And Musar whether from the Middle Ages or more recent tends to present a straightforward idea of what it means to keep Torah.
This to some degree puts me into confusion since what some people think is keeping Torah is in fact a lot of rituals that have no source in the Talmud. But that is not the only issue.
There is also my observation that character and human decency do not always correspond with exactitude in mitzvot.
This is not any kind of logical objection but still it is enough for me to wonder then what is the right path? For I assume menschlikeit (human decency) ought to be a good indication of a person's place in the next world. I don't expect bad people to be in Gan Eden no matter how much they are strict in rituals.
This is to justify why I feel it is necessary to understand how to keep the Torah and I don't think that it is very simple.
This gives my justification for my at least raising a question about how to go about keeping Torah.
As ad hoc as this sounds try to take a balanced approach based on how I received the Torah from my parents. But I also look at people that according to my judgement reached some kind of human perfection and try to find one or two traits in them that I think are worthy of emulation.
What would be the main things? The Written and Oral Torah, and human decency. Human decency here means a composite of several things: speak the truth at all cost, never steal lie, cheat, and to be self sufficient. Don't accept handouts.
But the Torah is really a balanced approach to life. It was not anywhere near what you would call frumkeit. The best approximation would be conservative Judaism.
Appendix:
In my opinion people ought to go to public school, and learn Torah when they come home. There should be at home the whole set of the Oral and Written Torah. That is the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud, Tosephta, Sifri and Sifra. And if people don't understand Hebrew, then also the Soncino Talmud in English. And they should go through the entire Oral Law from start to finish.
I am not advocating here bitul Torah. As much as a person can learn Torah he should, but he also needs to learn an honest profession. This is a requirement of the Torah itself. And making use of the Torah as a profession is something the Torah specifically forbids.
This to some degree puts me into confusion since what some people think is keeping Torah is in fact a lot of rituals that have no source in the Talmud. But that is not the only issue.
There is also my observation that character and human decency do not always correspond with exactitude in mitzvot.
This is not any kind of logical objection but still it is enough for me to wonder then what is the right path? For I assume menschlikeit (human decency) ought to be a good indication of a person's place in the next world. I don't expect bad people to be in Gan Eden no matter how much they are strict in rituals.
This is to justify why I feel it is necessary to understand how to keep the Torah and I don't think that it is very simple.
This gives my justification for my at least raising a question about how to go about keeping Torah.
As ad hoc as this sounds try to take a balanced approach based on how I received the Torah from my parents. But I also look at people that according to my judgement reached some kind of human perfection and try to find one or two traits in them that I think are worthy of emulation.
What would be the main things? The Written and Oral Torah, and human decency. Human decency here means a composite of several things: speak the truth at all cost, never steal lie, cheat, and to be self sufficient. Don't accept handouts.
But the Torah is really a balanced approach to life. It was not anywhere near what you would call frumkeit. The best approximation would be conservative Judaism.
Appendix:
In my opinion people ought to go to public school, and learn Torah when they come home. There should be at home the whole set of the Oral and Written Torah. That is the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud, Tosephta, Sifri and Sifra. And if people don't understand Hebrew, then also the Soncino Talmud in English. And they should go through the entire Oral Law from start to finish.
I am not advocating here bitul Torah. As much as a person can learn Torah he should, but he also needs to learn an honest profession. This is a requirement of the Torah itself. And making use of the Torah as a profession is something the Torah specifically forbids.
