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DEUTERONOMY — 6:7 impress

DEUT259 The importance of marriage, within the Jewish tradition, is not only for reasons of propagation and companionship, as important as they are, but also to educate children in the Jewish tradition so we can continue across the generations. Abraham, the Patriarch of the Jewish people, is already charged with teaching his children (Genesis 18:19); and the commandment for each one of us to do likewise, which appears several times in the Torah, is enshrined in the sections chosen for the first two paragraphs of the Shema, (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21), a prayer that we recite twice daily. Even after schools were established, the primary context for Jewish education remained the home, and to this day parents continue to be responsible for ensuring that their children learn to be educated and practicing Jews. In our own time, we are re-discovering that no schooling, however good, can be adequate; that family education is the key to the continuation of the Jewish heritage; and that parents must continue to educate themselves as they seek to teach their children. This, in fact, is just a subset of the general Jewish duty to study the tradition on a lifelong basis, for Judaism is very much a religion for adults. Parents have the mission to prepare their children for such lifelong learning, whether the parents are married or single, custodial or not; but one of the objectives of marriage within the tradition is to provide the context in which children can best learn how to be Jews.

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DEUTERONOMY — 7:15 ward off

DEUT357 This splendid Messianic age can occur, though, only if the impediments to its realization are first removed. Thus many biblical and rabbinic visions of the end time include a war against the forces of evil. (See, for example, Isaiah 2:1-4, 11:1-12, and Micah 4:1-6.) Similarly, significant strides in improving the communal level of health can happen only if sources of pollution are removed or at least ameliorated and if common social practice like smoking and driving while drunk are curtailed. Eliminating obstacles to help must accompany the positive steps we take to ensure it.

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DEUTERONOMY — 10:14 belong

DEUT428 Contrary to the contemporary notion that my body belongs to me, our tradition teaches that our bodies belong to God. As owner, God can and does demand that we take care of our bodies throughout our lives, very much as the owner of an apartment legitimately requires that those who rent it take reasonable care of it during their occupancy. Jewish law, therefore, prescribes a number of positive obligations that we have to take care of our bodies (proper sleep, exercise, diet, hygiene), and it forbids mutilation of the body, taking undue risks with it, and suicide. (For God owns our bodies, see Genesis 14:19, 22; Exodus 19:5, 20:11; and Deuteronomy 10:14). The duty to take care of our bodies is summarized best in M.T. Laws of Ethics (Hilkhot De'ot), chaps. 3-5. The Rabbis derive that from Deuteronomy 4:9 and 4:15. For the commandment not to harm yourself, see M. Bava Kamma 8:6 and B. Hullin 10a. For the prohibition of committing suicide, see Semahot (Evel Rabbati) 2:1-5; M.T. Laws of Murder 2:3; Laws of Courts (Sanhedrin) 18:6; Laws of Mourning 1:11; S.A. Yoreh De'ah 345:1-3; and Encyclopedia Judaica 15:489-491 at Suicide. On these topics generally, see Dorff (1998), chap. 2.)

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