The Letter and the Spirit of the Law
Date: Tue, 09 May 2000 07:38:23 PDT
Subject:
To: [email protected]
Hello,
Your site makes some compelling arguments. I was especially interested in
your response on "How does G-d Judge Us?" where you said:
"G-d judges us by how well we keep his commandments. If we decide which
commandments to keep and which not to keep, then G-d has in essence ceased
to be a "Commander" for us."
My father is a cantor, and I was raised with my parents' orthodox beliefs.
(In fact, it was my father who referred me to your site.) Now that I am
older, I have several tattoos. I know my religious family has some problems
with them. The fact that my personal artwork contains Hebrew words makes it
even more perplexing for them....
...I have always believed that adhering to the letter of the law and not the
spirit is not much better than ignoring the law altogether. I am perfectly
comfortable in my relationship with G-d, and my own spirituality. I try to
be a good person and treat others as I would want to be treated. I will
freely admit that I pick and choose which rules I want to follow. I believe
that when my day of judgement comes, I will be able to look back on my life
with a clean conscience.
I do not regret my tattoos. I did not get them to be "fashionable," but to
be individual. Individuality is what makes us human. The ability to
reason and to decide how to live our lives is what truly makes us fashioned
in G-d's image.
-E.
P.S. You also mentioned that tattoos can be hazardous to your health. There
is always a risk when the skin is punctured, but any worthwhile tattoo
studio today looks almost like a hospital inside. Everything is sterile,
needles and ink cups are single use only, equipment is autoclaved, rubber
gloves are worn by the artist, and surfaces are covered with disposable
plastic.
Dear E.,
Thanks for your interesting letter.
Observing the dry letter of the law without adhering to the spirit
of the law is certainly not an ideal situation. My opinion is that
ignoring the law altogether is much worse. There is no reason
why both the letter and the spirit of the law cannot be fulfilled!
A person can express his individuality and originality within the
framework of Torah. A good example of this is the work of Baruch
Nachshon....
...G-d gives us free will and the ability to make our own decisions.
Within this framework of free will, He implores us to "choose life,"
(Devarim 30:19) to walk in His ways and keep His commandments.
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