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LEVITICUS | 19:10 I — LEV320 Our ethical teachings have been able to pr...

LEV320 Our ethical teachings have been able to produce the ideal man because they interwove religion and morality and insisted that man owes duties to his Creator, as well as to his fellow-man. A symbol of this union between Belief and Action is the fact that the Ten Commandments, almost equally divided between these twin duties of man, are depicted in our synagogues as engraved on one tablet and in equal perpendicular columns. Judaism does not countenance any distinction between these two fields of man's responsibility, laying greater stress on man's duties towards his fellows, lest they be given second place. To emphasize this, Rabbi Hanina b. Dosa, one of the saintliest of men, declared: "He in whom the spirit of his fellow creatures takes delight, in him the Spirit of the All-Present takes delight." (Avot iii. 13). The order of this statement is significant. The duties man owes to his fellows take precedence; but only when these are harmoniously combined with his duties towards God, will man reach perfection and qualify for "a portion in the World to Come". (See [this and surrounding verses] for an ethical presentation of faith, followed by the statement "I am the Lord".)

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Source KeyLEHRMAN
Verse19:10
Keyword(s)I
Source Page(s)17-8
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