{"id":66412,"date":"2019-12-01T18:22:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T16:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66412"},"modified":"2023-06-26T16:54:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T13:54:53","slug":"the-force-of-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-force-of-habit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Force of Habit"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[652,677],"acf":{"old_id":"66412","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"363","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"It comes under heavy criticism here, but it has its advantages","content":"

The Karaites, who formulated their religious concepts and practices solely on the evidence of the Bible and disdained the Talmud, were wont to refer to the Judaism of their rabbinic antagonists as \u201ca commandment of men, learned by rote\u201d (v. 13). Contemporary educators, too, have a dislike for rote learning and prefer, instead, a pedagogy that allows and enables learners to construct their own meanings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Malbim\u2019s* commentary on this verse addresses both the matter of habit as well as that of external actions vs. internal motivation.<\/span><\/p>\n

They [mistakenly] think that they are approaching God by arguing that the divine word surpasses human understanding. However, the truth is that this honors Me only in words but their hearts are distant from Me. They imagine that it is impossible for a human to comprehend God\u2019s commandments and doctrines, as though all that was required of Torah instruction was the commission of external deeds with no thought or mindfulness\u2014given that they maintain that [God\u2019s] wisdom transcends the capacity of His creatures and all His commandments are corporeal externalities bereft of intellect or reason.<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, their worship of Me has been only artificial, rote, and habitual; i.e., they perform the commandments only because they have been so accustomed from childhood and lack all mindfulness and thought, albeit still recognizing that they are divine imperatives. However, they do not perform them because God so commanded but because they were so instructed by their parents and ancestors\u2014and this, too, is without appreciating the rationales behind the commandments but only on account of rote learning and habit.<\/span><\/p>\n

By means of such arguments, they become freethinkers and completely deny that God has even commended man with laws and statutes, let alone that He is capable of understanding their proper intentions and rationales.<\/span><\/p>\n

That said, most medieval and early modern Jewish thinkers thought that habit-formation had its distinct advantages, an opinion shared by philosophers of educational who posit that habit becomes the fallback, or default, position whenever adolescents (or adults) are challenged to sustain their beliefs and practices on the basis of intellect alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

*For the significance of Malbim\u2019s commentary to the Book of Isaiah,<\/span> see our introduction to chapter 1.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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