GEN972 In pointing to nearly every admirable individual both in the Scripture and in the Talmud, the role models of Jewish life were based almost solely on how they interacted with other human beings, and not on how they interacted with God.  The very first Jew, Abraham, is singled out for being special because he would teach his children (and they would in turn teach their children, until today) about kindness and the importance of justice and righteousness.   This verse is placed in the Torah right before Abraham argues with God about the five cities of evil people (including Sodom) that God was about to destroy, when Abraham convinced God not to destroy them if there were only ten righteous men living in the cities.  And Abraham had never even met any of the people in these cities who would shortly die!   Almost every other leadership figure in the Torah is also described in terms of man-to-man kindness, and not piety to God.  AMJV 155-6