Even though I can see that tribal identity is evil, and leads to evil, but people believe it absolves them from sin. I guess I never made it clear on this blog that I do not think that tribal identity is a good thing. Rather to me what makes Torah interesting is that it teaches what is natural law. What is right and what is wrong. That is how the rishonim [mediaeval authorities] understand it. Not one rishon holds that the laws of the Torah are right because they were commanded. Rather that they are commanded because they are right. [And that in itself does imply a hierarchy of values.
[This is not just in the rishonim but in the Gemara itself. In the Sefer haChinuch [from a disciple of the Nahmanides] there is brought down the rational reasons for every commandment. But the Gemara itself apparently thinks these reasons are obvious because the only argument in the Gemara is if we go by the reason or the literal meaning. To R Shimon ben Yochai Bava Metzia pg 119, we go by the reason. But even to the sages (that disagree with RS),there is no doubt that we know the reasons for the commands. The only thing they disagree with is that even so we go by the literal meaning. If there are deeper reason the Gemara holds they fall off when the open reason does not apply. Otherwise there would be no cause for disagreement. RS himself would hold the literal meaning always holds since we never not the deeper meaning. And that is exactly what the sages would have claimed. But they did not. Rather. they said even though we know the reason for the law, still we go by the literal meaning.
[The main problem of knowing what is objective morality is not simple. Reason alone can indicate anything. Even group identity. So to answer this, the Torah what revealed to tell us what is objective morality.]
[However even in Torah, there is a law that an individual can judge from the Torah. It is only a decree from the later sages that only three can judge. See Rav Shach in the laws of the Sanhedrin. And even a court can make mistakes. And if one is aware of their mistakes and still judges according to the Sanhedrin he is held liable because he should have known better that to depend on a mistaken court. And their mistake can even include the things judged by the 13 principles as we see in Rav Shach in laws of mamrim--that if one court decides based on the 13 principles and a later court sees otherwise they can reverse that decision.
Rav Shach says that Ra Abahu and Rav Acha agree that one can judge from the Torah. This answers an apparent contradiction in the Rambam that the Kesef Mishna [Rav Josef Karo] brings up. And in fact you have to say this because right in the Torah itself there is a sacrifice for when the Sanhedrin is wrong. And in the Mishna we have that if one depends on the Sanhedrin in a law even though he knew the true law, he is obligated.
