Children figure out pretty quickly that even if they're bad they will still get Christmas presents from Santa Claus. So, why be good? Why follow the Mitzvot if God will not smite us? Or will He? Nah, He won't. Right?

Even if you don't believe that God will personally smite you for breaking Shabbat, perhaps the Mitzvot have their own logic, such that if we don't keep them, our personal well-being will suffer, or the Jewish people as a whole will bear the costs.

In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov learned that if you break a moral law, morality itself will punish you through guilt. Yet, Woody Allen thought differently.

There may be another reason why we receive such an intimidating, haunting, harrowing warning this week in the Torah as to what will happen if we violate the commandments. Kafka's Josef K. helps us discern the answer.

IG: Stevehead0001

steventobyweinberg.com

Music: Johnny Cash - "Cocaine Blues