DEUT332 See [[EXOD325]] Exodus 19:6 holy OXFORD 39-40

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DEUT333 In how many ways should a person hold himself to an accounting before God? I say that there are a multitude of ways in which to make such an accounting. Of these, I will point out thirty. They can clarify to a person what he owes God, if he will bring them to mind and undertake to reflect on them and remember them always. The love and service we owe the Creator comma in light of His love for us . … 14. A person should make an accounting with himself when he feels love, attachment, and yearning for one who, he thinks, has similar feelings toward him, as it is written: “As in water face answers to face, so the heart of man to man” (Mishlei 27:19). [His regard for his friend is likely to be] even higher if his friend is a notable or a lord, and all the more so if he sees in him signs that [the feeling is mutual]--for example, his friend becomes close to him and promises to help him, does favors for him and shows him kindness, though he [the friend] is not in need of him. In such a case, nothing would distract him from his love. He would hold none of his power in reserve for himself, but would put it all at his friend’s command and service, giving of himself, his wealth, and [the services of] his children in order to repay him [for his kindness]. Now, if we would go to such lengths for a fellow creature, a mere mortal, how much greater is our obligation to our Creator, may He be exalted, Who loves us, as the prophet has assured us, saying: “It is not because you are more numerous than all the nations that God cherished you and chose you.... Rather, it is because God loves you” (Devarim 7:7-8). Besides this assurance to us, we have seen signs--present and past-- of His love for us and His help to us, and how He has drawn us near and promised to stand by us in every generation, as He said: “Yet, for all that, when they are in their enemies’ land, I will not so abhor them and be disgusted with them as to destroy them and break My covenant with them” [Vayikra 26:44); and as Ezra said: “Though we are servants, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude” (Ezra 9: 9). To complete this reflection, we add what is apparent to all of us: if one had been a friend of our fathers and forefathers, we are bound to show him gratitude for his friendship by honoring and loving him, as the Wise One said: “Your friend and your father's friend, do not forsake” (Mishlei 27:10). The Creator, may He be exalted, reminds us of His covenant with our fathers and His providence over us for their sake, to keep His covenant with them, as He said: “Because He is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers” (Devarim 7:8). And there are many such passages.

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DEUT334 See [[EXOD251]] Exodus 16:7 what PATH 154

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DEUT335 See [[EXOD320]] Exodus 19:5 treasured DORFFRAG 67-8

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DEUT336 Thus behind the language of vassel treaties binding people in loyalty the ultimate motive of obligation: [Deuteronomy 7:7-9]. Here again we see the three basic affirmations: divine leadership, loving response, and decision. But it is the ultimate source of obligation--God's love for Israel – that must ever be held in mind when one turns to pay heed to the response that berit calls forth.

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DEUT337 See [[DEUT333]] Deuteronomy 7:7 chose DUTIES 715-7

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DEUT338 See [[EXOD314]] Exodus 19:5 covenant DORFFDRAG 68-71

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DEUT339 … where there is truth on the earth below, the Exalted One will look with righteousness upon the earth, as it is written (Tehillim 85:12): "Truth will sprout from the earth, and righteousness will look down from Heaven." Therefore, take hold of the truth, regardless of the state of your affairs, good or bad. Do not forsake the truth, and rely upon the Faithful God, as it is written [this verse]. And what is His faithfulness? His keeping the covenant. (Continued at [[DEUT343]] Deuteronomy 7:10 destroys TZADIK 405-7).

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DEUT340 See [[LEV1110]] Leviticus 26:3 observe FOJE 125-6

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DEUT341 One other aspect of the biblical and rabbinic concept of justice derives from its theological foundations. As I have discussed in chapter three, God, according to the Torah, loves the People Israel for reasons having nothing to do with its number for power, the usual marks of a nation's greatness, and God promises the Patriarchs to continue that relationship through the generations. (Deuteronomy 7:6-11). The Israelites, in turn, are to love God and “always keep His charge, His laws, His rules, and His commandments.” (Deuteronomy 11:1). The commandments of the Torah are thus not legalistic formulations, totally divorced from human compassion, moral values, and a spiritual relationship with God -- as some Christian writings portray them. Quite the contrary, the practice of justice is an extension of love, as demonstrated by commandments calling on all Israelites to “love your fellow as yourself,” (Leviticus 19:18). to “love the stranger” (repeated thirty-six times in the Torah), (B. Bava Metzi’a 59b) and to “love God.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 and 11:1). In fact, one of the primary expressions of God's love is precisely that he provides human beings with rules of justice. Very much like parents who love their children enough to take the time and energy to insist on proper behavior because they know it will ultimately be in the children's best interest, so “the Lord commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere the Lord our God, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case.” (Deuteronomy 6:24-25). Again, “Bear in mind that the Lord your God disciplines you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God: walk in His ways and revere Him.” (Deuteronomy 8:5-6). In sum then, the Jewish tradition makes justice a concrete reality by spelling out at least most of its demands in specific laws. The Torah and later rabbinic tradition insist, though, that we do the right and the good even when the details of the law would permit us to do otherwise. The Jewish tradition thus recognizes both that the legal framework is indispensable in making justice a reality and that the demands of justice extend beyond the law, however extensively it is defined. The Torah and the later Jewish tradition also placed the demand for justice in a theological context, thereby undergirding the authority of the demand for justice and giving it a rationale: We are to be just because God requires that of us and because that is one important way in which we can imitate God's ways. These legal, moral, and theological parameters of the biblical and rabbinic concept of justice make it an ongoing, active component of a life lived in longing covenant with God.

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