EXOD437 Another reason to be good is to achieve another kind of reward. In general the Torah never states a specific reward for a specific Jewish act or Mitzvah. The exception to that rule is found in only three places, which promise long life as a reward for doing these actions (either long life in this world, the next world, or both). [This verse, Deuteronomy 22:6-7, 25:15; Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed 3:48]. What are the three actions and what do they have in common? The first is honoring one's parents. The second is sending away the mother bird before taking her eggs, which Maimonides explains, trains a person to have mercy on all animals and human beings as well. The third is being honest in business. All three require acts of goodness between men that involve justice, kindness, and doing the right thing. Therefore, to attain long life, a person should be a good person who does good acts on a daily basis. The idea of long life (be it in this world or the Next World) is not only about years. Everyone naturally wants immortality, to continue to live beyond life, even though everyone dies. But by doing good acts, people can attain immortality. How? Rashi explains that the Torah mentions the death of the evil Terach, Abraham's father, long before he actually died in order to teach us that an evil person who contributes nothing to this world is considered dead even when he is physically still alive. But Rashi continues and explains that the opposite is also true. If we are good parents, our ideas, ideals, and values live on after us through our children. Rashi commentary on Genesis 11:32 .... [I]mmortality can indeed be achieved by doing righteous acts that affect people. The impact of these acts continues long after the person dies physically, which helps immortalize a person and continues his or her influence forever. Chofetz Chaim enhances this concept when he says that one strong act of kindness can impact not only one person, but can continue to have impact from generation to generation until the end of time. Shemirat HaLashon 1:7 Therefore, by being good, a person has the potential to affect thousands or even tens of thousands of individuals for the better and change the world positively forever.

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EXOD438 See [[684]] Exodus 22:23 your OXFORD 39

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EXOD439 The biblical theology of reward and punishment (see chapter 1 of this volume) surely underwrites much of the rabbinic concept of obeying the law [E.g., M. Makkot 3:16, the homiletic end to a tractate on the application of the biblical punishment of forty lashings. "Rabbi Hananiah ben Akashiah said: The Holy One of Blessing wanted to provide an opportunity for merit to Israel, and therefore multiplied the Torah and its Commandments." We may also think of the rabbinic pleasure in detecting -- constructing, rather -- "measure for measure" relationships between an act and its perceived consequence, displayed in M. Sotah 1:6-7 et al. The rabbis add the notion of earning life in "the world to come" in the biblical notion of "reward," M. Pe'ah 1:1, also added to the morning blessings in traditional prayer books, and in many other places (e.g. Leviticus Rabbah 35:5-6)], but talmudic texts are all too aware that that equation is anything but easy to decode. Here we may think of the famous story of Elisha ben Abuya (B. Haggigah 14a-15a), who is one of "us" but then turned into Aher, the paradigmatic "Other," by abandoning the whole idea of Torah observance after watching a boy, following his father's command to get eggs from a bird's nest, climb up and shoo away the mother bird, but then he falls off and dies in contradiction to the Torah's promise of long life for honoring one's parents (Exodus 20:12) and for shooing away the mother bird (Deuteronomy 22:6–7) [Milton Steinberg's 1939 novel As A Driven Leaf, incorporates this story--AJL] -- all in all one of the central rabbinic narratives for the question of the odyssey], and it is not generally put forward as an incentive for observance. (By Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert, “Ethical Theories in Rabbinic Literature”)

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EXOD440 ... the practice of capital punishment survives. The frontline in the fight against the death penalty is now focused on whether there is a constitutional manner of execution. We have come to realize that there is no nice way to kill someone. For now, lethal injection is legally acceptable, but even challenges to that practice continue. This leads us back to the basic question: Should the death penalty be abolished? Generally, I would say yes. But I hesitate. I sincerely believe that killing is wrong, and if it is wrong for the defendant, it is also wrong for the state. Yet, I am also honest enough to admit that there could be a case--something so heinous, so barbaric, and so unforgivable--that I would consider making an exception. The only example that comes to mind is that of a homicidal maniac like Adolf Eichmann. His butchery and evil was so colossal that Israel seems to have been justified in imposing the ultimate punishment upon him, the only time in the history of the State that it has done so. I wish I didn't have this exception in mind. I wish I could be the absolutist who says that I could never support the death penalty. I wish the Torah made it much easier on us with an absolute prohibition of, “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13) but it doesn't. Instead, it provides that sometimes capital punishment is warranted. Why does it do this? Perhaps for the very reason that I leave open the possibility of the exception. Playing God isn't all we are doing when we decide whether or not to maintain the death penalty as a punishment in our society. We are also trying to decide how best to preserve human life overall. Exceptions to our opinions on this issue remind us that life and death matters are never easy. The law does not have answers to all of our questions. The important thing is that we keep struggling with this question: what kind of punishment will protect and preserve the overall sanctity of human life? (By Laurie L. Levenson, "Judaism and CriminalJustice".

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EXOD442 Hashem wants the world to function without any mixing of different species. Similarly, he wants every human being to know the identity of his father. What is more, if one does not know the identity of his father, he cannot be certain that he will avoid violating Torah prohibitions on forbidden relations, for he will not know which individuals are his relatives. He might marry someone who is forbidden to him. In addition, adultery is a type of theft. It also leads to murder--for the wronged husband his liable to kill the other man. These are just a few of the problems there are likely to result from adultery.

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EXOD441 Adultery and Other Betrayals. Of course, the prohibition against adultery is one of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” (Exodus 20:13,14; Deuteronomy 5:17,18). Then there are things that technically may not be adultery but are surely a betrayal of the “covenant” of marriage: a woman has phone sex or Internet sex with another man, for example, or a man is physical with another woman but without intercourse. From a strictly legal standpoint, these do not constitute adultery in Jewish law because there was no penetration involved. However, there is a verse of great significance, proclaimed by the last of the Hebrew prophets: “Because the Lord is a witness between you and the wife of your youth with whom you have broken faith, though she is your partner and your covenanted spouse” (Malachi 2:14). Betrayal is about more than what is included in the narrow definition of adultery. When two people enter into a covenant of marriage and pledge themselves to each other, they do not have in mind the narrow definition of adultery (i.e., penetration) as the only thing that will undermine their relationship. They are pledging themselves to a loving relationship that is both physically and emotionally monogamous. A long-term relationship between two unmarried people cannot technically involve adultery, for that legal category applies only to married couples. But such relationships can most definitely involve betrayal: the betrayal of the commitment partners have made to each other through their words and their actions. And such betrayal is roundly condemned by the Jewish tradition. Judaism demands that we make our commitments clear and then honor them. (By Uzi Weingarten)

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EXOD447 See [[LEV1016]] Leviticus 25:17 wrong DORFF-RUTTENBERGSEX 137-9

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EXOD448 The exact opposite of loving, marital companionship is adultery. Adultery is prohibited by the seventh of the Ten Commandments, and adultery and incest are together treated as one of the three prohibitions that, according to the Torah, a person is not to violate even on pain of losing one's life [Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17; B. Sanhedrin 74a] Indeed, the Torah prescribes the death penalty for both men and women involved in adultery [Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22]; And if for some reason that punishment is not carried out, the Talmud maintains that a woman who committed adultery is forbidden to both her husband and her paramour; that is, she may not continue in her marriage and she may not marry her lover [S.A. Even Ha'ezer 11:1].Thus the Jewish tradition clearly forbade adultery in the strictest of terms.

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EXOD445 Masturbation to obtain sperm [for artificial insemination] is strongly condemned by Rabbi [Moshe] Feinstein, based upon the following Talmudic passage: "… Rabbi Eleazar stated: Who are referred to in the scriptural text "Your hands are full of blood" (Isaiah 1:15)? Those who commit masturbation with their hands. It was taught at the school of Rabbi Ishmael "That shalt not commit adultery" [this verse] implies that thou shalt not practice masturbation either with hand or with foot ...". (Niddah 13b).

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EXOD446 See [[LEV834]] Leviticus 20:10 ROSNER-BLEICH 128-9

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