EXOD1052 To be ethically-minded is to be pure in the eyes of God [Num. xxxii.22]; avoiding the slightest breath of suspicion [Hull. 44b], and being always pleasant [Ket. 17a] and respectful of another's views. In the words of Derekh Eretz Zuta -- he must not be "Awake among those who sleep, or asleep among those who are awake; not weeping when others laugh, or vice versa; not sitting when others stand, or vice versa; not learning out loud, when others are reading quietly, or the reverse". In general, he will not be awkward or angular in the company of others. He will be considerate of others. When the three angels visited Abraham in his tent they ate and drank with him, although it was not their custom so to do [Gen. xviii.8]. When Moses ascended on high he did not eat for forty days and nights, for such was the custom in heaven [this verse].

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LEV63 It is desirable to go suitably dressed and especially when sitting down to a meal (Shabbat 114a. Spoken of the High Priest, who was not to appear in the Holy of Holies in vestments in which he prepared the sacrifices), a lesson derived by the School of Rabbi Yishmael from their explanation of "And he shall take off his garments and put it on others" [this verse]. Appearances are very important, and man was advised to spend more on dress than on food. Such advice was considered unnecessary for woman; nature has seen to that. "Woman's armour which she carries about with her, is her beauty", of mind, as well as of body, if we are to be chivalrous.

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LEV124 It is remarkable that whenever the command to be holy appears in the Torah it is addressed to the whole nation, rather than to the individual. Thus at Revelation the entire congregation of Israel is urged to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus xix. 6); the Dietary Laws (Leviticus xi) are sealed with the words "And YE shall sanctify yourselves and become holy, for I the Lord am holy" [this verse]; and in Exodus xx. 30, we are told: "And holy men shall ye be unto Me". The remarkable chapter, to which attention has already been called (Leviticus xix) begins: "YE shall be holy". Why? To emphasize that to achieve perfection and to model our lives on the Deity, we must work collectively, regarding the welfare of the individual as a public concern. The word “Kadosh” (Holy One) as applied to God means “One set apart” and stresses His transcendence and independence of all besides Himself. In other words, to be holy means to be master over one’s life and nature, able to lead an existence separate and independent. Jewish ethics stress that not only is He the Holy One but that He also summons man to this task of holiness. For man this task has a twofold connotation, negative and positive. On its negative side, it implies a breaking-away from whatever urge of nature that makes self-gratification the purpose of existence. This does not mean the ignoring of the legitimate calls of nature or the practice of rigid asceticism. All it means is a severance from lust and passion that drag man down to the level of an animal.

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LEV125 It may well be that another reason for the observance of the Dietary Laws, apart from the main stress on holiness found in Leviticus xi. 43-47, is the principle that it is forbidden to eat or do anything which is likely to impair one's state of health. (Bava Kamma 91b, "No man may do injury to himself.) So important is this prophylactic principle that a Rabbi is of the opinion that even such foods that come under the banner of forbidden things are temporarily permitted if, by their means, life may be prolonged (Hullin 10a. See also Ta'anit 11a: "He that makes fasting habitual, is deemed a sinner." If he is a teacher of children, for instance, he will not be able to devote of his best to the task at hand if he spends his days in chastising his body.) In fact, such acts that are conducive to physical health are considered prime religious duties. Those practices that may lead to a weakening of the faculties are deemed sinful and obnoxious, and contrary to Jewish thought. Interesting is the suggestion made by some scholars that antediluvian man lived so long because he ate a healthy vegetarian food produced by the rich soil prior to its deterioration by the waters of the Flood. (Continued at [[DEUT1006]] Deut. 20:19 destroy LEHRMAN 74)

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LEV162 From this seemingly arid verse the Rabbis deduced that even the most trifling article belonging to another must be spared. Why should a man about to be pronounced unclean be deprived of his possessions? So strong was the conviction that inherent in every Biblical command is a moral purpose that even failure to discern it did not affect their attitude toward that law. They contended that the disciplinary value of implicit obedience is in itself a means to the acquisition of virtue. It Is not relevant whether the rabbis forced their ethical teachings into the Biblical commands. What we are concerned with is that the Rabbis approached the study of the Torah ethically.

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LEV174 Pride leads to destruction, and the man or nation that boasts superiority soon begins to attack others. Lack of humility begets hatred; hatred begets strife; strife leads to destruction. The more one criticizes oneself, the greater one is. The ideal man is pictured as one walking through life humbly, doing his duty come what may, without thought of self-glorification. The extent to which the crowd was held in abomination by the Rabbis can be gauged from their teaching that "a scholar who is proud is like a carcass lying in the streets; those who pass it by, turned away in disgust" (Abot d'R. Nathan ii.). The reason, according to the Mishnah (Yoma vii.4) why the High Priest was not allowed to officiate in his garments of gold on Yom Kippur was a reminder that God was not to be worshiped in the panoply and regalia of majesty but in simplicity of humility, attired in plain linen garments [this verse, Zevachim 88b, Hullin 5b). Because of their haughtiness, the generation of the Flood merited destruction (Sanhedrin 108a). If a scholar will scorn humility, warned R. Judah (in the name of Rav (Pesachim 66b)), his learning will depart from him; if he be a prophet, he will cease to prophesy. Addressing the thorn-bush from which Moses first heard the Voice of God in the wilderness when tending the sheep of Jethro, a Talmudic Rabbi thus apostrophizes: "O thorn-bush! Not because thou art the highest of all trees did God choose thee as the scene of His revelation unto suffering mankind. On the contrary, thou wert chosen because thou art the lowest among them." (Shabbat 67a). Humility is especially fitting to Israel (Haggigah 9b; Nedarim 20a) to walk about haughtily is to insult the Shechinah (Berachot 43b).

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LEV197 In the Amidah (Singer's Prayer Book, p. 48), a special blessing is uttered … "Towards the proselytes of righteousness, and towards us also, may Thy tender mercies be stirred, O Lord our God". Some of the most famous sages of the Talmud, like Shemaiah and Abtalion, Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Meir, Ben Bag Bag and Ben He He (Abot v. 25-26) and Rabbi Yehudah ben Gerim (Shabbat 33b) were reputed to be either proselytes themselves or to have been descended from gerei tsedek. That they rose to such eminence proves that no barriers were placed in their paths to greatness. Conditions to-day do not warrant any relaxation in our attitude towards intermarriage [this verse]. Our records reveal that the ger tsedek became an object of affection both to God and to his fellow-Jew. (Deut. x. 18-19; Leviticus xix. 33; Ps. cxlvi. 9. See also Exodus xii. 49; xxii. 20; Leviticus xxiv. 22; Num. ix. 14; xv. 16, 29; Deut. xxiv. 17-18; xxvii. 19.) The ger toshav could claim similar consideration if he abandoned idolatry (Leviticus xviii.2), the practice of sorcery, incest and other abominations, if (Leviticus xviii. 26) he abstained from eating blood (Ibid. xvii.10), from working on the Sabbath (Exodus xx. 10; xiii.12) from eating leavened food on Pesah (Ibid. xii.19) and from violating the Day of Atonement (Leviticus xvi. 29). The prophets all preach humanitarian feelings towards the stranger and the Bible itself features non-Jews as examples of fidelity (Eliezer, the majordomo of Abraham's household), of devotion (Ruth) and of (Job) piety. The Pharisees made it clear that their hatred of the heathen was a hatred of what heathenism stood for in the realm of belief and conduct. Similar hatred was displayed by them towards the Am Ha'aretz, the Jewish boor who was lax in his religious observance. Intermarriage, or truer to its meaning, extermarriage between Jew and Gentile (looked at askance even by enlightened Jews of to-day), is not due to contempt of the Gentile but to the firm conviction that the unity of Judaism and the Jewish people is contingent on the happiness of the home. This happiness is jeopardized by the yoking together of two people with an entirely different background and outlook on life. When one bears in mind the sufferings of the Jew at the hands of a hostile world, such legislation is not to be wondered at. Had the non-Jewish worlds not persecuted the Jew throughout the ages, with a sword in their hands and the words "God is Love" on their lips, those laws cited by Jew-baiters as breathing contempt and hatred for all who are not Jews would not of been admitted into our legislation.

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LEV223 The leitmotiv of our ethical system is the command of God: "Ye shall therefore keep My statutes and Mine ordinances, which if a man do, he shall live by them; I am the Lord." [this verse]. Man must eat to live, not live to eat. He has the duty to look after his physical and mental welfare as he has the responsibility to be solicitous for the well-being of others. Interesting in this connection is the shrewd remark of a Hasidic Rabbi, to whom one complained that "So-and-so" desecrated the Sabbath and ate all kinds of forbidden foods. "You have been given two eyes. one with which to see your own faults, the other with which to behold the virtues of another." Glancing at the physical robustness of the complainant, the Rabbi added this: "My friend, I would advise you to look after your own soul and the body of another, rather than make yourself censorious of another man's soul whilst feeding carefully your own body." The duties man owes to his fellow-being could not have been more masterfully stated.

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LEV224 The main purpose of the intricate network of the Halachah was to keep the nation alive through all its vicissitudes. The word Halachah (derived from the root ch-l-h "to go") suggests "Progress" and is meant to serve as a guide in daily life. The world has not yet progressed to those sublime standards of holy living and action patterned in our codes. The Jew, who faithfully adheres to the standards blazoned forth before his trail in the Codes, Biblical and post-Biblical, will be armed with a moral strength that will overpower those that rise up against Him. He will echo the words of R. Yehudah Halevi: "Men revile me; but they know not that the shame endured for thy sake, O God, is naught but honour." To study our ethical codes is to possess ourselves with a further source for strength and pride in our Judaism.

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LEV290 Few are the Biblical commands thus introduced. This is significant. For it implies that the duty of being holy devolves upon each Jew and not upon a cloistered set of hermits only. The Jew must be holy not only in the synagogue and in the home but also in the office and in the workshop. Judaism is something more than a badge and a birth-mark; it is a life, a civilization. The virtues of trust, justice and mercy that are associated with our conception of God must be woven into the daily pattern of life. The mere accident of birth does not qualify one to be of the elect; it only designates him for enrollment among of the elect. God signs the covenant, but we have to seal it -- to seal it with a life of service.

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