What does Torah teach about the conscience? Should I let my conscience be my guide?

Answer

Humans are like God in the sense that we have free will. Free will does not mean picking chocolate over vanilla. That's simply a preference, just as a cow chooses to eat hay instead of grass.

Rather, "free will" refers to the type of decision which is uniquely human: a moral choice, to do right or wrong. This stems from the divine soul that is unique to all human beings.

There are times when you know objectively that something is good for you, but your physical desires get in the way and distort your outlook. The animal soul within us wants to choose the easy path, which may not be the morally correct choice. Sometimes we can actually hear ourselves fighting it out. Here's a conversation you may have had with yourself:

Divine Soul: "Let's get out of bed early today and really accomplish something meaningful!"

Animal Soul: "Leave me alone, I'd rather sleep."

Divine Soul: "Come on, let's be great!"

Animal Soul: "Relax, what's the big deal if we wait till tomorrow?"

What's going on? Are you schizophrenic? No. Just battling opposing sides within yourself. And that's what makes the human being so unique.

But the trick is to know which voice to listen to. That's where the Torah comes in -- it provides an objective, outside measure of what is right and wrong.

The Torah (Genesis ch. 20) tells of Abraham going to the land of the Philistines. There Abraham says to his wife Sarah, “Tell them that you’re my sister.” As a result, Avimelech, the King of the Philistines, takes Sarah. That night God comes to Avimelech and says, “She's Abraham’s wife -- send her back or you are a dead man!”

Avimelech calls in Abraham and says, “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?” Abraham answers, “Because I saw there was no fear of God in this place, and I knew you would kill me for my wife.” Notice that Abraham didn’t say “there’s no law in this town.” He says, “There is law, but there is no fear of God.”

Abraham articulates a basic principle, in which Judaism firmly believes, and which history confirms: You cannot have true morality unless it is accompanied by the concept of an infinite God.

In a non-God society, how is it that human conscience can change from society to society -- and even change within one society from time to time? Does that mean what was once regarded as an “evil” act (abortion, for instance) becomes intrinsically “good” just because society says it is not bothersome anymore?

You know, the Nazis did not remove the laws against murder. The laws against murder were always on the books. What they changed was the definition of what is a human being. At one point a Jew was covered by the title “human being” and, hence, killing him is murder; at another point, he was defined as something less than a human being. Hence the laws of murder stayed in effect, but it was not murder to kill a Jew, or even millions of them.

How is it that every day they kill a few thousand, and then go home at night, pet their dog, kiss their kids, sleep soundly... and then go out the next day and kill another few thousand.

The answer is they think they’re doing the right thing. A person’s conscience doesn’t say, “don’t kill.” The conscience can only say, “Do good, don’t do bad.” Ideology will then determine what’s good. And if your ideology tells you to eliminate the Jews, then you’ll be able to kill thousands during the day and sleep very well at night. If anything will rob you of your sleep, it will be the fact that you may not have killed enough thousands. Because, after all, you want to be good.

The Gestapo officers believed they were doing the right thing. And the German public supported the idea they were doing the right thing. (And probably most of European civilization was not too upset about what was happening to the Jews.) So on what basis did the international tribunal hang the Nazis at Nuremberg?

The answer is that deep down, we believe in a greater system. Something above and beyond the determination of mortal man. That's the Torah. And within that God-given system, doing the right thing is absolute. It doesn’t change based on the ability of someone on Madison Avenue or in Washington to manipulate your interests.