DEUT202 The need for Unity with Diversity. Rabbinic sources demonstrate the necessity and legitimacy of vigorous disagreement within a unified, coherent community. It is, of course, not easy to balance the twin needs for unity and diversity; each of us must discover and examine the grounds for our own beliefs and practices, stretching to see the reasons why others believe and act as they do; and each community must determine the limits of dissent that it can tolerate and still remain cohesive. Modern theories attempt to do this in a much more diversified setting than talmudic and medieval rabbis ever contemplated, one characterized not only by physical dispersion but also by widely varying forms of being Jewish. In such circumstances, it is not surprising that the theories I have considered differ significantly in the extent to which they validate the beliefs and practices of others, but the very attempt to articulate such theories bespeaks the strongly felt need to retain unity within our diversity. According to the Talmud, just as Jews put on phylacteries (tefillin-- the leather straps worn on the arm and head during daily morning prayer), so too does God. The phylacteries that Jews wear bear the verse, “Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4). God's phylacteries bear the verse, “Who is like Your people Israel, one nation in the world.” (I Chronicles 17:21; B. Berachot 6a). Neither unity has been sufficiently achieved. Three times each day in the Aleinu prayer, Jews pray that God's unity might be acknowledged by all people. The unity of the people is real, with its vigorous diversity intact, must also be the object of our work and prayers, just as it is on the mind of God.

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DEUT203 What is the method for investigating the true nature of God's unity? What knowledge must one have, before one investigates the unity of God? If one seeks knowledge about anything whose existence is in question, one must first ask whether it exists or not. Once the truth of its existence is established, one must then inquire about it: What is it? How is it? Why is it? About the Creator, however, one may only ask whether He exists. Once His existence is verified by way of rational investigation, one then inquires whether He is one or more than one. Once it is established that He is one, one examines the meaning of this oneness, and the different senses in which the term is used. This way, one achieves the perfect assertion of God’s unity, as it says in Scripture: “Listen, Israel: Hashem is our God, Hashem is one” (Devarim 6:4). Therefore, one must first investigate whether or not the world has a Creator. Once it is established that the world has a Creator, Who created it and brought it into existence from nonexistence, one then inquires whether He is one or more than one. After it is established that He is one, one that examines the meaning of “the absolute one” and “the relative one,” and what attributes may be ascribed to the true nature of the Creator. In this way, the acknowledgement of God’s unity-- in one's mind and heart--will be complete, with the help of God. There are three premises from which it can be deduced that the world has a Creator, Who brought it into existence from nonexistence: 1. A thing does not make itself. 2. Causes are limited in number; since their number is limited, they must have a first cause before which there is no other. 3. Anything that is composite was brought into existence. After these three premises are established, the inference to be drawn from them--by one who knows how to apply them and combine them--will be that the world has a Creator, Who brought it into existence from nonexistence, as will become clear, with the help of God, from what we will explain.

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DEUT200 … wide diversity of thought yet comparatively harmonious agreement on action has ancient roots in the Jewish tradition. "The interpretation is not the crucial thing, but the action," says Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel in the first chapter of a popular tractate of the Mishnah, Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). M. Avot 1:17. Jews, of course, disagree among themselves also about what is the appropriate action--virtually every page of the Talmud records such debates. In the end, though, the Rabbis had to come to some decision about what the law would be so that Jews would know what to do. In contrast, biblical and rabbinic Judaism do not insist that adherents affirm a specific list of beliefs. Those methodologies and beliefs could be multiple and varied as long as Jews did what God wanted of them. This stance, of course, differs from that of Christianity, which defines itself through creeds of belief. Judaism certainly has beliefs, and its core beliefs could be defined relatively easily. Even so, all the medieval attempts to articulate an official list of beliefs, created largely in response to the creedal assertions of Christianity and Islam, suffered from a distinctly Jewish fate--they were debated! Louis Jacobs, a British 20th century conservative rabbi and scholar, examines each of the beliefs on Maimonides' list of thirteen and demonstrates that every one of them had multiple interpretations among later rabbis and Jewish thinkers. Even something as essential to Judaism as the assertion in the Shema, the central Jewish prayer, that God is one [this verse] is interpreted by Jewish thinkers in thirty different ways, according to Jacobs's count. Principles of the Jewish Faith (New York: Basic Books, 1964; republished, Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1988), ch. 3) When it comes to action, however, with all the feisty debate and with continual evolving customs and practices, by and large one can describe what the Jewish tradition commands us to do with regard to specific issues, and one can also describe the extent to which Jews follow what that tradition bids them do.

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DEUT204 ... the Rabbis said, “Come let us ascribe merit to our ancestors; for if they had not sinned, we should not have come into the world.” (B. Avodah Zarah 5a) Clearly, “sinned” here cannot be taken literally, for it is not a sin but rather a very good thing for married couples to fulfill the commandment to procreate. Thus the Talmud there must mean that during sexual intercourse couples are under the influence of the evil impulse. The evil impulse, then, refers simply to natural -- and especially sexual -- instincts, which are not evil in themselves but which, when unguided by the laws of the Torah, can lead people to sin. Hence the Rabbis could understandably say that the Torah’s commandment to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5) -- where the word for “heart” is spelled unusually with two Hebrew letter bets rather than with just one-- refers to loving God “with both impulses-- the good and the evil.” (Sifrei Devarim par. 32). That is, we should serve God with both our natural instincts and with our moral consciousness. The trick, then, is not to root out our sexual and other desires altogether but rather to channel them to good purpose, as defined by the Torah. The Rabbis harbored no illusions that this is easy; indeed, rabbinic literature abounds in descriptions of how difficult it is to live a moral life. (See, for example, B. Sukkot 52a). They also prescribed a variety of methods for overcoming temptation when it occurs, including, but not limited to, engaging in study of the Torah, God's “antidote” to the evil impulse. (B. Kiddushin 30b. For other receipts, see B. Berachot 5a; B. Avodah Zarah 5b; and, most remarkably, B. Hagigah 16a). Moreover, when someone does something wrong, the Jewish tradition prescribes a specific path of teshuvah (literally: return) to the proper moral path and to the good graces of God and those he or she has wronged. (M.T. Law of Return, esp. chaps. 1 and 2). Thus, in the end, the moral life, with its choices, its responsibilities, its missteps, and its modes of repair, is an integral part of what it means to be human.

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DEUT205 Duties of the heart in Scripture. When it became clear to me that, according to the dictates of reason, the [duties of the heart] should be obligatory, I said to myself: Perhaps they are not mentioned in the Torah, and that is why no one has ever written a book about them to familiarize us with the subject and reveal its principles. But when I searched for them in the Torah, I found them mentioned many times; for example: Love Hashem your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words which I command you this day must be on your heart (Devarim 6:5-6); To love Hashem your God, to obey His voice, and to attach yourself to Him (ibid. 30:20); To love Hashem your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul (ibid. 11:13); After Hashem your God should you walk, and Him should you fear (ibid. 13:5); Love your neighbor like yourself (Vayikra 19:18); And now, Israel, what does Hashem your God ask of you? Only that you fear God (Devarim 10:12); You must love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (ibid. 10:19). Fear and love are among the duties of the heart. Examples of restrictive duties of the heart are: Do not desire your neighbor’s wife. Do not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (ibid. 5:18); Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against the children of your people (Vayikra 19:18); Do not hate your brother in your heart (ibid. 19:17); Do not stray after your heart and eyes (Bamidbar 15:39); Do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted (Devarim 15:7). There are many more passages like this. Finally, all of the service of God is reduced to that of the heart and tongue, as it is written: “For this commandment which I command you this day is neither beyond you nor far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, so that we can hear it and do it? ‘Neither is it across the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us, so that we can hear it and do it?’ Rather, it is a thing very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you can do” (ibid. 30:11-14).

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DEUT206 What is the intent of: "with all your heart"? With both of your inclinations, the good and the evil (Berachoth 54a)

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DEUT221 See [[DEUT15552]] Deuteronomy 28:58 fear AGUS 149-150

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DEUT228 See [[LEV688]] Leviticus 19:18 love AGUS 8-9

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DEUT209 (Continued from [[GEN234]] Genesis 2:7 AMEMEI 247 formed). When the Torah states that you shall "love God with your heart,” [this verse] the unusual Hebrew form of the term for “your heart,” levavcha, implies that a man has two hearts, one for good desires and one for evil desires, according to the Talmud (Berachot 54a). Based on this assumption, Maimonides (Hilchot Teshuva 5:1) says that every human being can go in either direction, following his or her good impulse or bad impulse.  Thus, it is clear that Judaism acknowledges man’s daily conflict between two opposing drives. Judaism believes that man is born with the desire to do evil, the evil impulse, as implied in the Torah, Genesis 8:21 and receives the yetzer hatov, the impulse of good, only at the age of thirteen for a man or twelve for a woman (Avot DeRabbi Natan 16:2).  Therefore, left alone, it would be very difficult for a person to overcome the evil desire. One of the purposes of the Torah, the sole purpose, according to the Talmud, (Kiddushin 21b) was to teach man how to overcome and defeat his desire for evil. God sets up all of human endeavors in life as a moral test for the human being. He presents the moral situations, and it is up to each us to react properly and defeat the desire to do bad, as God did in providing the manna for the Jews in the desert, which He said was a daily test, as Jews were asked to believe in God’s promise for daily manna. (Exodus 16:4) If we overcome desire and exercise self-control, then we will get reward, whether it be a slimmer figure when dieting or entrance to the world to come. We can indeed view each act in our lives as a test. Every morning, we must decide whether to go to work or not. At the breakfast table, we choose to be nice or not to our spouse. On the road, we must decide to exceed or not to exceed the speed limit. Children must decide each day whether or not to do homework. Because there are so many small and large moral tests day, we should not look for “extra” situations in which to test ourselves.  The evil desire is difficult enough to overcome as it is (Taanit 20b).

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DEUT232 See [[LEV913]] Leviticus 22:32 sanctified AMEMEI 235

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