GEN637 He who cultivates his sensual nature instead of letting his sense of God and of awe before him control his conduct, and win the victory for his higher nature, creates in himself, as the Talmud says, a strange god; that is, he allows the natural impulse to evil, which the religious man subdues through the good deed, to grow ever stronger until finally it becomes his master.  To be sure, man’s heart is evil from his youth [this verse], that is, as our sages teach, evil example can even in childhood have a devastating effect upon the purity of the soul, but over against evil example education and good example stand as equally strong forces.  Thus, Judaism does not believe in the depravity of human nature; it only asserts susceptibility to sin.  If the soul of man is pure, so is his body also; man’s body as God’s creation carries within itself, no natural uncleanness.  Nor is the evil inclination embedded in man’s corporeal life.  The human being who sins acts out of moral perversity.  Over against all other views, Judaism holds firmly to the purity of the human being.  FOJE 93-4

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GEN641 See [[GEN132]] Genesis 1:28 “blessed” LEHRMAN 3

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GEN650 To obtain forgiveness, the Jew makes a direct approach to God. There is no “iron curtain” between him and his Heavenly Father. As the erring child is received with open arms by the father whose mercy he seeks to obtain and whose forgiveness is always his for the asking, so God is ever ready to welcome back those who have strayed. Ezekiel 18:2-32; Psalm 130:7-8 To be sure, “the imagination (inclination) of man’s heart is evil from his youth” [this verse], but when canalized towards righteous paths, this propensity to evil can be curbed by good example and constant reminder of the true moral standard. Our evaluation of the divine soul within us saves us from the belief in the depravity of human nature, a state of mind responsible for much that is harmful around us.  Why should one strive towards perfection when tainted by “original sin”? Why practice restraint when one is credited with descent from an anthropoid ape? Robbed of the ethical incentive of noblesse oblige, man will behave as befits one springing from lowly origins.  Judaism warns us that human nature is susceptible to sin and emphasizes that the soul was given to us in a pure condition and it is our bounden duty to keep it pure. “Behold”, says that wisest of all men, Ecclesiastes 7:29, “this only have I found, that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” Once we admit moral freedom, we must automatically admit moral responsibility. One is a corollary of the other. Freedom of will is not negatived by a staunch belief in divine Providence. Both are correlative and complementary. Deuteronomy 30:19; Jeremiah 18:7-11; Proverbs 5:22; Avot 3:19, 4:1. Not all who mock their chains are free. To possess freedom without moral responsibility is to be forced often to place manacles on our hands to keep them from trembling.  LEHRMAN 157-8

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GEN647 The reason Hashem obligates man to actively strengthen his faith and persist in prayer is solely for the benefit of man. Hashem, Who is exalted beyond all blessing and praise—and everything is revealed before Him—does not need the praise of man Yet we know that the purpose of man’s creation in this world is only to enable him to receive benefit in the Next World, to grant him the inheritance of eternal life and everlasting joy.  There in the World of Recompense, he will receive the fruits of his efforts and exertions. Clearly the mitzvah to “Watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord, your God” Deuteronomy 6:13 serves the same purpose as prayer, as Rabbeinu Younah wrote in Sha’arei Teshuvah, “Through this mitzvah, we are exhorted to always remember Hashem.” This means that when man continuously reflects on Hashem, he will proceed in the straight paths of Hashem—observing Torah and mitzvos. This is the first halachah in the Shulchan Aruch, “’I place Hashem ever before me’ – this is a primary axiom of the Torah, and [fulfilled in] the exalted level of the tzaddikim.”  However, since the soul of man is imprisoned within his body, and “man’s heart is evil from his youth” [this verse], and his heart is attracted to earthly passions—man is apt to forget Hashem and to stray from the path of Torah and mitzvos. Therefore, Hashem wisely opened a path for man through which his interaction with the physical actually serves to constantly remind him of Hashem. It is for this reason that Hashem commands man to always pray to Him and to plead for mercy that Hashem provides his needs. Likewise, man must always remember the constant lovingkindness and unbounded goodness of Hashem, thank Him for the kindness that He bestows, and bless Hashem for each pleasure that he enjoys in this world. OHRYIS 576-7

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GEN645 The Jewish system of business ethics envisions a world of “fettered capitalism.” The rabbis of the Talmudic era recognized the benefits of capitalism and competition. Yet they were also aware that [this verse] and they put constraints on business aimed at achieving an environment that is just toward all. Business owners have responsibilities beyond themselves and their partners, and beyond their employees. They also have obligations to their customers (e.g., to sell at a fair price). Overcharging is forbidden. Interestingly, customers also have obligations toward vendors: underpaying is also forbidden! Baba Metzia 49b Business owners also have an obligation to society and must repair any harm they cause to public spaces. (By Barry J. Leff, "Jewish Business Ethics") OXFORD 371

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GEN651 While technology has evolved rapidly, human nature, alas, has not. The Torah tells us that after God destroyed the world in the flood, He said to Himself [this verse]. It has long been known that businesspeople in particular can be tempted to evil: hence the Torah contains, among other laws, warning against using false weights and measures. That champion of capitalism, Adam Smith, also recognized the problem: “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” A. Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1776/1952), p. 55. … The Jewish tradition agrees that business has responsibilities beyond the bottom line. … simply obeying secular law is not good enough. The Talmud … the foundation for modern Judaism, tells us that when a person passes away, the first question the soul is asked is, “Did you conduct your business affairs with integrity?” Shabbat 31a It is not, “Did you observe the rituals? “Did you eat only kosher food?” or “Did you observe the Sabbath?” The most important question is held to be “Did you conduct yourself ethically in your business dealings?” (By Barry J. Leff, "Jewish Business Ethics") OXFORD 368-9

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GEN636 (Continued from [[DEUT468]] Deuteronomy 10:19 stranger SACKS 13-14) Second, God Himself recognizes that we are not naturally good. After the Flood, He says: [This verse]. The antidote to the yetzer, the inclination to evil, is covenant. We now know the neuroscience behind this. We have a prefrontal cortex that evolved to allow humans to think and act reflexively, considering the consequences of their deeds. But this is slower and weaker than the amygdala [what the Jewish mystics called the nefesh habehemit, the animal soul), which produces, even before we have had time to think, the fight-or-flight reactions without which humans before civilization would simply not have survived. The problem is that these reactions can be deeply destructive. Often they lead to violence-not only the violence between species (predator and prey) that is part of the order of nature, but also to the more gratuitous violence that is a feature of the life of most social animals, not just humans. It is not that we only do evil. Empathy and compassion are as natural to us as are fear and aggression. The problem is that fear lies just beneath the surface of human interaction, and it threatens all else. Daniel Goldman calls this an amygdala hijack. “Emotions make us pay attention right now -- this is urgent -- without having to think twice.  The emotional component evolved very early: do I eat it, or does it eat me?” Daniel Goldman, Emotional Intelligence (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), 13ff. Impulsive action is often destructive because it is undertaken without thought of the consequences. That is why Rambam [i.e., Maimonides – AJL] argued that many of the laws of the Torah constitute a training in virtue by making us think before we act. Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Temura 4:13. So the Torah tells us that naturally we are neither good nor bad but have the capacity for both. We have a natural inclination to empathy and sympathy, but we have an even stronger instinct for fear that leads to violence. That is why, in the move from Adam to Noah, the Torah shifts from nature to covenant, from tov to brit, from power to the moral limits of power. Genes are not enough. We also need the moral law.   SACKS 13-14

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GEN644 See [[GEN666]] Genesis 9:3 eat SACTAB 273

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GEN652 See [[GEN666]] Genesis 9:3 eat SACTAB 273-4

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GEN649 The Torah has a skeptical view of human nature, although it is by no means hopeless about people’s capacity to change and improve.  In Genesis, God, disappointed by humankind’s propensity for violence and dishonesty, laments [this verse].  This does not mean that we are born bad, or as certain Christian groups believe, damned (hence the need for baptism), but it also means that we are not born good (and corrupted by society, as Enlightenment thinkers taught).  Rather, human beings are born morally neutral, with strong inclination toward evil. Children, for example, are born self-absorbed, and have to be educated toward sharing, empathy, and generosity.  … Because of the Bible’s assumption that human nature cannot be relied upon to ensure that people do what is right, Jewish law does not issue general edits on matters of ethics, such as “Be generous,” when it comes to giving to charity.  If there were no specific guidelines on how much to donate, many people would regard themselves as having fulfilled this command by giving small sums of money to other in need.  Hence Jewish law speaks of donating between ten and twenty percent of one’s net income to charity. Jewish law prescribes numerous other ethical acts, the practice of which refine our natures and lead us to goodness. The Jewish view of human nature would seem to be “Do good and you will become a good person in spite of yourself.”  Therefore, at the heart of Judaism’s teaching on how to improve our character is the mitzvah (commandment), the obligatory deed.  TELVOL 1:33-4

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