GEN714 The Torah gives a specific reason for this [death penalty] punishment: man was created in the image of God.  Thus, in addition to the other rationales for capital punishment [deterrence; retributive justice; public safety], the Torah says that because every person has a piece of God within him or her, if a person takes the life of another human being (who also had a piece of God within), that person forfeits her or her “image of God” and is no longer worthy to be called a human being with God’s image. It is for this reason that the Torah says he does not deserve to live.  AMJV 46

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GEN726 The wording of the verse is very strange.  The verse states “He who sheds the blood of man that is within a man, his blood shall be shed as well, because man was created in God’s image.”  In analyzing the literal meaning of the words “man that is within a man” the Talmud concludes that this refers to a fetus, since this is literally a man within another human – i.e. the mother.  Sanhedrin 40b.  Therefore, according to this passage, any abortion is equal to murder, and the fetus is considered to be a human being.  In Jewish law, Maimonides rules this way for a non-Jew, and therefore a non-Jew who performs an abortion is considered a murderer.  Maimonides, Laws of Kings 1:4.  AMJV 86

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GEN739 Judaism clearly separates between the desire to sin and sin itself.  In every realm of life, Judaism recognizes that Jews, as normal human beings, have desires to commit sins.  The premise of the concept of the inner battle between the good inclination and the bad inclination is based on man’s normal desire to sin, alluded to in [this verse].  AMJV 142

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GEN751 Even after the world has been destroyed due to the sin of greed, ten generations later, the generation of the Tower of Babel had not changed their essential values.  Using a newly invented building material called brick, they built a massive tower to create a name for themselves and challenge God.  The Midrash says that the chief value of that civilization was worldly goods, and the most important among these goods was their precious bricks.  Thus, when a person fell off the tower and died while building this seven-mile skyscraper, no one paid attention or cared.  But if one brick fell and was lost, they stopped building, sat down, and wept.  Midrash, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 24.  … Today, it is the greed of companies – i.e., their desire for profit above all other considerations – that endangers lives and sometimes kills people, which is no different from the Tower of Babel generation’s practices.  AMJV 337-8

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GEN756 Early on, mankind already demonstrated that his ability to create in the world was not always used for the proper purpose and goals.  After man developed anew technology to create bricks in order to be used as building material, which meant that mud could now be hardened, man was no longer limited to living near caves and mountainous areas that forced him to make houses from rocks.  But instead of using this expertise to spread out and build cities, the Torah tells us that the first use of this technology was to build a tower in the sky to try and reach and challenge God.  For this misuse of technology, man was punished.  AMJV 54

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GEN764 The Torah mentions the death of the evil Terach, Abraham’s father, long before he actually died in order to teach us that an evil person who contributes nothing to this world is considered dead even when he is physically still alive.  Rashi.  AMJV 159

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GEN765 Although Jews do not believe in active proselytizing of non-Jews, Jews are supposed to be role models of behavior to everyone else. In this way, the non-Jews will eventually see by themselves that the moral path of Judaism is superior to all other modes of living.  Isaiah 42:6, 49:6.  This idea is encapsulated in the very first words of God to Abram, a microcosm of Jewish history.  God first promises Abraham to creates a separate nation from his progeny, then all the other nations will praise and imitate Abraham’s people and be blessed, which is the ultimate goal of Judaism and Creation.  Therefore, even though Jews do not believe in proselytizing, they are obligated to be cognizant about whether their actions sanctify God’s name or desecrate God’s name before others.  Because of the particular obligation to behave especially morally before the non-Jew, the Jew must be sensitive not to defame God, and it is far worse than even erasing a letter from the Torah.  Yevamot 79a.  It is also for this reason that stealing from a non-Jew is worse than stealing from a Jews, Toselfta Baba Kama 10:8, since stealing from a Jew violates only the prohibition against theft, while stealing from a non-Jew also violates the prohibition against desecrating God’s name.   AMJV 353-4

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GEN774 In Judaism, how people react to a Jew’s action is indeed very important.  The very essence of being Jewish is how one impacts not only upon oneself but also upon others.  Therefore, to consider the reaction of others as unimportant is to contradict a fundamental precept in Judaism, because it does not allow a Jew to fulfill his or her overall mission.  The very first Jew, Abraham, is promised by God that he will be a blessing to all people of the world, not just to Jews.  This indicates that others would aspire to be like Abraham.  [Rashi]. Every action that Abraham took was scrutinized by others, and rightly so.  Had Abraham acted in a way that would have affected people negatively, he would not have been able to succeed in his goal to inspire others to believe in one God.  This is not just Abraham’s mission, but it is also the mission of every Jew.  AMJV 314 (Continued at [[DEUT208]] Deuteronomy 6:5 love AMJV 314)

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GEN792 One of the highest values in Judaism, if not the highest value, is preservation of human life.  Therefore, if a Jew has to violate 610 of the 613 Mitzvot-commandments [N.B. -- Excepting only murder, adultery, idolatry - AJL], in order to save a life even in remote danger, he or she should do so.  Laws of the Foundation of Torah 5:1-2.  Among these 610 is the commandment to tell the truth.  Therefore, if a Jew must lie to save his or her life, one not only has permission to do so, but must lie in such a situation.  This Jewish law, of course, runs counter to the “categorical imperative” of Emanuel Kant, and shows that there are other values higher than telling the truth in Judaism.  AMJV 224

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GEN798 The Torah tells us that Abraham was extremely wealthy with cattle, gold, and silver, and showed the world that it is possible to have wealth and power and not necessarily become greedy.  AMJV 338

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