"For Instruction shall come forth from Zion, The word of the L-rd from Jerusalem." -- Isaiah 2:3

Jerusalem

Torah Verses

Excerpt Sources

Complete List of Source Books

Navigate the Excerpts Browser

Before accessing the excerpts, please review a word about copyright.

Are you more of an "I'll dive right in and figure it out" person, or a "Show Me How This Thing Works" person?  If the former, go right ahead and try the excerpts browers on the right side of this page and/or scroll through the excerpts that start below the following information -- although we still suggest reading the information first.  If you are the latter, click here for a video demonstrating the Excerpts Browser. Either way (or both), enjoy! 

This page is recommended for searches limited to specific Torah books, weekly portions (parshiot), chapters, verses, and/or sources (authors). For keyword and/or for exact phrase (including verse and source) searches of the entire excerpts database, we recommend using the Search Engine page.  For broadest results, use both pages and alternative search strategies. 

This page displays the full text of all or "sorted" (filtered) excerpts in the database.  Use the "Torah Verses" and/or "Excerpt Sources" browsers at the right to locate the excerpts associated with your desired Torah book, portion, chapter. verse, or author.  Or, simply scroll through the excerpts, using the "boxes" at the bottom of any page displaying excerpts to "jump" ahead or back. 

Also note that immediately below the chapter, verse, and keyword of each excerpt is a highlighted line comprised of multiple links.  Clicking on any of the links will limit (filter) the excerpts display to the selected category.  

Transcription of excerpts is incomplete.  For current status, please see "Transcribed Sources" on the Search Engine page.  To assist with completion, please see "Contributors" page. 

88

DEUTERONOMY | 6:18 good — DEUT298 The difficulty is obvious. The preceding ...

DEUT298 The difficulty is obvious. The preceding verse makes reference to commandments, testimonies, and statutes. This, on the face of it, is the whole of Judaism as far as conduct is concerned. What then is meant by the phrase "the right and the good" that is not already included within the previous verse? Rashi says that it refers to "compromise [that is, not strictly insisting on your rights and action within or beyond the letter of the law [lifnim mishurat hadin]." The law, as it were, lays down a minimum threshold: this we must do. But the moral life aspires to more than simply doing what we must. (see Lon Fuller, The Morality of Law (New Haven, CT: Yale University press, 1969), and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein's much reprinted article, "Does Jewish Tradition Recognize an Ethic Independent of the Halakhah?" in Modern Jewish Ethics, ed. Marvin Fox, (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975), 62-88.) The people who most impress us with their goodness and rightness are not merely people who keep the law. The saints and heroes of the moral life go beyond. They do more than they are commanded. They go the extra mile. That, according to Rashi, is what the Torah means by "the right and the good."

Share

Print
Source KeySACKS
Verse6:18
Keyword(s)good
Source Page(s)281-2

Comment

Collapse Expand Comments (0)

You are replaying to

Your comment was added, but it must be approved first.

Please enter your name
Please enter your email adressPlease enter valid email adress
Please enter a comment
Please solve Captcha.
Add Comment
Back To Top