ARE YOU A RELIGIOUS ROBOT?

People who are religiously observant are often accused of being robotic — as in you routinely performs a bunch of rituals, you don’t know why you’re doing them, you don’t even know what they mean. You just do it.

The opposite is true.

If G-D hadn’t given us any mitzvahs (good deeds) we would all be robots, because then we’d just be following our program. Just as an animal is programmed to animalistic behaviour, human beings are programmed to human activities. In another words, everything that we do, we’re programmed to do. 

Consider this: If you eat breakfast, you’re a robot. Everybody eats breakfast every single day. The question is only when. Six o’clock in the morning or four o’clock in the afternoon. It’s a robotic act. 

If you get into a fight with your sibling, you are a robot. Everybody does that. Everybody gets upset when their mother tells them what to do. It is a robotic reaction; your behaviour is predictable.

The same as when you get into a disagreement with a friend, a spouse or your boss — you get depressed, you can’t think straight, you can’t eat, you can’t sleep and you can’t function... . It is a robotic reaction; your behaviour is predictable.

G-D never has to tell us to eat breakfast because we’re going to do it anyway. That’t how we’re programmed. If G-D tells us to eat matzah, it’s because we’re not programmed to matzah. We have a choice to eat matzah or not eat matzah. If we weren’t told it’s a mitzvah to eat matzah on Pesach, we’re not going to do it. Why is there no commandment that tells us to go to the bathroom or make a living? Because we’re going to do it anyway. We’re programmed.

Being told what to do means stepping out of your programming. If you need to be told to do something, then that’s not part of your programming. Like a person who does whatever he wants? He doesn’t follow any rules. So what does he do instead? He does whatever comes natural. That’s a robot. 

As an example, we have to teach children morality because that’s not part of our programming. A human being is born with the inclination to attend only to his own needs and whims. Doing the right thing takes effort and makes you step out of your programming.

The only time that you step out of your programming is when you do something that G-D wants and you don’t want. If you can do something you don’t want or need, you’ve stopped being a robot.

When people say, “I’m not gonna be frum (observant) anymore. I’m gonna be myself.”

Yes, you’re gonna be yourself like everybody else, like a robot.

“No,” you insist: “Now, I make my own decisions, and I’m making my own choices. I don’t let anyone else tells me what to do!”

No, now you have no choices. It’s like you can wear these shoes or those shoes. That’s not a choice. You have to wear shoes. Look at the average person walking down the street in Manhattan. They all have different jobs and different shoes. They’re all exactly alike.  

If G-D never gave us mitzvahs, we would have only one choice and that is to be a robot, like everybody else. Every mitzvah means, this is not part of our program.

Without yiddishkeit or G-D telling us how to step out of our programming, we have no choices. You’re going to eat and you’re going to sleep, you’re going to get into fights and you’re going to get depressed; you’re going to be happy and you’re going be sad, it’s all predictable.

The only time you’re not a robot is when you do something for someone else that you don’t need. Shouldn’t that someone else be G-D? 

Why is the Torah or the 10 Commandments not given at the beginning of Creation? Wouldn’t it make sense to tell humans upfront these laws upfront? Why weren’t the mitzvahs given in Gan Eden to Adam and Chava (Adam & Eve)?

If they were, then that would be our program.

Instead, for two thousand years after G-D created the world, HE just let them be human. It’s akin to G-D saying: “First get your human programming down. Get used to being human. Get your program down.”

Two thousand years later, He said “Okay, now that you’ve got your program in place, let me tell you what I need.” which is when he gave us the mitzvahs. 

Every mitzvah or good deed, forces you to step out of your program, which is why you’re not inspired to do it unless, you care about what G-D wants. Caring is not an automatic or robotic.

Bechira or free choice means you’re not programmed. Where do you have bechira? Only in mitzvahs (commandments).

In other word, our nefesh bahamas (animal soul) and our nefesh elokis (Godly soul) is programmed, but listening to our nefesh elokis (Godly soul) is not our program. It’s our mitzvah; it’s where we have bechira or free choice. 

That’s why there’s no mitzvah that says: Don’t get sick! or Don’t get pneumonia! You can’t have such a commandment because if you get sick, you get sick, you can’t do anything about it. That’s part of the program.

Everything G-D tells us to do, we are free to do it or not do, because it’s not part of the program. It’s our Free Choice.

As an example, if a person kills another person, is he normal or is he sick? We would think he’s sick. Killing is not sick. Human beings have the option to kill or not to kill. If it was a sickness, then it can’t be an aveira (sin). Even in the secular courts. If you plead insanity, you can’t be punished because you’re insane. If you’re insane, then you have no mitzvahs. Thus, when G-D says don’t murder. That means if you kill, you’re normal, but bad. If every murderer is basically a meshuggener (insane) then killing is no longer a sin. An aveira (sin) can only be something that is normal and natural, but G-D doesn’t like or want it. 

Thus, the answer to the question: “How do I interest myself in G-D or Judaism when sometimes I just don’t care?”

You’re born not caring. That’s not the shock. The question is can you get yourself to a higher place. Can you, a human being who is not too holy, and not too smart care about G-D and what G-D cares about?

Twice a day, can you do a mitzvah just because He wants you to? Twice a day can you say to G-D “Now I’m gonna do what you want.” A few times a day, can you take a break from yourself and do what G-D wants? If so, that’s amazing. That’s called: Avoda Hashem (Serving G-D) means grow from your natural robot condition to something better.

*This blog is based on the teachings of Rabbi Manis Friedman and near verbatim in its entirety.