why God would want me to do such a thing,\u201d one might say, \u201ctherefore I reject it.\u201d There may be no logical reason we can see to hang a tiny scroll on our doorposts, but most people would not find that offensive so they do it. But what about when the Torah\u2019s point of view conflicts with one\u2019s own preconceived ideas of good and bad? \u201cA loving God would never say that,\u201d one argues, \u201cso I\u2019m taking that verse out of my Bible.\u201d There are many people, of all religions, who quote scripture and verse in support of some positions while ignoring the same when it conflicts with other opinions.<\/p>\n
This is all a matter of ego. We just can\u2019t admit that our ideas may be incorrect and look at things objectively. What we need to accomplish is the hardest thing for a human being to do: we need to get over ourselves.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t do calculus, though there are many who can. I recognize my mathematical shortcomings and I would certainly defer to a mathematician in matters of calculus. If I know I don\u2019t understand calculus, how could I presume to understand the One Who created it?<\/p>\n
If G-d is Omniscient (which He is), by definition I\u2019m not going to be able to understand everything He says. If it would be Sadly, though, our good\/bad dichotomy blurs our vision and makes our judgment, well, \u201conly human.\u201d Even the best of us fall into this trap.<\/p>\n The Torah very rarely comes right out and tells us the reasons for mitzvot. In some rare examples, it does tell us why a king may not gather an excessive number of wives and horses. For the king to have too many wives would lead to idolatry, while having too many horses would cause the people to return to Egypt. King Solomon was the wisest of all men. He thought, \u201cI can gather wives and horses without it being a problem.\u201d As we see in the Book of Kings, Solomon married many women to cement treaties with other countries; they ended up erecting idols in his palace. Solomon maintained large stables; people moved to Egypt to engage in the horse trade. If the world\u2019s smartest man, who was told the reasons for these mitzvot outright, could fall prey to this human frailty, how much more so are we in danger of doing so!<\/p>\n If it\u2019s that easy to justify ignoring a Torah law, just think how easy it would be to overlook a rabbinic enactment \u2013 especially if you\u2019re one of the rabbis of the Talmud who made such rules! The Sages instituted that one may not read by the light of an oil lamp on Shabbos. The reason for this is that the light might flicker, causing one to tilt the lamp in order to better draw its oil. Like King Solomon, Rabbi Yishmael figured, \u201cI can read by the light of an oil lamp\u2013I just won\u2019t tilt it!\u201d Unfortunately, one Shabbos he was so engrossed in his learning that when the light flickered, he instinctively reached out and adjusted it. When he realized what he had done, Rabbi Yishmael had to concede that his colleagues knew what they were talking about.<\/p>\n If so much discord is caused by ego, which prevents us from looking at things objectively, the cure is intellectual honesty. We see such intellectual honesty in the story of Nachman Ha\u2019Amsuni. The Talmud in Kiddushin relates how Nachman Ha\u2019Amsuni expounded every occurrence in the Torah of the word \u201ces,\u201d a particle that serves a grammatical purpose but has no meaning in and of itself. When he came to a particular verse, he realized that his premise for this style of interpretation was incorrect. Upon making this realization, he retracted all of his previous interpretations. His students pressed him not to retract since he said many good things. Nevertheless, Nachman Ha\u2019Amsuni refused because he realized he had been building upon a faulty foundation. \u201cJust as I was rewarded for expounding these verses when I thought I was correct,\u201d he said, \u201cso will I be rewarded for retracting my explanations now that I know I am wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Most people would justify \u201cfudging the numbers\u201d in such circumstances rather than throw out years of work, especially if the consensus was that they had done a \u201cgood\u201d thing. Nachman Ha\u2019Amsuni, however, had risen above the good\/bad dichotomy. He was only interested in what was true. He knew that the real reward would be had for changing his mind in light of the facts, not for sticking to his guns. Rabbi Jack Abramowitz<\/strong> is\u00a0Torah Content Editor at the Orthodox Union<\/a>. He is the author of four books, including\u00a0<\/em>The Tzniyus Book<\/a>, available on\u00a0Amazon<\/a>. His fifth book,\u00a0<\/em>The Taryag Companion<\/a>, is available from OU Press<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If we were objective, we would apply standards fairly and judge people based on their actions, not based on how much they agree with our own views. Why can’t we be more objective?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":24958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a> arrogant for me to second-guess a mathematician in matters of calculus, how supremely arrogant would it be for me to second-guess G-d?<\/p>\n
\nThat\u2019s the challenge for us. Do we possess the flexibility and the intellectual honesty to rise above our preconceived blinders of good versus bad? If we can accomplish this, we will enjoy a truly enlightened way of looking at the world.<\/p>\n
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