GEN854 The other peoples of the world, whom the biblical authors in the Talmudic rabbis knew, were, by and large, not monotheists, but idolaters, whether Canaanite, Greek, or Roman. The Hebrew Bible is relentlessly opposed to idolatry, prominently in shining the prohibition against it in the Decalogue Exodus 20:3– 6 and Deuteronomy 5:7–10announced on Mount Sinai and repeating it as well and many other places in the Bible. Moreover, according to the Torah, the reason God wants the Israelites to occupy the Land of Israel and displace the seven nations already there is precisely because of the natives’ idolatry and the immorality to which it led them [this verse]. The Bible speaks, for example, of the sacrifice of children to Molech and of sanctified acts of adultery and incest within the Canaanite cult.  DORFFDRAG 66

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GEN1017 In Western legal systems, justice is an instrumental good, a commodity important for social peace and welfare. That motivation to achieve justice appears in Jewish texts as well, but Jewish sources add another important motive. God demands justice and makes the existence of the world depend on it because God Himself is just. In fact, He is the ultimate judge who “shows no favor and takes no bride, but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing.” Deuteronomy 10:17-18 … It is precisely because God is just that Abraham can call Him to account for His plan to destroy Sodom, regardless of the innocent people in it, with words that ring through the ages: [this verse]. DORFFDRAG 122

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GEN1033 See [[DEUT442]] Deuteronomy 10:17 favor DORFFDRAG

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GEN1098 (Continued from [[EXOD1039]] Exodus 34:7 forgiving DORFFDRAG 188-9) The search for forgiveness and restoration of bonds with God and people, while the focus of the High Holy Day season, is not restricted to it. Judaism seeks forgiveness as a critical part of ongoing human interactions, and it provides a specific way to accomplish it. (See Dorff (1998b) “The Elements of Forgiveness: A Jewish Approach.” In Discussions of Forgiveness: Psychological Research and Theological Perspectives (29-55) Ed., Everett Worthington Jr., Templeton Foundation). Here I note those parts of the tradition dealing with individuals’ forgiveness of each other that formed the background for Judaism's understanding of communal forgiveness. If one has physically injured another, Jewish law maintains that payment of compensatory sums is not sufficient; the assailant must also ask the victim’s forgiveness. M. Bava Kamma 8:7; B. Yoma 85b; and M.T. Laws of Repentance 2:9-10. It is not only the injury that must be repaired, but the relationship. This imposes a reciprocal obligation on the wronged party: He or she, when asked for forgiveness, must forgive. Injured parties who refuse to do so even when asked three times in the presence of others are, in turn, deemed to have sinned. B. Bava Kamma 92a; Tanhuma, Hukkat 19; M.T. Laws of Forgiveness 3:10. They are called cruel and are not regarded as descendants of Abraham; for ever since Abraham forgave Abimelech, forgiveness has been a distinguishing mark of Abraham’s descendants, a special gift God bestowed upon them. Genesis 20:17, B. Bezah 32b, B. Yevamot 79a, and Numbers Rabbah 8:4. Such people also cannot expect divine forgiveness for their own sins: “All who act mercifully [forgivingly] toward their fellow creatures will be treated mercifully by Heaven, and all who do not act mercifully toward their fellow creatures will not be treated mercifully by Heaven.” B. Shabbat 151b. Moreover, they have failed to imitate God, for just as God is forgiving, so we are supposed to be. B. Shabbat 133b. This does not mean that people who have been wronged are supposed to squelch their feelings of anger. The Torah prohibits retaliatory action: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself.” Nevertheless, in the verse immediately before that one, it sanctions, and even commands, that people express their feelings of outrage after being wronged: “You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kinsman but incur no guilt because of him.” Leviticus 19:17-8 According to rabbinic interpretation, this even justified students criticizing their teachers, and the rebuke could be repeated even one hundred times over-- although another rabbinic dictum urges us to admonish only those who will listen. There was a dispute among the Rabbis about whether the censure could take the form of physically striking the offender, but all agreed that it could not include public embarrassment. B. Bava Metzia 31a; B. Arakhin 16b, B. Yevamot 65b and Rashi there. Biblical and rabbinic law did, however, stipulate in considerable detail the ingredients of a just punishment and/or compensation for the range of human transgressions of one person toward another. It also stipulated the rules under which a community as a whole could punish its members. The communal court would impose these punishments. One of the clearest expressions of communal distaste for an act was the penalty of excommunication, for then the very essence of the punishment was that the community was saying that a particular person was no longer fit to live with us -- at least until he or she abided by the dictates of the court. Once the culprits pay the penalty, however, Jewish law requires that the community take them back into the community wholly. “When the parties to a suit are standing before you,” Judah, the son of Tabbai said, “you should regard them both as guilty; but when they have departed from you, you should regard them as innocent, for they have accepted the verdict.” M. Avot 1:8. Unlike American law, under which a felon continues to suffer disabilities and embarrassment for the rest of his or her life, Jewish law demands that the community's forgiveness be complete -- even to the point of not mentioning the crime any longer. M. Bava Metzi’a 4:10 and B. Kiddushin 40b; compare M.T. Laws of Repentance 1:3. In sum, while wrongs are to be redressed and the emotions accompanying them assuaged, the ultimate goal is to mend human ties through forgiveness and reconciliation. As Hillel said: “Be among the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah.” M. Avot 1:12.

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GEN1101 Our tradition … knows quite well that sometimes human beings wrong others, and it goes to great lengths to specify what justice demands in such circumstances. But it also prescribes that we not only accept evidence of remorse in other individuals and groups but actively seek to achieve a world of peace.   “If a person has been injured, then even if the wrongdoer has not asked his forgiveness, the injured part must nevertheless ask God to show the wrongdoer compassion, even as Abraham prayed to God for Avimelech [this verse] and Job prayed for his friends. Rabban Gamliel said: Let this be a sign to you that whenever you are compassionate, the Compassionate One will have compassion upon you.”   T. Bava Kamma 9:29-30  DORFFDRAG 211

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GEN1103 Shall we forgive [the Catholic Church for its historical mistreatment of Jews]? That is a matter the Jewish community must still discuss. It depends, in large measure, on continued evidence of a Catholic desire to repent. A positive Jewish response to this will probably not take place in one single moment, and it will not be universally offered by Jews. Forgiveness will rather be achieved little by little, through joint word and action, just as personal forgiveness usually is. Over a period of time we will test the degree of the Church’s appropriate regret and get used to working with each other in a series of cooperative ventures. Ultimately, we may apply the tradition’s eagerness for forgiveness among individuals to the Catholic community as a whole. Whether we will remains to be seen. This chapter has demonstrated, though, that, at least in a secondary form of forgiveness, it is logically possible for us to do so. If we do decide that reconciliation is warranted, our efforts to seek better relations with Catholics would be motivated not only by such practical factors but also by ideological commitments. Our tradition has not spared its contempt for nations that have attacked Israel, but it has also praised those who have sought to repair relationships. It knows quite well that sometimes human beings wrong others, and it goes to great lengths to specify what justice demands in such circumstances. But it also prescribes that we not only accept evidence of remorse in other individuals and groups but actively seek to achieve a world of peace. “If a person has been injured, then even if the wrongdoer has not asked his forgiveness, the injured party must nevertheless ask God to show the wrongdoer compassion, even as Abraham prayed to God for Avimelech (Genesis 20:17) and Job prayed for his friends. Rabbi Gamliel said: Let this be a sign to you, that whenever you are compassionate, the Compassionate One will have compassion upon you. (Talmud, Bava Kamma 9:29-30).

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EXOD40 Finally, what is the nature of the individual, the community, and the purpose of life as described in Judaism’s Exodus-Sinai story? We do not hear much about individuals; they seem to be glossed over in favor of the People Israel as a whole. We read though, that Moses risks his life and position to save a Hebrew slave, (Exodus 2:12) thus indicating the inherent worth of each person regardless of status. Similarly, later Jewish tradition has a dampen our joy at the Israelites’ release, quoting God as saying to the angels, “My children are drowning in the sea, and you are singing songs?” (B. Megillah 10b). Since then, we diminish our cup of joy at the Seder table by extracting one drop of wine for each of the plagues that the Egyptians had to suffer. Non-Jews as well as Jews have inherent, divine worth. ... The emphasis in the biblical story, though, is on God's covenantal relationship with the People Israel. We leave Egypt, we cross the sea, we stand at Sinai, and we marched toward the Promised Land all as a group. Moreover, the Torah revealed at Sinai speaks to us as a community, and its punishments and rewards, therefore, are those that applied to a community-- rain or drought, victory or defeat in battle, and so on. (For example, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 11:13-25, 28). God's covenant is also with the People Israel as a whole, and the goal is to make them “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:6) Thus later Jewish sources would have us see our own individual actions as adding to one side or the other of the scale by which God will judge the People Israel-- and, indeed, the entire world-- as a group. (B. Kiddushin 40b and M.T. Laws of Repentance 3:2,4). In the Jewish story, then, individual identity is tightly intertwined with and defined by membership in the People Israel.

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EXOD275 "Remember....Do not forget!" (Deuteronomy 25:17-19) The rabbinic tradition understands this literally and, one must say, enthusiastically: “’Remember’ means by word, ‘Do not forget’ means in the heart, for it is forbidden to forget to despise and hate him.” B. Megillah 18a and Sifrei Devarim, “Ki Teze,” par. 296; compare M.T. Law of Kings 5:5. In the account of this in the Book of Exodus, it is not only Israel who is not supposed to forget: God Himself "will be at war with Amalek throughout the ages." (Exodus 17:16). In rabbinic and medieval literature, Amalek became the symbol of all oppressors of Israel, and that might account for the particular vilification of Amalek in the Jewish tradition. It is not only Amalek, however, for whom God rules out repentance and reconciliation. Already in God’s promises to Abram, Egypt is to be punished, and the sins of Canaan are to be driven out of their homeland for their sins. “You must doom them to destruction,” the Israelites are later told; “Grant them no terms and give them no quarter.” Genesis 15:13-21 and Deuteronomy 7:1-11. Destroying Amalek and the seven Canaanite nations becomes, in fact, a clearly commanded war, one that, in later Jewish law, requires no consultation of the urim ve’tumim (the High Priest’s oracular breastplate) and no confirmation by the Sanhedrin. M. Sotah 8:7 (44b) and M.T. Law of Kings 5:1-5. The tradition is so determined to avenge these wrongs, that, particularly in the stories of Midian and Amalek, it raises difficult moral questions in regarding the difference between soldiers and civilians. Numbers 31 and 1 Samuel 15.

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EXOD277 See [[EXOD623]] Exodus 22:1 death DORFFDRAG 167-8

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EXOD278 See [[EXOD623]] Exodus 22:1 death DORFFDRAG 167-8

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