What is the Purpose of Life In Judaism

For many in the religious fold, the purpose of life is to serve God. We believe that the Torah (Five books of Moses) contains a blueprint on how a man/woman should lead his/her life. Reward and punishment, including salvation is solely up to God, however connecting to him through the performance of the various mitzvot (more accutately translated as "connections," based on the Zohar) is entirely our objective. What God does with us is His business. He really simply wants us to serve Him, and draw closer. Living a life as harmonious to those directives brings us to a direct and personal relationship with our Creator, and there cannot be anything more purposeful than that.

A teaching from the Nikolsburg Rebbe using God's revelation to Moshe at Mt. Sinai, is one of the most apt metaphors that I've ever seen to illustrate just what closeness to Him means;

There is an insightful teaching of the tzaddik Reb Mechela of Zlotzhiv. In the opening passages of Exodus, the Torah tells of Moshe's encounter with Hashem's Presence in the wilderness of Midyan, where Hashem reveals Himself to Moshe through the Burning Bush. The verse says (Shemos 3:5): "And Hashem said, 'do not come closer here; remove your shoes from your feet because the place where you stand is holy.'"

Hashem is telling every person: Do not come closer here. It is not necessary for you to reach "here" - to arrive at a particular level in order to serve Hashem. It is fine if you stay just where you are and do your best according to your present situation. Don't try to convince yourself that you first need to get a bit closer to Hashem in order to be able to serve Him.

The verse continues: Remove your shoes from your feet. The Hebrew word for shoes - na'alecha - can also mean "your lock," and the Hebrew word for feet - raglecha - can also mean "your habit." The Torah is advising us not to find excuses that we need to get to a particular place in order to serve Hashem, but instead each person should work on himself to overcome his personal "locks" and "habits" that hold him back from fulfilling Hashem's will.

The verse concludes: "Because the place where you stand is holy." The very place where you are now is holy and you can serve Hashem right there!

Often, Shalhevet students will tell me they don't feel "so holy," because they know they are eating at places they shouldn't, or mingling with the opposite sex in ways that are inappropriate for them. Sometimes it hinders their desire to even show up for communal prayer, which is mandatory for each student, at least morning services. My invariable response to them is; "there are 612 other mitzvot you can perform today. Why punish yourself and deny a connection to Hashem because you aren't holding at a place where all of them resonate or seem relevant to you right now?" The place where you are holding is already holy!

We should all ask ourselves the same question.