tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3027817976851056094.post2594631808799141083..comments2023-06-11T05:08:09.273-04:00Comments on Olive Seedlings - שתילי זיתים: The Fundamental Beliefs of Judaism - The Thirteen Foundations of MaimonidesLazerAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10463856909521693296noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3027817976851056094.post-86809710372430226682016-05-22T11:09:45.642-04:002016-05-22T11:09:45.642-04:00I have to admit to having some difficulty followin...I have to admit to having some difficulty following the premises of your question. The third foundation expresses the principle that God is not physical. The concept of reward and punishment, i.e. justice, is certainly not a physical concept and describing God as dispensing justice would therefore not violate the third foundation.<br /><br />On the contrary, as you point out, in the physical universe the concept of justice, like all moral principles, exists only among humans. Animals have no concept of right and wrong and certainly no concept of justice. (Humans make use of the concepts of reward and punishment with regard to animals only in the sense of conditioning behavior.) As such, one could argue (and many do) that the human sense of justice and morality is actually an expression of the Divine image (<i>tzelem Elokim</i>) in which God created Man, and it is therefore an expression, in human terms, of a fundamentally Divine attribute.<br /><br />The idea that God is just (which, by definition, must include <i>both</i> reward and punishment) is a basic theme of Jewish scripture, as is the idea that God punishes those who disobey His commands.<br /><br />Of course, as with all such things, we have to understand that ultimately nothing about God can be understood in human terms, and that the human conception of justice is, at best, only a pale shadow of Divine justice.LazerAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10463856909521693296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3027817976851056094.post-73951355416375741822016-05-22T10:03:22.072-04:002016-05-22T10:03:22.072-04:00Doesn't 11 contradict 3? Punishment is a human...Doesn't 11 contradict 3? Punishment is a human action or reaction to a perceived or actual deed that is counter to the desires of an individual or society. It is a behavior mostly seen in human beings. So why are we attributing this human behavior to Hashem?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com