EXOD1013 Once out of the womb, all of us quickly are taken up by life's incessant demands, as relationships evolve into complicated mixes of emotional power as well as purely positive feelings. Our first bonding experience usually takes place with those in charge of parenting us. But at times their expectations exceed our limits, causing us to disappoint or wrong them. As we get older, we find ourselves in similarly unhappy situations with others we deeply care for. To get back on good terms, the one who errs must express sorrow for what happened, and the other must find enough compassion to accept this apology. Then mercy takes over, for without it, no relationship long endures. Yet its giving cannot be forced. Asking someone to overlook a wrong is like seeking the soothing embrace of a guileless understanding, a freely given gift, an unexpected hug. Compassion for another stems from such a gentle stirring of the soul. As Rabbi Nahman of Bratislava taught: "Many merciful deeds themselves require mercy. They live in a cramped corner of our lives and no one takes pity on them" (Otzar Harayanot Vehapitgamim) [Treasury of concepts and proverbs]). Only when we find the inner power to lovingly take back the one who hurt us can we overcome estrangement. There is an ancient Jewish model for this: "When Moses asked to see God's face [this verse], Moses was really asking, 'show me the attribute You use that helps You rule the world.' God said,' I will cause all my goodness to pass before you.' When God passed before Moses, He said of Himself, 'Adonai, Adonai, El rahum ve-hanun ...., Adonai, Adonai is a God of mercy and graciousness' -- I do not owe any creature anything, but I give to them gratuitously" (Tanhuma Buber Ed. Vaet-hanan). The thireenth-century Roman sage Yehiel b. Yekutiel said: "God loved Israel, so God gave the people mercy as a gift" (Sefer Maalot Hamiddot).

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EXOD1014 Many of us act as if we were born with a clipboard and have been assigned the task of evaluating everyone we meet.… You walk into a room and immediately scan the crowd, taking in everyone who is there, and putting them all through an instant evaluation.… what sorts of things do you say (only to yourself, of course) when that judgmental frame of mind has a grip on you, and you are moving through life as if someone appointed you to be a judge whose job it is to assess whether or not people measure up? Let me ask, can you detect even a hint of honor in that attitude? Honor not for what people have done, or how they do it, but in recognition of the simple fact that we are all human, which means invested with a soul and possessing enormous gifts not of our own making? And further, what is the outcome of that judgmental attitude? Does it ever lead to anything positive, or is it the root of disappointment and dissatisfaction in everyone around us?

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EXOD1015 See [[EXOD1010]] Exodus 33:13 show SPERO 35

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EXOD1016 See [[EXOD73]] Exodus 3:14 "I" SACKS 7

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EXOD1017 See [[EXOD364]] Exodus 20:4 image LOC 125

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EXOD1018 … Resh Lakish interprets God's use of the words "which you have broken" [this verse] to signify that on occasions bitulah shel Torah zehu yesoda, "Violation (or suspension) of the law constitutes its (firm) establishment." Menahot 99b. Rashi's interpretation (ad locum) makes it appear as if Resh Lakish's statement is altogether innocuous, and as if what Moses did was comparable to nothing more than temporarily turning from the study of Torah to the performance of such mizvot as attending to the burial of the dead or participating in a marriage ceremony. But what Moses did was obviously considered by the Rabbis to have been a much more serious case of "abrogation of the Torah" then Rashi leads us to think, as can be seen from the attempts made by the Rabbis to justify what he did. [Yevamot 62a].

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EXOD1019 See [[EXOD947]] Exodus 25:16 deposit AMEMEI 257

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EXOD1020 The Written Law was meant not only for the Jewish people but for all the non-Jews of the world as well. [Rashi on this verse.] That is why it was given publicly, even though holiness is usually a hidden event. It was crucial that non-Jews knew of the Written Torah so that they might eventually come to adopt it.

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EXOD1023 God is apprehended in truthfulness and envisioned as the ethical Ideal. To love God is to build His Kingdom and seek His "nearness." "Thus, the attributes of action [as in Exodus 34:6,7] are not so much the qualities of God (as He is in Himself), but rather in accordance with their concept, the ideal for human action. ... The relations between man and man form the lower, or rather, the inner correlation within the one of Man and God." Hermann Cohen (1842-1918).

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EXOD1030 The cultivation of the quality of mercy is a prime goal of Judaism. The Pentateuchal description of God's divine traits was revealed to Moses in the following words: [this and following verses]. The phrase "merciful and gracious God" is repeated nine times in the Bible. Most biblical social laws are motivated by compassion. Sympathy for the poor inspired thirteen distinct commandments which are broadly grouped under the heading of charity (Mishnah Torah, Hilchot Matanot Aniyim). The same motivation shaped the law of the sabbatical year, at which time the poor were given free access to the produce of the soil (Exodus 23:11). Consideration for the plight of the indigent enjoined the nightly restoration of a garment taken from a poor borrower in pledge for a loan. (Exodus 22:26). The widow and the orphan are repeatedly singled out in the Bible as a class deserving special consideration and sympathy (Exodus 22:21, Deuteronomy 14:29). The alien, frequently the target of xenophobic prejudice, is protected by several laws based on mercy. (Exodus 22:20, Leviticus 20:34). Handicapped people were treated as the rejects of society in the past, and their special needs were neglected. Their very helplessness invites criminals to perpetrate their mischief. The elderly are the most common victims of muggers. The same is true of the lame, the blind, and the slow-witted. Compassion for the incapacitated is the basis for the biblical injunction: "Thou shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind" (Leviticus 19:14). The apocryphal II Esdras summed up man's social obligations which are motivated by compassion: "Do right to the widow, judge for the fatherless, give to the poor, defend the orphan, clothe the naked, heal the broken and the weak, laugh not a lame man to scorn, defend the maimed, and let the blind man come into the site of my clearness (2: 20–21). The Bible mercifully extended its protection to the most lowly human being in ancient society, the slave. He must not be mistreated. He is entitled to a weekly day of rest [this verse]. A master's abuse of a slave, resulting in the loss of an eye or tooth, sets him free from bondage (Exodus 21:26-27).

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