LEV852 See [[LEV201]] Leviticus 18:3 copy AMEMEI 136

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LEV863 See [[LEV271]] Leviticus 19:2 holy AMEMEI 102

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LEV880 There are numerous sources that seem to show that a deformity is considered something negative in Judaism. A deformed Kohen (priest) cannot serve in the Temple [this verse]. A deformed animal could not be brought as a sacrifice on the altar (Leviticus 22:20). The Sefer Hachinuch (Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah #275) believes that a Jewish leader cannot be physically deformed, since people would concentrate on his deformity rather than on the job he should be doing. However, all these examples analyze deformity in public or in the Temple, which is the symbol of perfection. However, on a more private level, the attitude toward deformity seems very different. The Mishnah (Avot 4:20) exhorts the Jew not to judge anything or anyone based on his outward appearance, but on its content. Based on this Mishnah, it should not make any difference how a person looks on the outside, but how a person behaves and thinks on the inside. Certainly, this is the crucial factor in Judaism. What makes man created in the "Image of God" (Genesis 1:27) is not his outward form, since God Himself has no outward form (Deut. 4:12, 15). Therefore, in Judaism, the person's attractiveness or lack thereof is irrelevant to his value as a human being. It is through his or her actions by which a person is judged, irrespective of physical appearance. Western society, by placing such importance on physical attractiveness, is antithetical, in this instance, to Jewish belief. While physical attractiveness can be an added positive in a person, it is certainly not among the most important traits for a Jew to possess (See chapter on "Beauty"). On the other hand, physical attractiveness or even deformity is not a negative feature in evaluating a Jew and may even be a positive feature, according to Rabbi Joshua. Certainly, the status of a deformed person in Judaism is no less or no better than every other human being.

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LEV894 Possibly the greatest torture the Nazis inflicted was forcing a child to watch his or her parents being killed. This is one of the most horrible and painful experiences a person could go through. In a similar manner, the Torah forbids the slaughter of an animal and its offspring on the same day [this verse]. Since animals that were to be slaughtered on a particular day were all taken together at the same time, the Torah effectively prevented either the child seeing the parent killed or vice versa by prohibiting the slaughtering of parents and offspring on the same day.

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LEV902 See [[LEV271]] Leviticus 19:2 holy AMEMEI 102

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LEV913 When others think better of God because of the actions that we ourselves do, God is honored. This is known in Jewish terms as Kiddush Hashem, and it is an important mitzvah. Based on the Torah verse commanding Jews that God should become holy through the Jewish people [this verse], Maimonides (Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah 5:1-3) defines how a Jew's actions can either sanctify God's name or desecrate God's name. The Midrash (Midrash Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 26:2) states that the entire purpose of the giving of the Torah was to sanctify God's name. The Talmud (Yoma 86a) explains that the commandment to love God (Deut. 6:5) actually means to cause others to love God (or to think greater of Him) because of things that you do.

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LEV933 Today, the average person is wealthier by far than at any other time in human history. Inventions have made life easier and more convenient than ever before. Man is able to control his environment and has more options in life than previous generations ever dreamed of. People enjoy more leisure time than ever before. And yet, many, if not most, people do not perceive themselves as happy. Seminars to teach unhappy people how to be happy proliferate and hundreds of books that have sold millions of copies have been written about achieving happiness. Why, then, are people not happy? What is happiness--can it be defined? And, once defined, how is it obtained? People usually associate happiness with "fun" and "having a good time." But these particular concepts are alien to Jewish thought. There is no word for fun in modern or ancient Hebrew. Thus, Israelis have borrowed an Arabic word, "kef," to express fun. Even the term "having a good time" is unheard of in Hebrew. Thus, Israelis use an idiom, "laasot chaim--to make a life" to express this idea because no expression exist. Obviously, these concepts cannot be the definition of Jewish happiness. There is another Hebrew word often mistranslated as the Hebrew equivalent of happy, simchah. While this may be a close approximation, this is really not the true definition of Jewish happiness. The mitzvah to be same'ach on a Jewish holiday is only referred to in the Torah by the holiday of Sukkoth [this verse and Deut. 16:14-15]. This cannot possibly be a commandment to be happy only on Sukkoth. First, how can a person be commanded to feel an abstract emotion such as happiness? Secondly, why was the holiday of Sukkoth, of all the other Jewish holidays, singled out for happiness? Therefore, this Hebrew term cannot mean happy either. What, then, is the meaning of the word same'ach? The well-known dictum from Ethics of the Fathers (Avot 4:1) says that a person who is truly rich is he who is same'ach with whatever he possesses. Many mistranslate this as he who is happy with what he has, but it is clear that it really means he who is satisfied with whatever he possesses. Therefore, the word same'ach translates (most of the time) as a term of satisfaction or appreciation. This is something God can command: to appreciate what you have, to be satisfied with what God has given to you. The truly rich person, in Jewish terms, is the person who appreciates what he has, no matter how much or how little it is.

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LEV951 One of the bases of prejudice is the belief that not all people should be equal before the law. In Judaism, that is not so. Although different groups of Jews have different roles to play in Judaism (such as a Kohen [priest], a Levite, and Israelite), every Jew is equal under the law. The Torah [this verse and Numbers 15:16] stresses only one law, which applies equally to everyone, as explained in the Talmud (Ketuvot 33a). Thus, there is no discrimination in Judaism by class or social strata. Even the elite have no special privileges under the law of Torah. This is emphasized by the special commandment for the Jewish king to write a second Torah scroll (every Jew is commanded to write one) (Deuteronomy 17:18 – 20) in order to remind him that despite special powers granted to the Jewish king, he is still subject to Torah law like every other Jew. Unlike today's society and all societies of the past, there is no privilege for the Jewish rulers such as the presidential privilege, powers of pardon by leaders, and diplomatic immunity to all foreign diplomats. All Jews, no matter how powerful or weak politically, are bound by the same set of laws.

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LEV957 This special year, with its laws, truly gave people a chance to begin economic life anew. When the Jews came into the land of Israel, the land was apportioned to each family by tribes. During each fifty-year cycle land was bought and sold as in any real estate market in a capitalistic society. However, everyone knew that the end of the fifty-year cycle the land would return to the original owners [this verse]. Of course, the price of land would be affected according to how close it was to the Yovel year [Leviticus 25:15-16]. But a much more important psychological benefit occurred under this system. Each person, no matter how poor and no matter how much in debt, knew that as the Yovel year came, he and his family would have a chance to start over. This is indicated in the Torah itself [Leviticus 25:39-41] where it clearly implies that Judaism does not desire anyone to become too indebted to another man. Therefore, in addition to all land returning to the original owners, all Jewish servants also went free at the Yovel year. In a similar manner, all the people that became very wealthy in real estate transactions by using business acumen also knew that as Yovel came, the wealth from landownership would disappear. And since the land was the main occupation of the people of that society, no one could become too rich for too long of a period. This clearly was God's goal in setting up this system. The Torah specifically says [Leviticus 25:23] that the land shall not be sold in perpetuity because people should realize that the land belongs to God, not to them. They are only sojourners with God, that is, the connection with the land (and with life in general) is only temporary. There are many more details of this economic program, but the essentials outlined here help us to understand how, in essence, the Torah's economic society tries to combine the best of both economic systems. The Torah does encourage competition and initiative to try to become wealthy. Judaism has a positive outlook upon accumulation of wealth (See the chapter about "Money in Wealth"). Thus, the Torah does essentially advocate a capitalistic society. However, the Torah also recognizes the dangers in letting the capitalistic society continue unchecked, leading to a society where a general insensitivity to the worker can develop and where a real possibility exists that many people will wind up in inescapable poverty. Therefore, certain brakes were put on the system to prevent the poor from becoming too poor too quickly (the severing of loans every seven years) and gave every person the ability to break the inevitability of remaining poor without hope (by giving a person a chance to begin again with land at Yovel). This system attempts to have a moral impact as well, by "forcing" everyone to stop for a year to explore interests that are not economic and to realize that everything essentially depends upon God's will. In addition, the rich will realize sooner than later how easily one can lose an accumulated fortune.

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LEV959 In Jewish terms, there are three words to describe different kinds of freedom.  The first word is chofesh.  This is the lowest form of freedom.  In modern Hebrew, this word means vacation.  Like the modern meaning, the Torah uses this word to mean a stoppage of physical work.  When a servant went free, the Torah called this chofesh (Exodus 21:2) Thus, all that chofesh implies is a cessation of physical toil, which has nothing to do with morality and spirituality.   The second Torah reference to freedom is the word dror.  This word is also the name for a bird.  Like the bird who is free and migrates to a warmer climate in winter and returns in summer, this type of freedom refers to a return to a freer status.  That is why the context for this type of freedom is the Jubilee year when all people return to their land at the end of the fifty-year period [this verse]. … The highest type of freedom is Judaism is cherut.  This implies spiritual freedom, not merely a cessation from work or a chance to start over, but a feeling of freedom and a higher purpose of life.  … this is why Passover is called Zeman Cherutainu, the holiday of freedom.  This is not merely the freedom from the bondage of Egypt … but the Jewish people becoming a people…a nation with its own culture and religion.  Pesach is a celebration of spiritual freedom not mere physical freedom. …  Only on Shavuot did the Jews truly become free.  By accepting a new lifestyle (Exodus 24:7) that gave them a moral set of laws to live by, they achieved cherut, true freedom …. To understand this phenomenon with the Jews, one has only to look at the history of the black people in the United States.  In the 1860s they received their legal freedom through Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.  The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution gave blacks the legal right to vote.  But that did not make the black Americans feel free.  They began to feel free only in the 1960s when the marches and leaders inspired black pride, black studies, and a feeling of belonging to something special.  This is the freedom that approximates cherut.

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