GEN1269 Religion sublimates fear by diverting it from all temporal things and confining it to God alone. The fear of God, which may have represented at first a depressing state of consciousness, in course of time developed into solemn awe and reverence. The Hebrew word yireah covers both meetings. Yireat hakabod, “fear of the Glory,” appears as an aspect of kedushah, holiness. [The fear of God shades off into awe and reverence, the characteristic aspects of the sense of creaturehood inspired by the numinous, the mysterious object of religious apprehension. See, for example, [this verse], Exodus 3:6, 15:11, 19, 20:18 – 21, 34:30] It ministers to the higher life and produces a sense of confidence within the human soul. The heart is taught to sing: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?” Amid direst distress the religious spirit feels confident. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want …] Psalm 27:1, 23:1,4 COHON 44-45

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EXOD58 Man, consisting of body and spirit, combines both evil and good. His body is the seed of corruption. Considering the senses as evil, sin appears innate in man. As in rabbinic teaching, suffering coming as punishment of sin is good despite its seeming badness, for it disciplines and sobers sinners and their associates. [Schurer, Hist. of Jewish People, Vol. III, p. 376ff]. In [this verse], "the thornbush is not consumed", Yedaiah Haenini takes the word "thornbush" as a symbol of evil. [M. Waxman, Mishle Yisrael, 5364]. Like the thorn on the rosebush, evil is a permanent element in the world, whose goal is goodness.

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EXOD116 [This verse] was understood to mean: you shall distinguish yourselves by your devotion to God and engage in the study of Torah rather than other matters. If a man cannot give the entire day to study, let him study a couple of halachahs in the morning and in the evening. His study in the morning does not exempt him from studying in the evening, any more than his morning prayer absolves him from the obligation to pray in the evening. [Mekiltah, Bahodesh 2; Al Nakawa, Menorat Hamaaor III, 374-5]. The opinion is voiced that if a man study only one chapter of the Torah in the morning and one in the evening he has fulfilled the command of Joshua 1:8, "This book of the Law shown not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night." The view was further expressed that the command is fulfilled even if one recites no more than the Shema in the morning and evening.

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EXOD166 Refuting the charges of misanthropy leveled against Judaism, Josephus proudly points to the equitable treatment of aliens enjoined by the Torah. " all who desire to come and live under the same laws with us, he [Moses] gives a gracious welcome, holding that it is not family ties alone which constitute relationship, but agreement in principles of conduct. On the other hand, it was not his pleasure that casual visitors should be admitted to the intimacies of our daily life." (Reinach suggest that this alludes to the exclusion of aliens from Passover, this verse.) Josephus continues: "The duty of sharing with others was inculcated by our legislator in other matters. We must furnish fire, water, food, to all who ask for them, point out the road, not leave a corpse unburied, show consideration even to declared enemies. He does not allow us to burn up their country or to cut down the fruit trees, and forbids even the spoiling of fallen combatants; he has taken measures to prevent outrage to prisoners of war, especially women. So thorough a lesson has he given us in gentleness and humanity that he does not overlook even the brute beasts, authorizing their use only in accordance with the law, and forbidding all other employment of them." [Against Apion, II, 28-29, tr. Thackeray, Vol. I p. 377-379].

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EXOD214 Abba Saul, who is the first to use the words "Imitate the King," [Sifra, Kedoshim], interprets the words of [this verse] (veanvehu-ani vahu, i.e., I, man and He, God), as meaning: "Be like Him." As He is merciful and gracious so be thou merciful and gracious" [Mekiltah, Beshalah, 3; Jer. Peah 1:1; Sab. 133b] Similarly, the command "to walk in His ways" (Deuteronomy 10:12) is explained as following the thirteen attributes of God. Sifre, Ekeb, 49; see also Genesis R. 58:9. R. Hama b. Hanina comments on Deut. 13:5, "after the Lord your God ye shall walk": How can man walk after Him who is said to be "a devouring fire"? The verse must be taken to mean that man should pattern his life after the Divine attributes. Like Him he must clothe the naked, visit the sick, comfort the mourners, and bury the dead. Lev. R., Behukkotai, 6.

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EXOD235 While invoking God as the "Faithful Physician" and as the source of all blessings, the Jewish people have been taught to look for His aid to come through human as through natural agencies. Ben Sira counsels: "Cultivate the physician in accordance with the need of him. For him also God ordained. It is from God that the physician getteth wisdom. ... God hath created medicines out of the earth, And let not a discerning man reject them. ... My son, in sickness be not negligent; Pray unto God, for He can heal. (Turn) from iniquity, and purify thy hands; ... Give a meal–offering with a memorial, And offer a fat sacrifice to the utmost of thy means. And to the physician also give a place. ... For there is a time when successful help is in his power; For he also maketh supplication to God, To make his diagnosis successful, And the treatment that it may promote recovery." [38:1ff.] Ben Sira's attitude still reflects the old notion of sickness as a direct manifestation of God's retributive justice as expressed in [this verse]. Hence the emphasis on the need of proper atonement as a first step to healing, and the concluding statement: "He that sinneth before his Maker shall be delivered into the hands of the physician" (v. 15). Popular Jewish belief retains this notion to the present-day, as evidenced by the gifts of charity which are dispensed on behalf of the sick or by the sick themselves. However, since Job's searching critique of the popular conception of suffering, there always has been some reluctance to consider all sickness as the result of misbehavior or sin, although in many instances this may be the case. If, then, in sickness as in health, God's help is invoked, while utilizing all the aid of human skill, it is because of the conviction that to a considerable--though not exclusive--degree the right mental attitude contributes to physical well-being. The attitude of Judaism to medicine is strikingly expressed in the following story, recorded in the late Midrash Temurah, in connection with the words of Psalm 103:15:"Man's days are as grass." "R. Ishmael and R. Akiba were walking through the streets of Jerusalem, and a certain man accompanied them. They were met by a sick person, who appealed to them: "My masters, advise me wherewith to be cured.' As they prescribed for him, their companion asked: 'And who smote him?' To which they replied: 'God.' 'Then, why do you interfere in something that is not your affair? He smote and you cure! Are you not transgressing His will?' In reply, the Rabbis asked him: 'What is your occupation?' 'A farmer,' he answered, 'as you see from the sickle in my hands.' 'And who created the soil?' they asked. 'God," was his reply. 'And you interfere in something that is not your affair?' they demanded. 'He created it and you cut its fruit!' 'If I did not go out to plow, hoe, fertilize, and weed the soil, it would not yield anything.' The Rabbis said: 'Most foolish man, from your work do you not understand the saying of the Scripture, "Man's days are as grass"? Even as the plant, if not weeded, fertilized and plowed, does not grow, and if it begins to grow and is not properly watered and cared for, cannot thrive and withers, so is the body of man. The fertilizer is the medicine and the husbandman is the physician.'" [Beth Hamidrash, I, pp. 107-108; see also Midr. Samuel IV, 1.] They in nowise conflict with God's providential care of man. Rab Aha teaches that on being cupped one should pray: "May it be Thy will, O Lord my God, that this action may serve me as healing, and mayest Thou heal me, for Thou art a faithful healer and Thy healing is certain for it is not the way of human beings to cure, but this is their custom." [Ber. 60a. See "The Physician's Prayer" in the Selected Poems of Judah Halevi, ed. Brody-Salomon, p. 113.]

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EXOD242 Morality is neither the whole of religion nor something distinct from religion. It is an integral part of the way in which religion translates itself into life and character. God is worshiped when moral duties are discharged faithfully. Psalms 15 and 24 present ethical behavior as the condition of communion with God. The Mekilta cites the comment of R. Eleazar of Modiim on [this verse], "and wilt do that which is right in His eyes," as consisting of honesty in business relations. "He who transacts his business honestly and is pleasing to his fellow man is accounted as having fulfilled the entire Torah." [Mek. Vayassa, I.] Morality becomes a form of worship, but not the whole of it. By the side of "Doing justly and loving mercy," the prophet emphasizes "walking humbly with God" in his program of the religious life. To the fulfillment of moral duties must be added devotion, reverence, knowledge and conviction. Love of God with all the heart and soul and might and love of one's fellowmen must be combined. Ethics forms neither a substitute for nor an addition to, but a phase of the religious life. The moral and religious are two inseparable aspects of the spiritual life. As in Stoicism, obedience to the law of Nature or reason, so in Judaism, obedience to the will of God constitutes the highest good. God, the rabbis say, entrusted Israel with the Torah as a manifestation of His goodness. Though some of them seem inexplicable, obeying them is virtue.

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EXOD389 Th[e] exaltation of labor marks all Jewish literature. The leaders of the people are pictured not as hero-warriors, but as hero-workers, brave toilers, cheerful shepherds and ploughman. In whatever field they engaged they served their Maker by performing their tasks in His spirit. The story of the building of the Tabernacle tells that God put His work into Bezalel to enable him to perform all manner of work. The same spirit that prompted the Prophets to prophecy, Psalmists to sing, and Kings to rule, also prompted artisans to work. Rabbi Eliezer well characterizes labor as a form of Divine worship and adds: "Great is labor for even as the people of Israel were enjoined concerning the Sabbath, so were they commanded to labor, for it is said [this verse]." [Ab. R.N. B, 21; cf. 1:11; Midr. Hagadol, Yitro, 9, where the idea is ascribed to R. Judah Hanasi]. (Continued at [[DEUT699]] Deuteronomy 14:29 work COHON 179-80)

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EXOD571 The official view of Judaism on medicine is summarized in the Tur Yore Deah, §336: "The School of R. Ishmael derived from the words Verappe yerappe ('and the offender shall cause the victim to be thoroughly healed,' [this verse]) that permission is granted the physician to heal. The physician may not say 'Why borrow trouble? I may err and appear like one who killed a person unwittingly.' He shall indeed be exceedingly careful in exercising his art even as a judge must be careful in deciding criminal cases. In like manner, the physician may not say: 'God smites, and shall I heal?' This is not the way of men with regard to healing, as we find Asa and his sickness consulting not God, but physicians. Hence Scripture came to teach us that the physician is permitted to heal. He who is zealous in the work of healing is praiseworthy; and he who refuses to heal is a shedder of blood." Repeated in the Shulchan Aruch, this represents the law of traditional Judaism. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch places the responsibility upon the patient. In time of sickness it becomes a religious duty to consult a physician. The neglect of calling for medical aid constitutes an active presumption on the part of the sufferer, for he seems to presume such righteousness as to merit the direct miraculous help of God. [Nahmanides, Torat Haadam, Shaar Hasakanah, and p. 16f. and Comment. on Leviticus 26:11]. It is instructive that medical means for checking pestilence were not regarded by the masters of Judaism as interference with the will of God. While teaching man to submit to the inevitable, they urged him to resist the things that blight life and to promote human health and welfare.

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EXOD597 See [[LEV945]] Leviticus 24:19 so shall COHON 193

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