What if your morality conflicts with the Torah?
In an attempt to revive my blog a little (as much as one can years way past the heyday of the JBlogosphere) I'm digging up some of my old posts and will be reposting them on a semi-regular basis. This one is from June, 2009 In my discussions with Charedim, (and some Centrist Orthodox and even Modern Orthodox) both online & offline, we often come to an impasse when I realize that one of the basic assumptions they’ve made is that I, as a kipa wearing Jew, take all my cues for morality, ethics, and values from the Torah, and that there can be no other standard. Even if one accepts that premise, there are far reaching disagreements on what the Torah has to say when it comes to value judgments. But leaving that aside, in any case I reject the basic premise. I see no reason that the Torah should be the only arbiter of my moral being. I may be a Jew, but that’s not the only thing I am. I’m also a human being. When the Charedi I’m talking to realizes that I’m not on the same w
