Rosh Hashanah – Day One 2025 (09/23/25)

Absolute Right and Wrong

So I’m passing the time in my car by listening to an audiobook, when suddenly I hear something intriguing. The book is a murder mystery on Audible called The Middlebridge Mysteries. The protagonist is a young woman struggling to navigate her first year of college while majoring in Criminology.

As she sits in class, the professor expounds on the theories of Nils Christie.

Christie is a real-life social scientist. In 2004, Christie wrote a book called “A Suitable Amount of Crime.”

In it, he makes a bold claim. He says that crime does not inherently exist, but is instead a “social construct.” By this, he means that societies create and define what is considered criminal through social processes, norms, values, and lawmaking. An act is not intrinsically criminal; it is the societal reaction and labeling of the act that makes it a crime.

For example, murder is a crime, unless your government sends you to a war zone with instructions to murder the enemy.

Send me off to a foreign land

To go and kill the yellow man

It’s the same act, and I’m sure the victims are unhappy regardless of whether it’s sanctioned or not.

Abortion is a crime or a permitted act, depending on which state you’re in.

Twenty years ago, selling Cannabis could get you decades in jail; now, you can own your own dispensary.

And we could list numerous things that used to be forbidden, or are only considered crimes in certain places.

Christie’s central teaching is that “Crime does not innately exist. Only acts exist.” This idea suggests that a vast range of human actions could be criminalized. Which of these “unwanted acts” are officially designated as crimes is determined by society and those in power.

I believe this theory resonates with many of us. It’s quite understandable. We’ve all seen laws and morals change radically in the past fifty years alone.

Let me ask you, does this concept extend to the spiritual and religious realms, as well?

Is right and wrong, good and evil, also arbitrary?

The Torah appears to have explicit opinions on what’s good and evil, what is and is not permitted.

But that wasn’t always clear to the Jewish people. Did you know that Moses had to make a third trip up to the top of Mount Sinai? Well, on this third trip, Moses arrived at the burning bush. After much climbing, he removed his sandals, kneeled, and prayed to God. “Oh, Almighty God, King of the universe, your people have sent me back here to ask you a question about the Ten Commandments. “What question do they have for me?” asked the Lord. They want to know whether the commandments are listed according to priority.

Be that as it may…

Gathering sticks on Shabbat or cursing God is not permitted. Two people in the Torah are executed for doing such things.

Bacon double cheeseburger, not permitted. But perhaps our arteries are grateful.

Bread on Passover or Yom Kippur is forbidden.

Lending money with interest to fellow Jews is forbidden

On the other hand, some prohibitions in the Torah vary:

Murder is forbidden, unless you were the king of Israel, trying to expand the nation’s borders.

Adultery is prohibited, but it’s really only addressing married women. Since the Torah permits polygamy, men theoretically could have multiple partners.

But again, that’s purely theoretical; we’ve checked, and no Jewish men were ever found on the leaked Ashley Madison database.

According to Conservative Judaism, you can drive on Shabbat to go to synagogue, but not to a Mets game. Russ says he heard you can go to a Yankee game, but I don’t know why.

These are all the same acts, but they are allowed in some cases and not in others.

So, even within the confines of Halacha, Jewish Law, we find instances where the same act is permitted or prohibited. But I think the Torah, though, would generally disagree with Christie’s premise that all criminal activity is societal.

On the other hand, modern spirituality, the latest understandings of God, and the way spiritual judgment operates, agree with him.

Her Holiness, Sai Maa, is a Hindu Guru who has followers worldwide. I just attended a retreat of hers two weeks ago. Her disciples describe her with the same reverence Chabad Chasidim describe their rebbe: “When you meet her, it’s as if she sees right through you.” She’s the first woman in the 2,700-year history of the Vishnuswami lineage to receive the prestigious title of Jagadguru. After meeting her, I too was convinced, I doubt there are more than a handful of people on the planet at her level of enlightenment.

She writes in her book, “Conscious Living: The Power of Embracing Your Authentic You”, “No peace is possible while you experience struggle, tension, or fear. How can peace reign on Earth if there is war inside you? Peace is a collective responsibility. Some say that the world is hell, but who is creating that hell? It is the inhabitants of this Earth who are individually experiencing an inner war!”

Now, here comes the point relevant to our conversation:

“Always remember that heaven and hell, good and bad, right and wrong—all are within the human mind.

What is YOUR choice? Do not believe everything that happens to you originates outside of you. You are continually making choices, several times a day. Too often, these choices are dictated by fear.”^[1]

“Always remember that heaven and hell, good and bad, right and wrong—all are within the human mind.”

She’s not saying things are innately good and evil, right or wrong; instead, they’re all based on our thinking.

Later in the book, she says, “Often, when we forgive, we think we are in the right, in accordance with the self. But forgiveness is not about winning or losing—there is no right, no wrong, no good, no bad. Simply, be completely transparent, forgive to forgive and love to love.”^[2]

So if there is no right or wrong, then perhaps Sai Maa would agree with Christie’s premise.

Ehkart Tolle is one of the great spiritual teachers of our time. His two books, “The Power of Now” and “A New Earth,” are modern-day masterpieces that have helped millions of people to live with mindfulness and serenity.

He asks, “TRUTH: is it RELATIVE OR ABSOLUTE? We’ve been asking that for 8 years now!

He answers:

“Beyond the realm of simple and verifiable facts, like the earth is flat!,  the certainty that “I am right and you are wrong” is a dangerous thing in personal relationships as well as in interactions between nations, tribes, religions, and so on.

The belief “I am right; you are wrong” is one of the ways in which the ego strengthens itself. Making yourself right and others wrong is a mental dysfunction that perpetuates separation and conflict between human beings.”

Tolle does conclude, though, that when you find your truth, your actions should be in alignment with it.^[3]

But, how do we find our truth?

Thirty years ago, Neale Donald Walsch released a book that made us rethink theology and spirituality. Titled “Conversations with God”, Walsch claims the book is the result of autonomous writing. He’d write a question, and then his hand would write the answer on its own.

If you think this is crazy, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant claimed it was autonomous writing when his hand wrote the lyrics for Stairway to Heaven.

Nonetheless, whether you believe the words were inspired or concocted, they are worth your consideration.

On the topic of commandments, God asserts:

“If a thing is obviously right, do it. But remember to exercise extreme judgment regarding what you call “right” and “wrong.” A thing is only right or wrong because you say it is. A thing is not right or wrong intrinsically.”

Later in the book, God continues:

“Rightness” or “wrongness” is not an intrinsic condition, it is a subjective judgment in a personal value system. By your subjective judgments do you create your Self—by your personal values do you determine and demonstrate Who You Are. The world exists exactly as it is so that you may make these judgments.”

God is saying that free will and the lack of clarity between right and wrong are what enable us to define ourselves.

Why does it have to be this way? God continues,

“If the world existed in perfect condition, your life process of self-creation would be terminated. It would end.

A lawyer’s career would end tomorrow were there no more litigation. A doctor’s career would end tomorrow were there no more illness. A philosopher’s career would end tomorrow were there no more questions.”^[4]

If right and wrong were so simple, then life and the process of growth would be too easy. The purpose of life on this planet, as an opportunity for self-development, self-definition, and growth, would cease to exist.

Why did I choose this topic for the first day of Rosh Hashanah? For we live in a splintered world. The moral and societal advances we thought we made in the sixties and seventies are seeing retractions. Some of us worry if specific actions of our leaders are contradictory to the beliefs of the Founding Fathers.

Likewise, we are conflicted over Israel. Hamas has put us in a no-win situation; therefore, every decision is fraught with critique.

If Christie, Sai Maa, Tolle, and Walsch are correct, then there is no absolute right or wrong.

And if that’s so, then we need not be so infuriated when we see things not going our way. It’s so easy to become frustrated nowadays. We need to take a breath and recognize that there are no inherently correct or incorrect decisions—even decisions about the 1st Amendment. Just because something seems right or wrong to us does not make it so.

And, perhaps this idea is what the Torah is stressing to us in the first story in the Torah.

וַיְצַו֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהִ֔ים עַל־הָֽאָדָ֖ם לֵאמֹ֑ר מִכֹּ֥ל עֵֽץ־הַגָּ֖ן אָכֹ֥ל תֹּאכֵֽל׃

And God יהוה commanded the Human, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat;

וּמֵעֵ֗ץ הַדַּ֙עַת֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּוּ כִּ֗י בְּי֛וֹם אֲכׇלְךָ֥ מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת׃

But as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.”

By entering into judgment, by naming a thing, a rule, or a person, good or bad, righteous or evil, that’s death itself.

There was a time before Adam and Eve ate from the tree. Back then, there was no judgment: just actions and concepts without labeling them.

The Torah teaches us that labeling something as good, bad, evil, right, or wrong is a path to division and death.

Today, we turn on two different news stations, and we’ll see two vastly different reactions to the same event. Our society has become increasingly characterized by separation and polarization. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t have to see the other side as evil.

It could be, as “Conversations with God” claims, “A thing is only right or wrong because you say it is. A thing is not right or wrong intrinsically.”

On the other hand, certain truths speak to us. There are values and opinions that we hold passionately. Then, we need to act on them.

That’s what Tolle and Walsch say we need to do.

If a thing is obviously right, do it.

When you find that truth, your actions should be in alignment with it.

So as we leave services today, let’s agree to be less judgmental. If we can take to heart that right and wrong, good and evil are individually subjective values, then we can take some of the madness in the world with a grain of salt.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t act. We need to live in alignment with our beliefs. We should stand up for the values that resonate with us. We should rally and advocate for them. But, we should recognize, though, that our positions are not the only way, just the way that’s right for us.

Shana Tova

^[1] Maa, Her Holiness Sai. Conscious Living: The Power of Embracing Your Authentic You (p. 20). Best Seller Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

^[2] Maa, Her Holiness Sai. Conscious Living: The Power of Embracing Your Authentic You (p. 44). Best Seller Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

^[3] Tolle, Eckhart. A New Earth: Oprah’s Book Club: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (p. 87). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

^[4] Walsch, Neale Donald. The Complete Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue (Conversations with God Series) (p. 48). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.