God = Good Men = Not so Good?

Final Poem Continued

That is the way it sounds on the surface. But with some digging in the analysis by
Chofetz Chaim who stresses that we have the power ot dominate over our sinful inclinations and Rabbi Dr. Louis Jacobs who stressed our ‘trust and confidence in God rather than all faith’. And then of course the inputs from the variety of points of view in the class evolved into a discussion of our ability to take the ‘evil inclination’ and direct it toward good and being constructive individuals.

The discussion of ‘good vs evil’ brought the experts out to point out change philosophies and how to discipline our negative attributes! Which also emphasizes the need for us to use our own efforts to choose the right path. Even when Moses points out how we have gone wrong, he still emphasizes how we have the ability to turn that into good.

R. Marder pointed out the position of Mordichai Kaplan () that our belief needs a compass - where God is the force that draws us toward good. And Martin Buber’s opinion that God wants us to be fulfilled more than God wants to be believed in.

And that little fact in this part that is explained–. In verse 6 the Hey is larger in the Torah - some say this is Moses’ signature and that it links to the numerical (by Gematra) analysis of the word. Guess I have to research this a bit more! Why the Hey is larger just before he addresses the people as ‘dull and witless’. Hmmmm? This is confusing.