LEV502 As for the meaning of the word moral or ethical, it has often been quite distorted. For instance, when asked to define an ethical person, one's response will often be "a person who does not hurt anyone else." This definition, however, is far from the Jewish one. A person whose good conduct consists only of not hurting anyone is not a criminal, but is not necessarily an ethical person. To be an ethical person as Judaism understands it is to be a person who actively pursues the good in life. To cite a few examples: It is not adequate to simply refrain from hurting other people. One must get involved when one sees a wrong being committed. The Torah says, "Do not stand by on the blood of your neighbor" [this verse]. Similarly, it is not enough to merely refrain from doing unjust things. To be a good and ethical person, one must actively seek out and try to correct a wrong done by another: "Justice, justice, shall you pursue" [Deuteronomy 16:20], and "you shall burn the evil from out of your midst" [Deuteronomy 17:7]. In short, being and behaving in an ethical way means to act and respond positively to anything that is wrong in the world. As Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin once succinctly put it: "The entire Bible may be understood as a positive response to the question which Cain posed after murdering his brother Abel: 'Am I my brother's keeper?'"