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LEVITICUS — 25:36 live

LEV1065 … the positive commands which reflect my obligations to my neighbor, "… and that the brother may live with thee," implying that I must do all to make it practically possible for my brother to live, reach all the way to "Love thy neighbor as thyself" [this verse; Ketubbot 17a]. Here too the range is from the level of deeds to the depth of the inner man; your feelings and his psychological needs.

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NUMBERS — 28:19 offering

NUM346 Earlier, we referred to an act of free will as a truly creative act. What is it we are creating? The very important answer is that man is creating himself. A person's character is never complete. Until a person's very last breath, his self is constantly in the process of developing and changing. At every age and at every stage of development, an individual's own personality, as so far formed with his habits and attitudes, restricts the range of choice and influences further development. The self, however, can sit in judgment on his own personality As so far formed and can disapprove and can decide to change it. Character-building may be the most important area of human creativity. Noting a difference in the wording of the Rosh Hashanah law, which says to "make [yourselves] an offering" instead of the usual "bring an offering," the rabbis interpreted God to be saying: "on Rosh Hashanah I consider it as if you are making yourselves" [this verse]. It has been noted that the "I"--the human self – – – is most intermittent and erratic. It is elusive and transitory. No other organism known to man can recite the apparently simple first-person pronoun "I" and comprehend it significance. Both the divine Anokhi and the human "I" are best known by their actions. But from the outside we only see activity without an actor. Both create worlds, and both are mysterious sources of self-creation. The "I" must always create itself. Kant showed that all proofs of God's existence are flawed, and Descartes was unsuccessful in proving the existence of the "I". As per subjectivity, both can only be known from within. But the human "I" does appear in response to the moral challenge of a given situation. Only in the moment of moral decision, when the "I" makes a choice , engages in a struggle, and assumes responsibility, it is, through and through, "I"; is it all self, spiritual and free (Israel Efros, Ancient Jewish Philosophy (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1964), pp.120 and 132).

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NUMBERS — 30:3 all

NUM350 "That which is gone out of thy lips, Thou shalt observe and do…"; "… he shall do according to all that proceeded out of his mouth." (Deuteronomy 23:24; this verse]. Although both of these passages are parts of commandments that seem to be talking about formal vows made to God, Maimonides sees in these imperatives a general obligation to keep one's promises to one's fellow man, honor one's word and carrying out one's pledge even if expressed in an informal way (Sefer ha-Mitzvot le-Rambam, positive command 94; see comments of Ramban. See also Sefer ha-Chinnukh, mitzvot 407 and 575).

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