GEN965 Are Jews guilty of arrogant pretensions to racial or at least spiritual superiority? Is this the reason that Jews have historically been so insular? Do they really believe themselves to be closer to God than all other nations? The answer is an emphatic no. Chosenness implies greater responsibility, with penalties as well as rewards; “You only have I singled out of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.” The choice of the children of Israel as God’s people was not because of their power or merit. Nor was it designed to isolate them from the other nations of the world. To say that the concept of chosenness is arrogant behavior on the part of the Jews is a gross misrepresentation. On the contrary, it is a humbling device. The Jews were not merely chosen as God’s special people, as if the Almighty was playing favorites.   They were chosen for a mission. And that mission was to spread the knowledge of the Creator and His expectations of man to all nations. … The bible never uses the word chosen in relation to the Jews as an adjective, but rather as a verb, thereby conveying the idea that they were chosen for a purpose.  God has no favorite nations. Consider, “No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice: so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him” [this verse] Amos 3:2.   BOTEACH 277

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GEN967 Jewish ethics is, of course, not only about avoiding wrongdoing.   Rather, we have a greater mandate to go beyond the ethics of the “do no harm” principle and the responsibility to repair the world from its brokenness.  We are asked to partner with others to help meet our potential for moral leadership.   As a nation, we are commanded to commit to being laasot tzedakah u’mispat—a nation enacting justice.   Setting positive examples that cultivate leadership in our communities is vital to the Jewish moral enterprise and to the creation of a vibrant, just society.   (By Shmuly Yanklowitz) DORFF-RUTTENBERGSOC 19

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GEN968 Within Judaism there have been divergent currents of thought, but on this one point there has always been agreement and an ever increasing insistence, namely, that piety and the fear of God are grounded in moral action and that man can only apprehend God as he realizes that in the fulfillment of the good lies the raison d’etre of his existence.   FOJE 20

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GEN966 “Atonement by Repentance” is a cardinal teaching. An important day in the year (Yom Kippur) is dedicated to this belief.   No vicarious savior, no miracle or sacrament can achieve for him what only his own life and conduct can do. This goal is advocated for the whole of mankind as well as for each individual. The true purpose of existence and the real nature of faith are to be found only in the dispensation of goodness and in the amelioration of suffering. To spur the Jew on this Elijah-like task of succor and reconciliation, the moral commandments have been given – sign-posts at every turn of his path, admonishing, encouraging the pilgrim on his progress.   This is what Judaism means to the thoughtful Jews – a task to be fulfilled and a mission to be borne. As a nation, Israel will survive on its own land if it displays a readiness to serve mankind and a determination to fulfill itself through ethical conduct in diplomacy and statecraft. No other guarantee for the survival of our nation is valid; no other raison d’etre of our individual lives is deserving of consideration.   [this verse; Isaiah 1:16-17, 41:1; Jeremiah 31:31-33; Micah 6:8; Psalm 15, 24:3-5; Proverbs 8:13; Job 28. ]. LEHRMAN 169-70

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GEN974 Judaism’s greatest blessing for a person is a family that follows in his or her footsteps.  One of the blessings in the morning prayers with which we beseech God is that Torah should be sweet not only in our mouths, but in the mouths of our children, grandchildren, and all those that are born from our family.   Taanit 5b. Thus, the continuity of Judaism through family is paramount in Judaism.  Although he did not succeed in achieving the perfect, united family, Abraham understood its importance, and God recognized Abraham’s greatness for understanding its significance (more important than all the other things he did in his life).   [This verse]. Specifically, when God wanted to destroy the city of Sodom, the Almighty said I cannot hide my plans from Abraham, not because he is righteous or has withstood my tests, but because he will instruct his children after him to uphold the commandments of God.   AMEMEI 71  

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GEN972 In pointing to nearly every admirable individual both in the Scripture and in the Talmud, the role models of Jewish life were based almost solely on how they interacted with other human beings, and not on how they interacted with God.  The very first Jew, Abraham, is singled out for being special because he would teach his children (and they would in turn teach their children, until today) about kindness and the importance of justice and righteousness.   This verse is placed in the Torah right before Abraham argues with God about the five cities of evil people (including Sodom) that God was about to destroy, when Abraham convinced God not to destroy them if there were only ten righteous men living in the cities.  And Abraham had never even met any of the people in these cities who would shortly die!   Almost every other leadership figure in the Torah is also described in terms of man-to-man kindness, and not piety to God.  AMJV 155-6

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GEN971 At the outset, it must be pointed out that Judaism extols the proper upbringing of children above all virtues. Indeed, it was this very mitzvah that served as the consideration of the Covenant that was established between Almighty God and Abraham. In the words of the Torah: “Ki y’dativ” – “I love him (says the Almighty of Abraham) for he instructs his sons and his daughters [Some commentators say that bonov has reference to “sons” while beiso refers to “daughters.”] so that they will follow the path of God in practicing righteousness and justice. [this verse]   It should be emphasized that insofar as laws affecting the behavior of women are concerned, a father is just as obligated to teach these precepts to his daughter as he is to teach Torah to his son.   BUILD 11

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GEN978 The Rambam [Maimonides] [observes] that he who pursues this [middle] path in life, is following in the footsteps of Avraham Avinu, and that this is the derech Hashem -- “the path of the Almighty.” “Because the Creator is called by these names, and they represent the middle path which we are commanded to pursue, therefore is this path known as the ‘Path of God.'” And it is this path which Avraham Avinu instructed his children to pursue, as it says [this verse], For I have known him [lovingly] [Rashi], that he might instruct his children and his household after him to follow the path of God. And he who pursues this path brings goodness and blessing upon himself, as it says [this verse] That God might bring upon Avraham that which He had said concerning him. [Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos De’os 1:7]  This mitzvah is not only meant to be interpreted in an abstract, conceptual sense. It must be accompanied also by practical application.   In his Sefer haMitzvos, therefore, Maimonides concludes with the observation that this concept of emulating the Creator must be applied to His deeds, as well as to His attributes. [See also Talmud, Sotah 14a and Rashi, Deuteronomy 11:22]. FENDEL 8

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GEN980 We should not shirk our responsibility to do chesed.   From this verse we see the importance that God places on chesed.  When Sodom was to be destroyed, God told Avraham about the impending destruction in advance. Avraham merited this prophetic disclosure by virtue of his intention to teach the ways of kindness to his descendants.   The Talmud Yevamot 79a explains that the word tzedakah in this verse refers to all forms of chesed and states that doing chesed is one of the three basic attributes of the Jewish people.   Rambam comments about this verse: “We must be more careful about charity than with any other positive commandment because charity is one of the signs of our lineage from Avraham our foregather, as it is written, [This verse].   Laws of Gifts to the Poor 10:1.   PLYN 74

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GEN969 [Continued from [[GEN1335]] Genesis 31:19 idols SACKS xxvii] And there is a corollary principle about the Abrahamic faith, that the relationship between God and humanity, and specifically between God and the people of the covenant, is one of love --- love moralized, love as deed, love as commitment and mutual obligation. The biblical word emuna, usually translated as “faith,” does not mean this at all. It is not a cognitive attribute, meaning something you believe to be true. It belongs to an entirely different sphere of discourse. It is a moral attribute and means faithfulness, as in a marriage. Faith in the Hebrew Bible is the story of a love -- the love of God for creation, for humanity, and for a particular family, the children of Abraham, a love full of passion but one that is not always, or even often, reciprocated. Sometimes, as in the Mosaic books, it is described like the relationship between a parent and a child. At other times, particularly in the prophetic literature, it is envisaged as the love between a husband and an often faithless wife. But it is never less than love. Judaism was the first moral system to place interpersonal love at the center of the moral life: love of God “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” Deuteronomy 6:5, love of “your neighbor as yourself” Leviticus 19:18, and love of the stranger because “You know what it feels like to be a stranger” Exodus 23:9. This was later adopted by Christianity and remains a distinctive element of the Judeo-Christian ethic. All moral systems have at their heart a system a principle of justice, or reciprocal altruism: do as you would be done by. But love is something different and more demanding. Hence the fundamental importance of sexual ethics in Judaism, and of the sanctity of marriage and the family as the matrix of society and a place where children are inducted into the moral life. This is announced early in the biblical story. In the only place where the Torah states why Abraham was chosen, it says, “For I have chosen him and his household after him that they may keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just” [This verse]. Hence also the significance of circumcision as a sign of the covenant, as if to say that holiness has a direct connection with the way we conduct our sexual relations. It seems that the Torah sees the Darwinian drive to pass on one’s genes to the next generation, and with that the phenomenon of the alpha male who dominates access to females, as one of the prime causes of violence within society. Judaism is as much about the moralization of sex as it is about the moralization of power, and the two are connected.  SACKS xxvii-viii

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