DEUT661 See [[DEUT745]] Deuteronomy 15:8 open CCCBM 51-5

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DEUT662 The Jewish people have been taught to consider themselves sons of God (this verse), and to extend Divine sonship to men of all creeds and races. This doctrine has carried the most far-reaching consequences. As a child of God, man may not be degraded to a mere cog of either the industrial or the political order. He forms a center of human value and is an end in himself. The worth of the individual is fundamental to the democratic spirit of Judaism. Every person, irrespective of the accident of birth or station, is regarded as divinely endowed, as the possessor of a soul. Says R. Elazar: "The whole world was created only for the sake of man." R. Abba b. Kahana adds: "Man outweighs the whole world." Ber. 6b

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DEUT663 See [[LEV755]] Leviticus 19:28 gashes DORFFBOD 93-5

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DEUT665 See [[LEV695]] Leviticus 19:18 love AMEMEI 212-3

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DEUT664 See [[GEN693]] Genesis 9:5 reckoning DORFFBOD 29-30

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DEUT666 Do not make incisions on your skin as a sign of grief over the dead. … our nation was chosen by Hashem to possess His Torah. In that we possess His precious wisdom as embodied by the Torah, it is not fitting that we be grief-stricken by any of His deeds. We are to mourn death only in the manner prescribed in His Torah [See [[LEV868]] Leviticus 21:2 impure CHINUCH 168-9], but to act like fools and intentionally hurt ourselves and damage our bodies is forbidden. Such is not the way of the wise and the understanding. Such practices are for ignoramuses and lowly people who know nothing of Hashem's ways and wondrous deeds.

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DEUT667 How, though, were those who remained part of the Jewish people supposed to interact with those within the field with whom they disagreed? One rabbinic source addresses the degree to which a community can tolerate diversity of practice. In interpreting the play on words based on Deuteronomy 14:1 that leads the Rabbis to the principle that Jews should not split into factions, (Sifrei Devarim 96; 346). Rabbi Yohanan (third century, Israel) and Abayye (fourth century, Babylonia) proclaimed that that principle precludes multiple practices in one locale, but communities in distinct areas could follow disparate rulings in observing the law. Rava, Abayye’s contemporary and sparring partner, was more permissive. For him the principle only prohibits the members of a given court from issuing conflicting rulings; They may disagree in discussion, but they ultimately have to make one, coherent decision. Two courts, however, even within the same city, could issue conflicting rulings without violating the principle. In tolerating this, Rava may have been thinking of the circumstances in large cities, where differing groups of Jews may live in close proximity to each other but practice Jewish law in distinct ways. (J. Pesachim 4:1 (30d); B. Yevamot 14a.) Members of the schools of Shammai and Hillel, however, served on the same courts. How did they agree on a ruling-- and even permit each others’ children to marry one another? According to one talmudic opinion, since the Hillelites were in the majority, the Shammaites accepted their authority in practice while remaining opposed in theory. Pluralism, on this model, stops with thought; uniformity is necessary in action, and that must be determined by the majority of the rabbis charged with making the decision. A second talmudic solution is that God prevented any cases prohibited in one view but not in the other from occurring. The third explanation is that both parties kept each other informed of problematic cases, and thus marriages between the families associated with the two schools could continue. (J. Yevamot 1:6 (3b); B. Yevamot 14a-b. Compare also T. Yevamot 1:12) In other words, they trusted the majority, they trusted God, or they trusted each other. (Reuven Kimelman, “Judaism and Pluralism.” Modern Judaism 7, no. 2 (May, 1987): 131-150, 136, put it this way).

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DEUT668 Why do we [i.e., the Jewish people - AJL] need to hold together in the first place? That is, why is Kelal Yisrael, the Jewish community as a whole, a value for the Jewish tradition and for us? The need for unity is, in part, political and social. Only a cohesive community can prevent anarchy and plan joint action to protect and enhance Jewish life. For the Rabbis, though, the motivation is also theological. A play on words based on Deuteronomy 14:1 leads the Rabbis to the principle that Jews should not split into factions. Sifrei Devarim 96, 346. Unity thus accords with God's commandments, and it also is required for God's recognition and glory: “When Israel is of one mind below, God's great name is exalted above, as it says, ‘He became King in Jeshurun when the heads of the people assembled, the tribes of Israel together’ (Deuteronomy 33:5).” Ibid., 346. If, on the other hand, communities are splintered, the various groups look as if they were guided by two different Torahs or even by two different Gods. B. Yevamot 13b; Hiddushei Haritba on B. Yevamot 13b. This can undermine respect for religious institutions and, ultimately, for religion itself. Furthermore, a divided Jewish community cannot effectively accomplish its religious mission of being “a light of nations” and perfecting the world under the dominion of God. (The image of Israel as a light to the nations is in Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; compare 60:3). Those who hold unity as the exclusive or paramount goal sometimes seek to attain it by claiming that there is only one correct view and that all others should be shunned or even attacked. Unfortunately, there is ample precedent for this approach in Jewish history. One account of the relationships between the first-century school of Shammai and its rival school of Hillel, for example, depicts the former as ambushing and killing all but six members of the latter. (M. Shabbat 1:4 and J. Shabbat 1:4 (3c); compare also B. Shabbat 17a and Josephus, The Jewish War, Book IV, passim). In the eighteenth century, eastern European Jews were split between Hasidim and mitnagdim who issued bands of excommunication against each other and prohibited members of each group from engaging in communication or commerce with members of the other. But that is not the only-- and certainly not the predominant-- Jewish model for attaining unity. In Deuteronomy 17, God commands that we abide by the decisions of the contemporary court, and that is the basis for judicial authority and communal conformity. (Deuteronomy 17:11). That demand, though, is effectively balanced by another commandment in that same book of the Torah that we “fear no man, for judgment is God’s.” (Deuteronomy 1:17). Traditional sources accordingly document a dynamic pluralism within the Jewish community. There are seventy faces to each passage in the Torah, according to the Rabbis, and Moses was not told the final decision on each matter of law” so that the Torah may be capable of interpretation with forty-nine points pro and forty-nine points contra.” (Numbers Rabbah 13:15-6 and J. Sanhedrin 4:2 (22a). People should listen to each other and be prepared to change their minds on legal matters, says the Mishnah, and the opinion of a dissenting judge is recorded because in a later generation the court may revise the law to agree with him. (M. Eduyot 1:4-5). Just as the manna tasted different to each person, so too, say the Rabbis, each person hears God's revelation according to his own ability. (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, “Massekhet Bahodesh Ha-shlishi,” on Exodus 20:2. Compare also Exodus Rabbah 5:9 and 29:1). The long tradition of finding a variety of rationales for the laws and suggesting a variety of interpretations of the biblical stories is the sum and substance of the Midrash aggadah, and the very methodology used in Jewish law encourages debate. (Hartman, Joy and Responsibility (1978), 130-161). One should, therefore, study with at least two rabbis to learn their diverse approaches to Judaism and the techniques for analyzing competing positions: “One who studies Torah from [only] one teacher will never achieve great success [literally, ‘a sign of blessing’].” B. Avodah Zarah 19a.

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DEUT669 See [[EXOD325]] Exodus 19:6 holy OXFORD 39-40

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DEUT670 Do not eat of offerings that have become disqualified for the Altar. The Torah puts holy objects off limits to us and does not let us approach them. Similarly we are kept from entering places of high sanctity. These prohibitions helped to instill in us awe, respect and fear of all things holy. They teach us to value the holy. The idea is to awaken us from our slumber and soften our hearts, so that when we come to the Beis HaMikdash to ask for forgiveness for our sins, we appear before Hashem in the appropriate state of mind. Thereby, He will hearken to our requests and save us from all our woes.

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