GEN988 Why did Jews of the past and why do I think that the Torah and subsequent Jewish law to our own day are not simply human creations but also the record of Jews’ response to God? In part because the Torah portrays it as such, leading our ancestors to believe that God is the source and authority of the law. In addition, as Simon Greenberg has pointed out Greenberg, ‘A Revealed Law,” (reprinted in Siegel, ed., Conservative Judaism and Jewish Law), several phenomena of the ongoing practice of Jewish law can only be adequately understood if we presume God’s involvement in some way. Specifically, the Jews’ “sense of overwhelming awe when they contemplated the grandeur and majesty of the Law” Greenberg, “A Revealed Law,” p. 41 (Siegel, p. 182) is certainly part of the religious feeling motivating those who observe it. Another element in the Jews’ commitment to Jewish law is their conviction that through it they perform a cosmic role in helping God complete creation. The strength of these perceptions of God’s role in creating Jewish law is especially evident in the numerous sacrifices that Jews have made to uphold it; only their belief that Jewish law expresses the will of God can explain their persistence in following it and their willingness even to die for it. Finally, Jews of the past and I myself attach divinity to Jewish law because, as God told Abraham, it helps define “the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right.” [this verse] – that is, it defines a path for life that is spiritually and morally rich, so rich that it is hard to believe that human beings in the ancient past would have been able to formulate it on their own. DORFFLGP 100-1

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GEN982 … there are times when it is a mitzvah to hate. One might ask, “How is this congruent with the Torah personality of love and kindness?”   Every human being is endowed with a Divine spark that inspires him to love kindness, truth and justice.   At the same time, there is an inner drive pushing him to be selfish and to single-mindedly fulfill all his desires and goals with a total disregard both for other people and for these positive values of human interaction. Most people waver between these two drives, sometimes following one, sometimes the other, and usually applying a combination of both. Simultaneously, every person has natural tendencies toward love and hatred – love for those people or ideas for which he has an affinity, and hatred as a reaction to his feelings of aversion for others. The legacy of our forefather Avraham, and the prime teaching of the Torah, is that a person develop his Divine spark, which will lead him to follow the way of kindness and justice [this verse]. He must also strive to overcome, as much as possible, the trait of selfishness, which leads to all the vices of the world. As a person develops this Divine spark within himself, he will feel an affinity to those qualities and an aversion to vice. Shaarei Teshuvah 3:190  The prime method of developing this Divine spark and an ultimate appreciation of Torah, kindness and justice is to recognize the manifold infinite kindnesses of Hashem. Every person must contemplate that his very creation is due to the sheer kindness of Hashem, Who constantly showers him with life, sustenance and an infinite number of seemingly natural miracles. The enormity of the precise workings of the human organism, as well as animals, plants, etc. multiplied by billions, will overwhelm any thinking individual as to the majesty and kindness of the Creator. EHRMAN 35-6

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GEN986 The Jewish conception of piety places special emphasis upon ethical conduct.   The Torah defines “the way of God” as the “doing of righteousness and justice.” [this verse].   ETHRESP 3

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GEN987 We have never seen nor heard of an Israelite community that does not have an alms fund … It is our duty to be more careful in the performance of the commandment of almsgiving than in that of any other positive commandment, for almsgiving is the mark of the righteous man who is of the seed of our father Abraham, as it is said, “For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children,” etc. “to do righteousness” [this verse]. The throne of Israel cannot be established, nor true faith made to stand up, except through charity, as it is said, “In righteousness shall you be established” Isaiah 54:14; nor will Israel be redeemed, except through the practice of charity, as it is said “Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and they that return of her with righteousness” Isaiah 1:27. HTBAJ 233

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GEN983 There are four attitudes among those how give charity: One who wishes that he should give and others should not, begrudges others what is theirs; that others should give and he should not – he is grudging toward what is his own (a miser); that he should give, and others too – he is pious, a hassid; that neither he nor others should give – he is wicked. Pirkei Avot V:16   Two of the four types in the mishnah do not want to give any charity; they why, we might ask, does the mishnah classify all four as “those who give charity”?   The answer is perhaps that if they themselves will not give, as members of their community they are likely in a position to prevail on others to give. So they are included among those who contribute. Or else, while these two types do not want to give charity, they will generally contribute anyway, under social (or other) pressure.  R. Moses Alshech [ca. 1507-1600: pupil of R. Joseph Caro] gives a most moving answer: The essential, innate nature of every Jew is to be religious; beyond the reaches of his conscious mind, his spiritual roots lie in the soil of Torah. Hence the Talmud teaches that if someone vows to derive no benefit from “the circumcised,” he may receive no benefit from uncircumcised Jews either. Mishnah, Nedarim iii 11 (Talmud 31b).  For in spirit, everyone in Jewry enters unreservedly into the Covenant of Abraham. By the same token, every Jew is, at heart, charitable. The Almighty Himself said of Abraham, “I have known him, that he may bid his children … to do tz’dakah …” [this verse]  Two characteristics of the Jew, says the Talmud, are that he is compassionate and does acts of kindness. Yebamoth 78a.  Thus the mishnah calls all Jewry “givers of charity”; if two types refuse to give, they have barriers; they suffer from resistances. At heart they are “givers of charity.” (Similarly, the next mishnah will speak of “four types among those who go to the House of Study,” then will describe two that do not go. Refuse as they will, in their souls they can be counted among the faithful who attend the synagogue for prayer and study.)   SINAI3 155-6

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GEN984 A certain translator began his discourse by saying: “Our brothers, men of lovingkindness, the sons of men of lovingkindness, who abide by the covenant of our father Abraham, of whom it is written: “For I have known him so that he may command his sons and his household after him to heed the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice …’” Ketubot 8b TEMIMAH-GEN 86

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GEN985 It was taught: “There are three identifying characteristics of the Jewish nation: mercifulness, shamefacedness, and lovingkindness. Lovingkindness—as it is written “For I have known him so that he may command his sons and his household after him to heed the way of the Lord, to do righteousness [synonymous with “lovingkindness”] and justice.’” Yevamot 79a TEMIMAH-GEN 86

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GEN989 How are the [educational] roles of father and mother realized? The answer to this question can be found in the verse, “Sh’ma b’ni mussar ovichoh v’al titosh Toras imechoh” Proverbs 1:8 --   Hearken, my son, to the admonition of your father and forsake not the Torah of your mother. We thus see that it is the father who admonishes, disciplines, curbs and tempers and it is the other who imparts Torah inspiration, insight and values. It is the father who admonishes and disciplines in the observance of both the mitzvos between man and God and those between man and man; it is the father who curbs the child’s whims and caprices and inculcates in him an attitude of respect and dignity. And he does this not only thorough explicit and stern verbal admonition – though this method too is important in certain situations – but especially through silent admonition by virtue of the ethical image which he himself furnishes to his child.   It is mentioned in the Torah in connection with Avrohom Ovinu: “For I [God] have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice.” [this verse]   At first glance it seems strange that the Torah uses the expression “Ki y’dativ … v’shomru derech HaShem” – For I have known … that they may know the way of the Lord.” It appears that the expression, “lishmor derech HaShem” (to keep the way of the Lord) would be more appropriate. The answer is that Avrohom Ovinu did not transmit the moral and spiritual values to his descendants through explicit admonition only. Avrohom Ovinu imparted the spiritual heritage to his children by furnishing a sublime living image to his children.   BUILD 23

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GEN993 The goal of [Torah] law … is not to secure rights, as it is in American law, but rather to follow God’s will and gain the physical and spiritual rewards for doing so. As Maimonides later states this, the aim of God’s law is to create a good society, one that contributes to the welfare of the body and mind of all its inhabitants through the duties it imposes.   Guide for the Perplexed, part III, chap. 27. That theologically centered goal embodies in it the ultimate Messianic mission of Jewish law – to create a world in which swords are beaten into plowshares and in which there is no poverty, a world in which “God will instruct us in His ways and we will walk in His paths” Isaiah 2:2-4. What are God’s paths? In arguing with God about Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham already appeals to God’s justice and faithfulness [this verse], and God later describes Himself as merciful and loyal Exodus 34:5-7. Moses similarly proclaims that God is pure, that “all His ways are just, a faithful God, never false [without evil], true and upright [righteous and honest] is He” Deuteronomy 32:4 Later, Maimonides, following the lead of [this verse], summarizes all of the divine characteristics as justice and righteousness and maintains that those who emulate God in acting in accordance with those divine characteristics “bring goodness and blessing to themselves.” M.T. Laws of Ethics (De’ot) 1:7. See also M.T. Laws of Slaughter 14:16 and M.T. Laws of Shemitah and Yovel (Cancellation of Debts in the Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee) 13:13, in both of which Maimonides identifies “the ways of God” not as the commandments themselves but as the paths of righteousness. DORFFLGP 9

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GEN994 To convince most people to follow the rules, societies must create feelings of pride, respect, and even love for their community and its laws. That is hard to accomplish because government and law are abstract and inanimate. It is much easier to relate to people. Therefore secular societies typically teach the history of the group, its songs, stories, and exemplary personalities to instill strong commitments through recurring rituals.   Jews do that too: Jewish education usually includes a study of the same subjects just listed, and Jewish ritual patterns provide ample opportunity to renew national ties.   But there is a difference. Jews adhere to Jewish law out of a sense of kinship and loyalty not only to other Jews but to God. God is the covenanted partner, and that relationship provides the context for covenantal obligations.   The Bible develops the personal implications of the covenant fully. It speaks of God having chosen Israel as His special people out of an act of love, and Jews should observe the commandments because of that love.  [this and preceding verse, Deuteronomy 7:6-11]   DORFFLGP 96-7

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