EXOD293 It is also a mitzvah for one to go beyond the letter of the law, as the pasuk says [this verse], "[Inform them of …] the deeds that they shall do." Our Sages, z"l, said (Bava Metzia 30b), "This is a reference to [one's requirement to] go beyond the letter of the law." There are many ways in which this mitzvah may turn out to be of the more weighty mitzvos--all within the context of [the application of] the law--as our Sages, z"l, said (ibid.), "Yerushalayim was destroyed only as a result of their basing their words on the letter of the law, instead of going beyond it."

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EXOD294 Eleazar Ha-Moda'I says: … "'that they shall do'" -- this means lifnim mishurat ha-din." (Mekhilta) The Midrashic text here lists acting beyond a letter of the law as something on a par with other acts of kindness and sociability, clearly as a value that is to be aspired to. As such it is not defined or illustrated in any more detail. In the Babylonian Talmud the phrase is called upon prominently in the context of the laws of property to describe the demonstrations of uncalled-for generosity by rabbinic sages toward others [B. Bava Metzia 30b, in the story of Rabbi Yishma'el. ben R. Yossi helping the wood carrier; B. Bava Kamma 99b-100a, in the story of Rabbi Hiyya who misjudged a monetary case; and B. Ketubbot 97a, where Rav Papa returns from a field.] or to recommend acts that would entail forgoing monetary advantage [B. Bava Metzia 24b, with regard to returning property that one could leally keep.] It is also cited twice to describe God's merciful quality as a judge of His people. [B. Berakhot 7a and B. Avodah Zarah 4b]. The statement that is often used to demonstrate the weight of the phrase is the one attributed to Rabbi Yohanan that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. "Because they [the Jews] established their lives in accordance with the local law but did not act lifnim meshurat ha-din" (B. Bava Metzia 30b). However, this statement is clearly hyperbolic and is in line with a number of moral failures, such as sin'at hinam ("hatred without cause," B. Yoma 9b) to explain why God punished the people of Israel in that cataclysmic event. From this handful of sources it remains difficult to conclude that the rabbinic sages in charge of compiling the talmudic tradition operated with a principled idea as to the legal or ethical "status" of the concept of lifnim meshurat ha-din. [See Louis Newman, Past Imperatives: Studies in the History and Theory of Jewish Ethics (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998), p. 33]. None of the sources explicate that acting lifnim meshurat ha-din makes one a better person, a more moral person, or a superior judge. But the fact that the talmudic corpus sites this concept a few times and the suggestive nature of the phrase itself do suggest that time and again the talmudic tradition reminds its students and sage/scholars that being correct and acting correctly in accordance with the halakhic tradition is not necessarily sufficient, that a concern for the disadvantage to other people is something to be considered. Perhaps the sum total of these texts can be described as seeds of a corrective for absolutist legalism. Halakhah is what it mediates human relations in rabbinic tradition, but concern for how it is implemented is part of that same tradition. (By Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert, “Ethical Theories in Rabbinic Literature”)

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EXOD296 [In this verse] the "way" is taken by Chazal to indicate gemiluth chesed. The Ten Commandments announce (Exodus 20:6) that God shows chesed to thousands of generations, and it is necessary for us to follow the example of His virtues. The Sidrah of Mishpatim (Ibid. 22:24) mentions the duty of "lending money to My people" and regulations governing the restoration of a pledge (v. 11) which also stem from the virtue of benevolence, as explained in Deuteronomy (24:13). Many topics are discussed in the Sidrah of Behar (Lev. Chap. 25), all of them aspects of chesed, such as: redeeming relatives from slavery and "your brother shall live with you." I thereupon concluded that there is no end, indeed, to the chesed mentioned in the Torah. So many positive and negative commandments emanate from His virtue of chesed, may He be blessed.

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EXOD298 One further violates the specific Scriptural commandment to perform acts of chesed [this verse]: "And you shall show them the way wherein they must walk," where "the way" is taken by Chazal (Bava Kamma 99b; Bava Metzia 30b) to indicate chesed. The inference is derived from the definite article, the, which has no specific reference and must therefore signify the well-trodden path along which our forefather, Abraham, walked, and whose entire life was bound up with the virtue of chesed, as everyone knows. This admonition includes all the types of kindness arising in personal relationships, also the gimiluth chesed extended with one's person: visiting the sick, burying the dead, etc., as explained in the Gemarah (Ibid.). Nor is the gemiluth chesed performed with one's possessions, by any means, excluded from this rule.

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EXOD299 See [[EXOD133]] Exodus 10:12 arm AHAVCH 96

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EXOD295 (Continued from [[DEUT584]] Deuteronomy 12:28 good BLOCH 113-4). The rabbis of the third century coined the phrase "beyond the prescription of the law" (lifnim mishurat hadin) to define the moral principle of equity (Baba Kama 89b). There are two biblical sources from which this principle derives; one is in the Pentateuch, and the other in the Hagiographa. The Pentateuchal source reads: [this verse]. The text appears to imply that abiding by the law is essential but there are additional paths beyond the law which also need to be pursued. According to Rabbi Joseph (3rd cent.), "deeds" refers to conduct within the letter of the law, "they must perform" refers to acts beyond the prescription of the law (Baba Metzia 30b). The Hagiographical source of equity is a verse in the Book of Proverbs: "That thou mayest walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous" (Proverbs 2:20). The rabbis assumed that only persons who are motivated by ideals of equity may be considered good and righteous (Baba Metzia 83a). The principle of equity is reflected in many decisions and rules promulgated by the talmudic sages. Rabbi Yochanan b. Zakkai (1st cent.) suspended the biblical ritual for testing a wife suspected by her husband of adultery [Numbers 11:5-31--AJL]. He ruled that the test is effective only if the conduct of the husband is above reproach (the ancient doctrine of clean hands). He obviously considered it inequitable to subject wives to a ritual test of morality in a generation when the moral stance of husbands was under a cloud of suspicion (Sotah 47a).

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EXOD297 High on the list of Social Ethics is the care of the sick. God Himself is described as visiting those who are infirm and racked by illness. [See Midrash Rabba to Gen. xviii]. When Rabbi Joseph once preached on [this verse], he explains the latter half of the verse to mean that they must be taught the importance of kindly deeds (hadderech) and the urgency of visiting the sick (yeluchu bah). The story is told of Rabbi Akiba who, visiting a disciple when he was gravely ill, personally attended to his wants. On his recovery, he came to the Rabbi, transfigured by gratitude, assuring him that his visit it was that put new life and hope into him. Where upon Rabbi Akiba taught that "he who does not visit the sick is guilty of shedding blood; the reward of such a visit is that one is saved from Gehinnom, from the Evil Inclination and from all kinds of suffering" [Cf. Ned. 40a]. Great, especially, must be the respect to be shown to the dead. Even a High Priest who is a Nazirite may attend to the burial of one who has no immediate relatives or friends to do so [Such a corpse is called 'met mitzvah.'] The study of the Torah may be interrupted if thereby a person to be brought with greater respect to his final resting-place. [Meg. 3b]. Such consideration for the living and the dead reflects the ideal human relationship advocated in the Torah.

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EXOD300 Let us first consider the question of the authority or source of obligation of these wider and more vague areas of Jewish morality. We find that the Rabbis had a proof-text or biblical source upon which to append their notion of lifnim mi-shurat da-din: "And thou shalt show them the way they shall walk therein and the actions which they shall do." Rabbi Eliezer of Modi'in says: "and the actions" refers to din proper; "and they shall do" refers to lifnim mi-shurat ha-din [this verse; Mekhilta, Yitro; Bava Kamma 100]. Thus, the Torah itself urges us to conduct ourselves beyond the measure of the law. Indeed, Rabbi Isaac of Corbeil lists the obligation of lifnim mi-shurat ha-din as one of the 613 commandments (Sefer Mitzvot Katan). (Continued at [[DEUT290]] Deuteronomy 6:18 right SPERO 169)

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EXOD301 Behaving Beyond the Letter of the Law. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 30b) states: "The only reason Yerushalayim was destroyed is because they behaved according to the letter of the law." This teaches us that we must act with tolerance and forbearance even when the law is on our side. Regarding the verse, "And you shall teach them the ordinances and the laws, and shall show them the way in which they must walk, and the work they must do" [this verse], the Sages say, [The words] 'the work they must do' mean that they are required to act beyond the letter of the law." Only when all other alternatives are exhausted should one resort to a beis din. Even then, if the dispute concerns a small sum of money and it is within one's financial capability to do so, he should give up the money. However, a poor person may pursue his claim in most cases.

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EXOD302 The only specific Torah reference to this word ["Betza"] refers to one quality needed for Jewish leadership, specifically the judges that Yitro-Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, advised him to appoint. One of their necessary qualities must be that they "despise greed." Nachmanides explains that for people to be proper judges, they must despise even the idea of money in general, the obtainment of physical possessions, and they should not even care about their own wealth at all. Therefore, such a person can never be tempted to accept bribes when they're offered to him. Reva explains that since his own possessions are meaningless to him, if this judge is threatened by a litigant that he will burn down the judge's field if the judge rules against him, the threat will not faze or cause fear in this judge. Rabbeinu Bechaye brings this explanation, but then adds that hating greed signifies that a judge despises people who intentionally steal from others in order to gain wealth. Tur also explains that such a judge has no desire to be rich, which inoculates him from ever accepting a bride.

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