EXOD321 See [[EXOD912]] Exodus 24:7 do DORFFDRAG 62-3

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EXOD327 The priestly hero–image was included in the Bible, but it was also transcended. Moses announces his intention of founding a "Kingdom of priests and a holy nation" [this verse]. Every Jew is to share in the glory of priesthood, shunning "the unclean" and periodically cleansing himself from "all their defilements." While the priestly prophet Ezekiel seems to say that the priest alone must not eat unclean and improperly slaughtered meat (nevelah uterefah) [Ezekiel 44:31], the Torah ordains this law for all Jews.

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EXOD329 What is it that a Jew may not do on Shabbat? The Torah simply says that melachah is prohibited. This word is often mistranslated to mean work. It cannot be the intention that work, manual labor, is prohibited since the Hebrew word for manual labor or work is avodah and not melachah. What, then, is melachah that is prohibited and what does it symbolize? The word melachah is found in the Torah in only two contexts besides Shabbat. One is at the end of the creation story. Genesis 2:1-3 God finished all the melachah and rested from His melachah. This, it is clear that melachah is that activity that God did during the first six days of the world, that is, creation or creative activity. This, then, is what is prohibited on Shabbat, and not work. ... The only other Torah reference to melachah is the building of the Tabernacle. Exodus 31:3-4. This, too, is related to creative and purposeful activity, and the building of the Tabernacle has been compared to a microcosm of the original creation itself. Thus, the thirty-nine categories of forbidden creative activity are derived from those activities performed in building and maintaining the Tabernacle. Shabbat 49b

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EXOD328 The right to privacy is at the core of human dignity. The more our privacy is invaded, the more we lose two central components of our dignity--namely, our individuality and respect we command from others. When our innermost selves become the subject for the knowledge and criticism of others, the resulting social pressure will quickly wear away our individuality... The community does have a right and, indeed, a duty to establish and enforce some norms, but if the community can know and scrutinize absolutely every one of our thoughts and actions, we will inevitably displease the majority in some ways and lose their esteem in the process. Conversely, the very requirement to honor and protect a person's privacy both stems from, and engenders, an inherent regard for that person. Thus by preserving human individuality and honor, privacy contributes to human dignity. Privacy is at the heart of mutual trust and friendship. If you reveal things I tell you in confidence, I will think twice before entrusting you as a business partner, a colleague, or a friend. Privacy also enables creativity to flourish, for it protects nonconformist people from interference by others. Along the same lines, privacy is a prerequisite for a free and tolerant society, for each person has secrets that concern weaknesses that we dare not reveal to a competitive world, dreams that others may ridicule, past deeds that bear no relevance to present conduct, or desires that a judgmental and hypocritical public may condemn. These moral concerns justify the protection of privacy in any society, but a religious tradition like Judaism adds yet other rationales for safeguarding an individual’s privacy. First... the Jewish tradition teaches us that when we reveal a person's secrets we not only defame that person, but we dishonor the image of God within that person and thus God Himself. Moreover, God intends that the Israelites be “a kingdom of priests and a holy people” (Exodus 19:6). Among other things that the Torah requires of Jews so that they might become a holy people... [is that they] protect a person's home, reputation, and communication by forbidding both intrusion and disclosure

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EXOD326 See [[EXOD912]] Exodus 24:7 do DORFFDRAG 62-3

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EXOD324 Among other things that the Torah requires of Jews so that they might become a holy people, it states that a lender may not intrude on a borrower's home to collect on a loan and people may not be tailbearers within the community. [Deuteronomy 24:10-13 and Leviticus 19:16]. Thus a holy people must protect a person's home, reputation, and communication by forbidding both intrusion and disclosure.

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EXOD1074 In all these ways [i.e., preceding discussion/list - AJL], then, Judaism can and does contribute to our moral knowledge and action. There are no guarantees in life--except for death and taxes, as the quip goes--and so religious people may falter and sometimes even misinterpret religion to justify immoral acts. But Judaism provides a multitude of ways to help us know how to act morally and to motivate us to do so. It thus increases the probability that Jews can be the holy people that G-d expects of us: “Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be to Me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

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EXOD330 What makes a Jew? -- is a question that is often asked. The answer--two things: membership of the Jewish brotherhood, and the loyal fulfillment of those obligations which that membership imposes. Most of these ethical duties are enumerated in the 19th chapter of Leviticus, which commands the entire nation to be holy, just as the Decalogue addressed itself to each individual. Here is a brief summary of what this chapter and other pronouncements of the similar nature require of us. To abstain from all things which defile, physically or spiritually; to avoid forbidden food; to shun the heathenish modes of disfigurement over the dead; to bar intermarriage with those of other faiths. The Torah expects us to be learned and proud members of "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" [this verse] in which holiness is not a mystical or an abstract idea but a directive and dynamic principle in daily life.

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EXOD325 Israel's unique status as God's chosen covenant partner theoretically provides a national"mission statement" that would motivate compliance with God's ethical demands. Acceptance of the Sinai covenant confers upon Israel the status of "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" [this verse]. Just as a priest adopts a distinctive lifestyle dedicated to the service of God so he can minister to the needs of the laity, so Israel's mission is to serve that role for the nations. Israel's given status as a "holy people" provides the reason that they should observe the commandments (Exodus 22:30, Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2, 21), while in Leviticus 19 Israel's potential holiness is used to inspire the people to appropriate behavior as "the entire community of the people of Israel" is commanded to "be holy for I the Lord your God am Holy" [Lev. 19:2]. In this case, Israel's status as a holy nation is not an assumption, but rather a goal, arrived at by performing a ritual assortment of ethical demands. (By Elaine Adler Goodfriend, “Ethical Theory and Practice in the Hebrew Bible)

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EXOD335 See [[EXOD118]] Exodus 7:16 let AMJV 198

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