This is the second post in a series about the mythology of the Enlightenment in the reading of the bible. I endeavour to show that the bible views love as less than ideal - a competition to God.
This is an interesting post. However, I would go one step further.
First I want to say that I am not a philosopher but rather a simple Jew just trying to do my best to keep the Torah.
All of the barren women in the Torah knew that they had a higher calling. They knew that they were participants in a magnificent story. So your observation that Hashem sort of interrupted the love between the husband and wife is convincing. But why did He do that?
On Pesach we read Shir HaShirim, the most detailed intimate book in TaNach. The human intimacy in this book is a metaphor for the intimacy between G-d and His People.
Intimacy between a man and a woman is purified by the halacha that goes with it: when, where, how. The halacha is a means to raise the earthly love to a spiritual love.
The same with the barren couples (yes, some were both barren, hinted at concerning Yitzchak and one reason that he needed the Akeida) : Hashem wanted their earthly love to be raised to an even higher place because of the People that they were creating.
As a simple Jew myself, this is what came up to me as I was reading the Torah. From what I saw, yes, there are a few Midrashim and a Rashi proclaiming that it was all done to further the good in the world (התאווה הקב"ה לתפילת צדיקים, כדי שחנה תתרעם ותתפלל etc) but this is really for more learned Jews than myself.
But you do have a point. As much as I dislike theodicy - as I think every faithful person should - there's a difference between having faith and being observant. Being observant is indeed about Halackha, מסורת הפוסקים, and keeping our obligations to God. However I think we should beware from exegesis that guarantees our faithfulness through merely keeping up with our duties (and non-observant Jews are often somehow better at knowing this difference from my experience). I'm not disputing that Halakah is ultimately for us, but it doesn't mean we understand how, and why in every case - most especially in matters that concern divine love.
This is an interesting post. However, I would go one step further.
First I want to say that I am not a philosopher but rather a simple Jew just trying to do my best to keep the Torah.
All of the barren women in the Torah knew that they had a higher calling. They knew that they were participants in a magnificent story. So your observation that Hashem sort of interrupted the love between the husband and wife is convincing. But why did He do that?
On Pesach we read Shir HaShirim, the most detailed intimate book in TaNach. The human intimacy in this book is a metaphor for the intimacy between G-d and His People.
Intimacy between a man and a woman is purified by the halacha that goes with it: when, where, how. The halacha is a means to raise the earthly love to a spiritual love.
The same with the barren couples (yes, some were both barren, hinted at concerning Yitzchak and one reason that he needed the Akeida) : Hashem wanted their earthly love to be raised to an even higher place because of the People that they were creating.
As a simple Jew myself, this is what came up to me as I was reading the Torah. From what I saw, yes, there are a few Midrashim and a Rashi proclaiming that it was all done to further the good in the world (התאווה הקב"ה לתפילת צדיקים, כדי שחנה תתרעם ותתפלל etc) but this is really for more learned Jews than myself.
But you do have a point. As much as I dislike theodicy - as I think every faithful person should - there's a difference between having faith and being observant. Being observant is indeed about Halackha, מסורת הפוסקים, and keeping our obligations to God. However I think we should beware from exegesis that guarantees our faithfulness through merely keeping up with our duties (and non-observant Jews are often somehow better at knowing this difference from my experience). I'm not disputing that Halakah is ultimately for us, but it doesn't mean we understand how, and why in every case - most especially in matters that concern divine love.