There is much talks about morals and ethics in our society. Op-eds and books are written, speeches are given, organizations dedicated to bettering the world are established and run. Why should we care? Why is adultery good or bad? Why is abortion good or bad? Why should we encourage/discourage immigration?? Mexicans Shmexicans!! Who gives a hoot?? Why are Neo Nazis or white supremacists evil? How do we define evil? Maybe there is no such thing as evil? Maybe good is what feels good and bad is what feels bad??
After all - according to the belief of hundreds of millions we are all just a bunch of overdeveloped monkeys. Why can't we just eat, drink, defecate, copulate, sleep, eat some more, listen to music, and enjoy our limited time on this planet?? Stop bothering us with big questions!
Reading that should make us all uneasy. Even the most מגושם-דיגע גוי, the most uncouth person, has SOME SENSE of morality. [I would guess that this would include even Pete Rose who only not set the all-time hit record but also the all-time, dishonest, unscrupulous, dishonorable, unprincipled, unethical, amoral, untrustworthy, venal, underhanded, double-dealing, fraudulent, bribable, criminal, unlawful, nefarious, morally depraved record]. All people HATE it when people they trusted lied to them or stole from them. Just about all women HATE IT when their husband or boyfriend sleeps with other women. Why? BECAUSE WE ARE ALL G-DLY SOULS and as such we have an internal sense of right and wrong. It is often skewed and perverted but the very notions of right and wrong, good and evil, are part and parcel of our basic humanity that stems from what is G-dly within us. So we are CLEARLY not just a bunch of monkeys who are trying to survive as the fittest [sorry Chuck D.].
This leads us to another axiom - Every discussion about morality is really part of our search for G-d. We want to know what is right and wrong because we want to actualize our G-dly nature and connect to what is real.
A revolution!! People have to know that many of our discussions and internal conflicts that we experience thousands of times daily are all our struggle to reach what is Holy and Divine. Even those who profess not to believe only have a sense of right and wrong because their soul knows that there is a G-d and that we are more than just a bunch of animals. For is it exceedingly clear that not one convincing argument has been advanced to be good if not for the existence of G-d.
It is interesting that all of the big talkers about morality [one famous example is Bill Clinton] completely drop every shred of morality when given the opportunity to have some pleasure. They know in their souls about Hashem but it is not enough to stop them from acting immorally.
As the pasuk says: ראשית חכמה יראת השם - All wisdom must start with a sense of awe, fear and awareness of G-d's presence and the repercussions of ignoring it.
But back to our main point. If people - even the heretics - would realize that their search for morality and goodness, is really on a deeper level a search for the G-d who is the source of all morality and goodness, they would be so happy:-).
דרישת ד'
המהומה הכפרנית כל זמן שהיא עסוקה במגמות מוסריות, הרי היא ממש דרישת ד'. המוסר והרחבתו, הגדלת ערכם של החיים, ענוגם ושאיפותיהם הוא בעצמו דרישת ד' יותר משאר דרישות הבאות ברחשי לב בלבד, שאין בהם הטבה מעשית לסדרי החיים. מ"מ אמללים הם בני אדם כ"ז שאינם יודעים שכל מה שהם עסוקים בהרחבת המוסר ובקשת הטוב זהו דרישת ד'. ונהרה רבה תופיע עליהם, כשיגלה להם רז זה.
