“One does not deal falsely with his neighbor unless he first rebels against Hashem, and likewise one does not commit a transgression unless he first rebels against the One who commanded him concerning it.” (Tosefta Shavuous 3:5) The distance between man and Hashem exists not only in power, wisdom and omniscience, but also in value. Man achieves value in his life by relinquishing his independent claims to value and realizing his unique and distinctive connection to the source of all value, Hashem. Judaism categorically rejects the liberal axiom that man is the measure of all value. We derive from the…
