NUM143 See [[EXOD979]] Exodus 32:10 thee COHON 196-7

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NUM162 The prophetic belief that God searches the heart resulted in the recognition of a distinction between "secret errors" and "presumptuous sins" (Ps. 19:13f.) or sins committed "with a high hand" (this verse); individual responsibility is stressed in numbers 16:20-22). The Priestly Code limited the atoning efficacy of the sin and guilt offerings to offenses committed unconsciously and without deliberation.

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NUM187 … all religions have developed their own technique for self-expression. Their leaders have felt that the religious sense, like any other, if left to itself, runs the danger of wasting away or returning to seed and of developing along irrational and anti-social lines, examples of which abound in history. They have, therefore, sought to direct into channels that are socially as well as personally useful. They have cast it into forms that are aesthetically satisfying and morally stimulating. Out of the experience of the group, nation or community, they have selected elements that may serve as behavior patterns and have set them up as signs and symbols of the sacred. These forms and ceremonies express the spiritual strivings and the moral ideals of the religious community. They serve as effective means in the religious education of the people in holding them together as a united body. Though often practiced blindly, they tend to evoke something of the spirit which called them forth. The Midrash calls attention to the sequence of the verbs in (this verse)--"Ye shall look upon it (the fringe), and remember all the commands of the Lord, and do them" – – and remarks that "seeing leads to remembering, and remembering to doing." Tanhuma, Old, Shelah, 15.

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NUM216 See [[NUM162]] Numbers 15:30 high hand COHON 276-7

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NUM304 See [[EXOD979]] Exodus 32:10 thee COHON 196-7

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NUM427 Blood-guilt required expiation with blood. In the case of an untraced and unavenged murder, the blood was "covered" or "wiped away" by means of a symbolic right of expiation (Deuteronomy 21:1-9). Deuteronomy 32:43 announces that the defilement of the land, caused by the slaughter of Israelites, will be removed by God's avenging their blood upon their enemies, thus making expiation for the land of His people. [This verse] lays down the principle that "no expiration can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but the blood of him who shed it." Consequently money compensation was ruled out in cases of murder. S.H. Langdon, H.E.R.E., V, p. 654. Offenses other than manslaughter could be propitiated by means of a gift, whether in the form of a sacrifice or a "forfeit money" (asham) and of "sin-money" (hattat) which were given to the priests in order to satisfy the offended God (II Kings 12:17; Amos 2:8).

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DEUT32 See [[EXOD790]] Exodus 23:3 favor COHON 197-8

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DEUT57 The Idea of Talmud Torah. Rabbinic fancy extolled the Torah as the instrument wherewith God fashioned the universe. Whatever its role in the cosmic scheme, it has been the chief means of creating the world of Judaism. It has been the dynamic of Jewish living. Indeed, Judaism is the religion of Torah, not alone of the Written Law or the Pentateuch, nor even of the Oral law, but of the progressive growth of the Jewish people in religious knowledge and culture. Therein lies the distinction of Judaism as a religion. In the words of [this verse], the Torah is our wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations. The Torah is also our source of life as a people. Perhaps nowhere except among the Brahmans in India has study of secret literature been accorded so high a place as in Judaism. Touching and illuminating every phase of life, the Torah has welded religion and life into an indissoluble union. It not only presents a roadmap of life but makes the pursuit of its directions the very condition of blessedness. Its scope is furthermore not only spiritual and moral but also intellectual. Instruction and discipline are based on knowledge. As a religion founded upon enlightened faith rather than upon credulity, that has sought the aid of the sciences and philosophies--to the limit of their powers--in the establishment of it creedal foundations, Judaism has ever stressed knowledge as one of the chief duties which man owes himself and God. Reason itself is a phase of the spiritual life. To exercise his reasoning is part of man's spirituality. If some phases of existence are beyond reason, there are many others within its domain. Among them are the ways of human conduct. To be intelligent regarding the matters that most affect his being is the religious obligation of man. "Thou shalt know" and "lay it to the heart"--knowledge and understanding--are the ever-recurrent motifs of Jewish religious teaching. They are the steps which lead to faith, appreciation, devotion and love.

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DEUT60 While for analytical purposes ethics is content with the study of the springs of human behavior and their expression, for practical ends of directing the lives of men, it is more exacting. Not what is being done, but what ought to be done constitutes its measure of value. Whereas science speaks in the indicative mood, religion uses the imperative. Its characteristic expressions take the form of commands and prohibitions, thou shalts and thou shalt nots. ("'This is your wisdom and your understanding,' says [this verse], with reference to the law. When Kant calls the force that decrees, teachers, makes demands, by the term 'practical reason,' he but uses another expression for morality. Call it law, principle, idea, what you will, it is always an objective norm, in nowise depending upon the pleasure of man, but constraining him as he knows himself to be constrained by the laws of logic when he thinks, by the laws of mathematics when he competes." Lazarus, The Ethics of Judaism, p. 117.)

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DEUT238 Though fear and love came to be used in combination, the rabbis call attention to the root differences. Commenting on [this verse], "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," the Sifre observes: "Scripture has distinguished between one who serves God from love and one who serves Him from fear.… Sometimes a man who is afraid of his fellow will leave him when he becomes troublesome and go his way. But act thou out of love, for there is no love where there is fear, nor fear where there is love, except in relation God alone." Sifra 32. R. Simeon b. Eleazar teaches: "Greater is he who acts from love than he who acts from fear." Abraham is the prototype of God-loving men; Job of God-fearing men, though on the ground of Job 13:15 and 27:5 he too was claimed to have served God from the motive of pure love. Sotah 31a; 5:5, Zohar, I, 11b.

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