EXOD360 One may not believe in any god besides Hashem. This concept, too, is a centerpiece of the Jewish religion. If someone believes in a false deity, it is as if he denies the entire Torah.

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EXOD361 See [[GEN854]] Genesis 15:16 iniquity DORFFDRAG 66

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EXOD362 The Ten Words are usually divided into two tables. (J.H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs. Soncino, 1965, p. 295). This is the five-five division. The first table enumerates a person's duties toward God. The second table describes a person's duties to his fellow human being. I propose a different division for the purpose of ethics: the one-eight division. Let us call it the one-eight hypothesis. I perceive in the Ten Words one moral principle followed by eight moral rules. The Ten Words, thus, constitute the fundamentals of a moral system. What is the moral principle in the Ten Words? Can we find in them something comparable to the golden rule or the categorical imperative or the utilitarian principle? To discover it, we do not need to look beyond the second word: “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” [Exodus 20:3]. This principle is a source of moral rules and does not admit of exceptions. We are always called upon to resist idolatry--to keep our priorities straight by not making power, wealth, prestige or anything else but obedience to God our primary goal and fundamental loyalty. When faced with an ethical choice, we must ask: “Am I being loyal to God? Or am I obeying my nation, my social group, my selfish desires?” This is the principle of priorities. This principle cannot be separated from the first word which describes God as the redeemer from slavery. For the first word, with its emphasis on freedom, describes the kind of God who demands our loyalty. This is a God who cares, an ethical God. To such a God, we owe obedience. For the purposes of ethics, the first and second words are inseparable. Together, they form a compelling moral expression of ethical monotheism. Words three through ten are moral rules. Since they are rules, not principles, we can find exceptions to each. Earlier in this book, I quoted the case of Mrs. Bergmeier which constituted an exception to the Seventh Word. The Maccabees (Jewish freedom fighters of the second century B.C.E.) violated the Sabbath in order to preserve Judaism. Occasionally, there are truly sadistic parents who should not be honored. In some situations, stealing is justified. And so it is for every word.

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EXOD358 Nothing must be done to endanger the holy alliance (Kiddushin) of man and wife. The Rabbis devote five tractates of the Talmud to this theme. Kiddushin and Ketubot deal mainly with marriage settlement; Yebamot with Levirate and prohibited marriages; Sotah with the woman suspected of adultery and Gittin with divorce, not to mention the references to these themes scattered over the other tractates. The Rabbis found it necessary to deal with these themes exhaustively in view of the vagueness of the Biblical laws. These Talmudic laws have been systematically collected into works that are still the authoritative sources of every Rabbi. These are the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides and the Eben Ha'ezer of Joseph Karo [no fewer than 178 sections dealing with marriage and divorce appear in Karo's work]. These authorities warns that intermarriage is likely to mar family purity and sew dissension and produce disreputable children [Deut. vii. 3-4; Ezra ix. 1-2, x. 10-11; Neh. x. 31, xiii. 23-25; Ab. Zara 31b; Eben Haezer xvi. 1; Maimonides Issure Biah xii.I]. Though ne Rabbinic view states that "Gentiles in the Diaspora cannot really be termed idolaters", yet marriage with them is disallowed. [Hull. 13b]. That just as virtue and righteousness flow from the worship of God, so do vice and oppression issue from the ungodly marriage, especially with daughters of the heathen. This will explain the seemingly harsh measures taken, especially by Ezra, against idolatry and immorality, both of which are to be eliminated [this verse, Lev. xix. 4; Deut iv. 15-25]. A "holy people" must remove all obstacles to the purity of family life and regard them as abominations [Deut vii.3]. Marriage is something more than a civil contract; it is an institution based on morality and implying the most sacred duties.

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EXOD356 Another powerful motivator for observance of the commandments is gratitude for God's historical role as Israel's savior and provider. The exodus from Egypt and the conquest of a "land flowing with milk and honey," with its abundant resources for which Israel need to invest little effort (e.g., Deut 6:10-11), are used to arouse Israel's appreciation and sense of obligation. God introduces Himself in the Decalogue has He who "brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage," to justify the following prohibition of allegiance to other gods [this verse]. Conversely, many biblical texts assume that it is ingratitude in particular that leads to disobedience (Deut 8:11-18, 32:15; and for this idea in prophetic literature, see Isa 1:2-3, Jer 2:5-8, Ezek 16, Hos 13:4-6, Amos 2:10-12). (By Elaine Adler Goodfriend, “Ethical Theory and Practice in the Hebrew Bible)

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EXOD363 Do not make any object for the sake of worshipping it, even if only others will worship it, not you. According to the Rambam (Maimonides), one is forbidden even to tell someone else to make such an object. [According to the Ramban (Nachmanides), however, one violates the prohibition only if one makes the idol with intent to worship it]. Key concept: To distance us from idol worship.

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EXOD364 The God who, to the accompaniment of thunders, once proclaimed at Mount Sinai: "You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image!" (this verse), is supposed to be beautiful? The God who said of Himself: "You cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live," (Exodus 33:20), is supposed to be apprehended in aesthetic categories? Jewish monotheistic sensitivity must surely shrink back from such a thought. Or must it? There is love in the world, and we regard God as the Source of Love. There is the search after righteousness in the world, and we see God as the Fountain of Righteousness. We human beings, even (or is it particularly?) in this technocratic world, wants to be regarded as persons, and not as statistical numbers. However, if we claim personhood for ourselves, then it would follow that the Creator, to whom we owe our existence and our personhood, must have at least as much personhood as His creatures. And, then, there is beauty in our world. Does it, therefore, not make sense to assert that beauty, too, has its origin in God, so that whatever we perceive as beautiful, and call "beautiful," goes back to something which is also an attribute of God?

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EXOD365 See [[DEUT1038]] Deuteronomy 21:11 beautiful BLOCH 47

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EXOD366 (Continued from [[DEUT650]] Deuteronomy 13:18 merciful TZADIK 161). And if you wish to be merciful to your children and your relatives and to accord them great honor, then occupy yourselves with Torah study and good deeds in love and kindness. This will result in great honor and good to them, for they will be honored and not shamed through you. There is no greater shame than having parents and relatives who are wicked. If one's father is a thief or a robber or is guilty of a blatant transgression that is despised in the eyes of the world, all of his children are condemned after him for generations to follow, being branded as "the descendants of that wicked man." Also, children die because of the sins of the fathers, as it is written [this verse]: "Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children until the third and fourth generation of those who hate me." Reflect--is there anyone more cruel than he who brings death to his children because of his sin? And there is no one more merciful to his children than the righteous man, for his merits endure for 1,000 generations. For Avraham bound his son for the sacrifice and the Holy One Blessed Be He swore to remember that merit for his children throughout the generations; and when the Jews sinned with the golden calf, Moshe our teacher may peace be upon him, arose in prayer and said (Shemos 32:13): "Remember Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, Your servants." Likewise, King Shelomo said (II Divrei Hayamim 6:42): "Remember the kindness of David, your servant"--and they were answered. Similarly, we mention the merits of the Fathers every day. Therefore, know that there are none so cruel as those who transgress.

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EXOD367 … the doctrine of the punishment of children for the sins of the fathers [this verse], a practice common in ancient societies on the assumption that punishment of a child strikes at the father, was upgraded by the prophet Ezekiel, who stated: "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son; the soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). In the words of the Talmud: "Ezekiel came and annulled it" (the punishment of children; Makkot 24a). There was no compelling need or reason for this talmudic statement. Ezekiel's doctrine could have been reconciled with the Pentateuchal pronouncement relating to the punishment of children by attributing to the prophet the talmudic opinion that limits the transfer of parental guilt only to children who persist in the sin of their ancestor (Yoma 68a). Furthermore, it is widely assumed that the Pentateuchal transfer of guilt is exclusive to the sin of idolatry. By the time of Ezekiel (6th cent. BCE) idolatry was no longer a threat to monotheism (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 7:13). The prophet would therefore have been justified in reverting to the normal biblical standard of compassion and justice. The Talmud ignored these explanations and instead chose to established the principle of an evolutionary process of moral precepts which gave the prophet the right to "annul" a Pentateuchal perception.

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