Values vs. Feelings

If your dog and a stranger were both drowning, and you could only save one, whom should you save? This hypothetical question is posed by Dennis Prager in his recent book, “If There Is No God: The Battle of Who Defines Good and Evil.” Prager uses this example to highlight the difference between making a decision based on values vs. feelings. While one’s feelings would more likely lead him to save his dog, as he has a personal relationship with it, one’s values would lead him to choose the opposite. Values might lead a person to save a human life despite not having a prior relationship with him, because human life has a higher moral status. This moral thought experiment is instructive as our Western sensitivities push back when we perceive that values are imposing on our feelings. I recently heard someone advocate a controversial position on a certain issue and asked them to explain the reason for it. He replied, “My compass in this matter is common sense and fairness.” Who can possibly disagree with common sense and fairness? The challenge with that argument, especially when it’s based on feelings, is that they are subjective and usually based on personal emotions, attachments, and instincts. On the other hand, values are moral principles that should guide behavior even when emotions pull in another direction. ​ As a community of faith steeped in a tradition dating back over 3,300 years to Mt. Sinai, we received our values through the divine transmission of the Torah. In Pirkei Avos, the section of the Mishna which teaches us about ethics and moral conduct, the Mishna begins with the following words: משֶׁה קִבֵּל תּוֹרָה מִסִּינַי. Translation: “Moshe received the Torah at Sinai.” One of the primary commentators on the Mishna, Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura, writes the following. “ The principles and morals which are in this tractate were not fabricated by the hearts of the Mishna’s sages; rather, they too were stated at Sinai.” In other words, all of the ethical teachings of Judaism are not just feelings of well-intentioned people. It comes from the Divine source that we received at Sinai when we accepted this eternal covenant. Our Parsha this week is called Behar, which literally means "at the mountain." For thousands of years, the big and little decisions we have made as a people have been driven by the values we received at Sinai. Perhaps, now more than ever, we need to be reminded of this timeless wisdom. ​ Have a Peaceful Shabbos, ​ Rabbi Yaakov Fisch