GEN522 In the Code of Hammurabi compensation for an abortion of the type described in Exodus [21:22 – AJL] is dependent on the status of the parties, and the death of the woman is punished by the execution of the offender’s daughter.  The moral thrust of the Mosaic law stands out vividly against this contrasting background.  Here we see the expectant mother identified explicitly as the potential victim in the law’s concern.  Treatment of feticide as a homicide emerges as precisely the kind of disproportion [this verse] that the biblical law seeks to correct Exodus 21:20, 26, etc. when it provides that damages shall be proportioned to the gravity of injuries sustained Exodus 21:23-25, and not the status of the parties Deuteronomy 1:17, that homicide belongs in a separate and restricted category of offense Leviticus 24:17, Exodus 21:12-14, and that “Parents shall not be put to death for children, nor children for parents, but each individual for his own offense” Deuteronomy 24:16, cf. Exodus 21:28, Leviticus 4:3, Numbers 9:13, 12:11, 16:22.  JHRHV 88

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GEN523 [Consolation after death of a child]. There are several Talmudic passages in which the Rabbis record statements of consolation upon the loss of a child offered by one rabbinic colleague to another.  Many of those who spoke only succeeded in increasing the pain of the mourner… My experience is that only one who has him-or herself suffered a similar loss can offer meaningful consolation through words to parents who have lost a child.  Only when expressions of consolation come from fellow sufferers will the mourner, I believe, be able to feel that the consoler understands what he or she is feeling and is not uttering platitudes that they would never say if it were their own child who had died.  TELVOL 2:128-9

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GEN524 When the son of R. Yochanan b. Zakkai died, his disciples came to console him.  R. Elazar said to him: “Adam had a son who died, and he allowed himself to be consoled for him, as it is written [this verse].  You, too, allow yourself to be consoled” Avoth de’R. Natan 14 TEMIMAH-GEN 30

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GEN525 See [[NUM357]] Numbers 30:3 violate GATES 411 [there translated as "ceased"]

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GEN526 With respects to the limits of our obligation to love our neighbor [Leviticus 19:18], there is a well-known controversy. “Rabbi Akiba says, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’ is a great principle in the Torah. Ben-Azzai says ‘This is the book of the generations of Adam’ [this verse] is an even greater principle. [Sifre, Kedoshim, 4:12] While Rabbi Akiba places very high value on the love of neighbor, the meaning of neighbor in his usage is open to doubt. If we take it as I presume Rabbi Akiba did, in its technical halakhic sense, then it can only mean another Jew.  There are those who attempt to expand the meaning by construing kamokha to mean, “he is like yourself.” This interpretation, which is offered by various exegetes from Mendelssohn and Wessely in the eighteenth century to Hermann Cohen in the twentieth, means to expand the reference to all humanity by stressing that every other man is human like yourself, and by virtue of that fact merits your love.  It can even be read to conform with Maimonides’ greater restriction, namely, he is an observant and learned Jew like you and this is the reason that he deserves your love.  Ben-Azzai wanted to avoid all such ambiguities.  For that reason he stressed as his primary principle the concern with humanity as such.  Consider his proof-text in its entirety.  “This is the book of the generations of Adam.  In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him” [this verse]. About this notion of man there can be no debate.  He is everyman, for he is like Adam the first man, who is not a Jew. He is, beyond all parochial limits, man created in the image of God.  FOXMJE 38-9 

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GEN530 The verse embodies two fundamental truths about man—the dignity of each human being created in the Divine image, and the unity of all men derived from a single ancestor.  The biblical lawgiver, prophet, and sage all emphasize the thought that the entire human race is a unit, both “horizontally,” through space, and “vertically,” through time.  All the members of a single generation in space have a common destiny they cannot escape, and the various links in a family through time are also indissolubly joined together, both for good (“the merit of the fathers”) and for ill (“the sins of the fathers upon the children”).  … Each human being, particularly in an age when individualism has run riot, likes to think of himself as a discrete entity, an independent soul, sharply demarcated from all his fellows.  The fact is, however, that by a thousand invisible threads, each human being is associated, for weal or woe, with the entire human race.  He is organically linked in time with all the generations of his ancestors before him and his descendants after him.  He is inescapably joined in space with all men and women who are his contemporaries.  The wicked sin and the innocent suffer—that is a consequence of the interdependence of mankind.  GORLAW 90-1

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GEN528 It is interesting to note that in the Sifra, a rabbinic commentary to the Book of Leviticus, there is a discussion concerning the greatest principle in the Torah [89b].  Rabbi Akiba argued that it was the golden commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” [Leviticus 19:18]  But another rabbi, Ben Azzai, found an even greater principle. He quoted the sentence, “This is the book of the generations of Adam.” [this verse]. The Torah, therefore, belongs to all persons.  Its affirmation of human value, its insistence on human duty, comprehend all humanity.  Ben Azzai, in selecting this verse, penetrated to the core of the moral law.  No one is above the human level and no one is below the human level.  Each is bound by duties and protected by rights.  No one is above the moral laws which bind all. No one is below the moral laws which protect all.  No one should step beyond right and wrong. No one should count for less than a human being.  Here, in eight words, is the essence of the moral law: All persons are obligated. All persons are precious. The essence of the moral law can be expressed as a principle of duties and rights: Treat all persons as obligated, including yourself; treat all persons as precious, including your enemies. … Children [can] learn what are the right questions to ask when faced with a difficult moral problem.  What if everyone were to do that? How would I like that done to me? Am I putting God first? Does it promote the general happiness? Of course, some of these questions will speak to some families and others to other families.  The golden rule, however, is probably the best place to begin.  When it comes to the stage of moral decision, a person can always say, “So what?  So what if I do not contribute to the preservation of a humane society. So what if I do not contribute to the general happiness.  So what if I am not loyal to God. So what that it would be hateful to me and it will be hateful to him.  So what, I will pursue my own advantage.”  Thus, a commitment to the preservation of a humane society, to the general happiness, to loyalty to God, should be developed.  Likewise, a bond of true case with the fellow human being needs to be created.  The essence of the great moral principles can be expressed in a few short sentences: All persons are obligated. All persons are precious. And there are no exceptions.  This is the heart of ethics and it should be taught.  If these few sentences can be humanized with examples and taken to heart by the student, then he will have written the moral law on his own consciousness.  It will also be helpful if the young learn respect for specific moral laws.  Keep your promises is an important instruction to the young, although they will learn later that there are exceptions.  First, however, they need to learn that moral laws are expected to be kept.  The primary task of moral education is to develop a moral self image in the young.  The young person should achieve a consciousness that we become truly human not be the exercise of physical courage nor by excellence of mind, but primarily by moral actions.  In the ethical life…everything ultimately depends on the oral self image.  It is for this reason that the widespread assault upon the virtue of compassion in the last twenty years … is dangerous.  Compassion is one of the highest virtues – the Talmud even mentions it first in describing the character of the Jews.  But now, compassion is in disrepute. … Life requires compassion and wisdom just as much as it requires courage.  … The tough guy is one image of the human being—but it is not an image which can lead to an ethical life.  Children who model themselves on tough guys will not develop a moral self image.  No moral model, no moral self image. No moral self image, no moral life.  If society is to remain moral, it must provide its young with exemplars of the moral life.  As children grow older, adults should explain to them the fundamental purpose of ethical actions.  The causal connections between ethics and constructive human relationships and also between ethics and the growth of character can be discussed in a clear and simple way.  What ethics achieves, what it contributes to, and what it does not guarantee should be clarified.  The young will then not be swept into cynicism and despair when decency is repaid with evil. HIRSH 68, 71-73

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GEN529 The Talmud Shabbat 31a insists that the Golden Rule pronounced by Hillel: “What is hateful unto thee, do not to they fellow”, is a cardinal principle of Jewish Law which is applicable to all men.  It is instructive to understand why the Rabbinic Golden Rule is couched mostly in the negative, and not in the positive form advocated elsewhere. Judaism is primarily a discipline aiming at the curbing of unbridled instincts. Such discipline concerns itself more with what people must not do rather than with what they should do.  Rabbi Akiba, who elaborated the teachings of Hillel, was more explicit: “Whatever thou hatest to have done unto thee, do not do unto thy neighbor”.  Hence do not hurt him; do not speak ill of him; do not reveal his secrets to others; let his honor and his property be as dear to thee as thine own. Avot 4:15 and Abot de R. Nathan 26.  In this vein spoke also Ben Azzai: “The Torah, by beginning with ‘This is the book of the generations of Adam’ [this verse] makes it clear that the command ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’ Leviticus 19:18 refers to all people who must be included as ‘thy neighbor’.” Genesis Rabbah 24 (end).  “All righteous people, not only Jews”, says another sage, “shall enter the eternal Kingdom.” The Psalmist (118:20) did not specify the Jew, when he said: “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter into it.”  All citizens, irrespective of belief, are entitled to a share in the amenities of a township on which the maintenance of concord depends. All the poor of the town must be supported; all their dead given a decent burial; all their mourners comforted; and all their sick visited. Gittin 64a.  No Jew can be called righteous who is not good unto all. Kiddushin 40a. So important is the respect we must pay to all our fellow-pilgrims on earth that most of the Biblical prohibitions may be transgressed on its account. Kiddushin 40a; Berachot 19b; Avot 4:3; Bezah.32b.  LEHRMAN 57-8

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GEN527 In [this and subsequent verses] we read, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. – When God created man, God made him in the likeness of God; male and female God created them. And when they were created, God blessed them and called them ‘Adam.’ – When Adam had lived 130 years, he begot a son in his likeness after his image, and he named him Seth.”  From this passage it would appear that that Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, whereas Adam’s progeny are created in the image and likeness of Adam.  Indeed, this view is found in the Mishnah: “If a person strikes many coins from one mold, they all resemble one another, but the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, fashioned every human being in the stamp of the first human being [i.e., Adam], and not one resembles another” Mishnah, Sanhedrin, chap. 4, sec. 5.  Consequently, Adam’s nature has direct relevance to our understanding of human nature.  In a number of texts, Adam is described as a Golem.  In the Gemara’s explication of the just cited mishanic text, an “hour-by-hour” account of God’s creation of Adam on the six day of creation is provided [Sanhedrin 38b]. … In various midrashic variants of this text, the sequence is reported differently [Leviticus Rabbah, chap 29, sec. 1; see textual variants, e.g. Midrash Tehillim, chap. 92 sec. 3, 202; see also Ginzberg 1955, 5:79]  … In this midrashic version unlike the Talmudic version, the Golem already has a human form—Adam’s form. The Golem is not a formless mass, but a manikin; human in shape but not in essence.  Thus, this text describes the state of “Golem” as soulless, but with human form.  The term Golem means “unformed mass.” A form of the world Golem appears only once in the Bible (Psalms 139:16): “Your eyes saw my unformed mass [galmi], it was all recorded in Your book. The following midrash interprets this verse as Adam saying to God: Your eyes saw my Golem, that is God saw Adam as a Golem: [Genesis Rabbah, chap 24, sec. 2; cf. Exodus Rabbah, chap. 40, sec 3, Mishrash Tehillim, ch. 139, sec. 6, 265b).  This midrash tells us that humans are not only the descendants of Adam but of a Golem as well.  Perhaps, as the biblical verse indicates (Ps. 139:16), God saw Adam as Golem.  In other words, God sees Adam—the human being—as essentially a Golem, who becomes human only when realizing his or her potential, which is symbolized in the text as the potential offspring of Adam-Golem.  Otherwise, why would God show Adam his potential while still in golemic form rather than in his completed form?  The moral challenge to each human being is to emerge from the golemic state to attain fulfilled human status as a being in the image of God.  The task is to evolve the self from the primitive status of Golem to the actualized human status of intellectual discernment and moral rectitude (see, e.g., Maimonides Commentary on the Mishnah on Pirkei Avot chap. 5, sec. 6).  As Rabbi Mendel of Kotzk said, “Judah Loew created a Golem, and this was a great wonder. But how much more wonderful it is to transform a person of flesh and blood into a Hasid [a pious person]?” (see Buber 1948, 2:285; Idel 1990, 281). SHER20C 62-3

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GEN531 [Some] Rishonim [Torah scholars of the 11th-15th centuries – AJL] maintain that according to Rabbi Akiva, you are only commanded to treat your fellow like you would personally like yourself to be treated. Therefore, if you are very righteous and do not mind being embarrassed and disgraced, you would be allowed to treat others the same way [citations]. If you were robbed, wounded, and cursed, your fellow could be robbed, wounded, and cursed just like you [citations]. You would not have to see that your fellow has things any better than you do. They conclude that is the great principle of Ben Azzai that precludes and discards such an attitude. According to some versions of the Midrash Genesis Rabbah 24:7, Ben Azzai was in fact arguing with Rabbi Akiva because Rabbi Akiva’s rule [i.e., that “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself Leviticus 19:18 is even a greater principle - AJL] would allow one to say that since I am despised, my fellow can also be despised. Ben Azzai said of that the written verse [this verse], is the great principle of the Torah. It is from there that we learn to respect our fellow because he is created in the image of God. He deserves this consideration regardless of your own particular idiosyncrasies or predicament.  CASTLE 53-4

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