Legal Duty

By: Jonathan Seidel

Legal heteronomy and spiritual autonomy 

The law of Moses is heteronomous. The inescapable derision of law and duty upends the accountable honor of yore. The law is imposed just as any state law. The autonomous exponent is one’s emotional intelligence to situation but not one’s commitment.

Jewish law is spiritual and arcane. Without any punishment there is little to coerce individuals. Unlike state law, there is no enforcement. It is on the individual. The individual must accept upon himself the yoke of the law. While in any case one must do so, with Jewish law there is no surveillance observing and incriminating. There is more liberty but this merely contorts law rather amicably interpreting it. If law is all about prevention then all law would be prohibitive. Yet this is not the case. In many cases yes but not in all. Law is rather a sequence of aspired expression. Proper envisioned behavior for advancement or retreat. Positive obligations and negative ones.

Evidently, law is perceived as a punishing tool and weaponized as such. Yet this is a misnomer of its ideal form. Law is a collectively administered will of adequate expression. An ideal that the average adherent connects to but also coercive to ensure it is realized on a bad day. Law deters personal ambition. To remind the adherent to remain faithful to the norm. To not let his unhinged emotion derail a stellar reputation. Law is not only a biological imposition but an ontological limitation. The urge to breech is rescinded by a principled objection. The law lay beyond the self. It is not merely a safeguard but a cohesive metric. A collective web synced with the broader community. All acting in unison. 

The program of expression is interconnected. It is to identify with the rest of the peoplehood. To represent a member with the emblem stapled onto the flesh. A manner of not just exposing a sign of membership but actively demonstrating commitment to the cause. A tattoo but missed the mark. It isn’t about the dress insofar as the dress is legal. If the dress is merely an identifier then it fails its full potential. It is a good start but the tattoo must have meaning to the law, to the collective expression. A tattoo of the flag is not the same as a tattoo of the bill of rights. While the latter is not as cool, the flag itself must knowingly represent the latter for the law to manifest on the heart. The jolt communal apprehension is to submit to that greater unity. 

The law must not lose its vigor. It is an imposed legacy and an accepted responsibility. A generational infringement for the collective. Bypassing the chaotic liberties that seek a childish individuality. A personalized picture that accounts for personal desires. Law is about limiting such ambition for a horizontal conformity. A presence of dedicated community. The rules are rather implicit to the cultural ideal. The law is the vitality as the fire beneath the inspired aspiration. The ideal collective action. The expected of the adherent. Reciprocity to the larger group for its protection and acceptance. The rules are but details for personal enhancement. To live by the communal hope. To be a proper member. Bothersome but imperative. The purity of the rule is to maintain a balance of engagement and adherence.

Law is a lifestyle. An imposed yet expected format. The only factor unaccounted is one’s own passion and fervor. The subjective axis has room for engrossment. The mood and mental fortitude. The content of the law is assumed but its flavor alters. How each person encounters the law varies even if the execution is identical. On a personal level some days are better than others. Some days it is tedious and annoying. Yet incumbent to complete. The joy or angst to complete has little bearing on its duty. Duty is neutral. It is a responsibility by virtue of its demand. Good mood or bad mood, the job gets done. To be committed is to do so no matter the emotional situation. No one can be perfect but at least try. It is part of the collective ethos.
Clocking in and doing your part.

Spiritual and metaphysical orientations attempt to spin the law into a more impassioned elevated outlook. Linking the divine law with its supernatural presence. While this is indeed genuine, it also reduces the law. The law itself is divinely laced but it’s not a supernal feature. It is not angelic. It is specifically “demonic” for the finite imperfections to observe. The law is a guide in its collectivist spiderweb. Providing ultra layers of reality denies its regulatory significance. It is a system of humanity. A system of stability and order. Given by God but yet extended by man. Undermining with spiritual dictums erodes its communalism. The law is the core of the covenantal relationship of connectivity and cohesion not magic and paranoia. 

The law is imposed and the people compelled. It sounds primitive and premodern and yet it is the basis of social reality. The divine relationship is built on a civilized council. A framework of integrity and linkage. A desired connection and culpability. The modernist may dislike the lingo and resist the charge but such is the legacy of the law. From biblical to rabbinic to today.