Questions for Discussion
- What is the difference between doing what is right and doing what is moral?
- How would you define Jewish law?
halakhah
- Halachah refers to the whole set of comprehensive rules, ordinances, commandments and practices that structure Jewish life
- The etymological root of halakhah is the Hebrew verb "to go," and so halakhah is the way to go in life.
- Encompasses more than moderns usually have in mind when they use words like "observance" and "law."
- It includes moral demands, civil and criminal law, rituals, and family law
Rabbinic Law
Rabbinic laws are those believed to be created by humans. There are three general categories:
Rabbinic laws are those believed to be created by humans. There are three general categories:
- Gezeirah: Laws instituted by rabbis to prevent people from accidentally violating Torah law.
- Takkanah: Non-biblical laws created for the welfare of the public.
- Minhag: Laws that are not deliberately created, but rather long-standing customs.
No differentiation is made between ritual and moral laws
(יג) לֹ֥֖א תִּֿרְצָ֖͏ֽח׃ {ס} לֹ֣֖א תִּֿנְאָ֑͏ֽף׃ {ס} לֹ֣֖א תִּֿגְנֹֽ֔ב׃ {ס} לֹֽא־תַעֲנֶ֥ה בְרֵעֲךָ֖ עֵ֥ד שָֽׁקֶר׃ {ס}
(13) You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
(יח) לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָֽה׃
(18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow [Israelite] as yourself: I am יהוה.
Franz Rosenzweig
Influential German Jewish existentialist thinker (1886-1929)
Rosenzweig’s approach was subjective also in connection with the mitzvot, Jewish observances. He did think that he would one day become a fully observant Jew, but believed in the gradual approach in which the observances slowly made their impact by “ringing a bell” for him. Typical of this approach is Rosenzweig’s answer to someone who asked him whether he wore tefillin [phylacteries]: “Not yet,” he replied.
The Torah is, for Rosenzweig, not a once-and-for-all disclosure of the divine will but an ongoing process in which the individual Jew finds his meaning in the Torah. Rosenzweig detects this process of discovery and rediscovery in the Torah itself, which is the record of the people of Israel’s series of encounters with the divine.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/franz-rosenzweig-and-the-founding-of-the-lehrhaus/
Influential German Jewish existentialist thinker (1886-1929)
Rosenzweig’s approach was subjective also in connection with the mitzvot, Jewish observances. He did think that he would one day become a fully observant Jew, but believed in the gradual approach in which the observances slowly made their impact by “ringing a bell” for him. Typical of this approach is Rosenzweig’s answer to someone who asked him whether he wore tefillin [phylacteries]: “Not yet,” he replied.
The Torah is, for Rosenzweig, not a once-and-for-all disclosure of the divine will but an ongoing process in which the individual Jew finds his meaning in the Torah. Rosenzweig detects this process of discovery and rediscovery in the Torah itself, which is the record of the people of Israel’s series of encounters with the divine.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/franz-rosenzweig-and-the-founding-of-the-lehrhaus/
The prophets — the champions of ethics and morality — frequently spoke out against observing ritual law that does not include a corresponding moral code.
(ג) עֲ֭שֹׂה צְדָקָ֣ה וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט נִבְחָ֖ר לַיהֹוָ֣ה מִזָּֽבַח׃
(3) To do what is right and just
Is more desired by the LORD than sacrifice.
"Tz’dakah" is sometimes narrowly understood as charity in the financial sense, but it has a wider connotation of love, concern and care for other people in both acts and attitudes, which includes but is not limited to giving them monetary support.
"Mishpat" means being fair and even-handed to them, especially in the broader context of how they are treated in and by the community.
(כב) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֗ל הַחֵ֤פֶץ לַֽיהֹוָה֙ בְּעֹל֣וֹת וּזְבָחִ֔ים כִּשְׁמֹ֖עַ בְּק֣וֹל יְהֹוָ֑ה הִנֵּ֤ה שְׁמֹ֙עַ֙ מִזֶּ֣בַח ט֔וֹב לְהַקְשִׁ֖יב מֵחֵ֥לֶב אֵילִֽים׃
(22) But Samuel said:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As much as in obedience to the LORD’s command?
Surely, obedience is better than sacrifice,
Compliance than the fat of rams.
These verses do not say that sacrifices and other rituals are not valuable but that they must be performed together with righteousness and justice.
Ritual without ethics becomes cruel. Ethics without ritual becomes hollow.
"Proste froomkeit" – ritual without righteousness – is no great achievement.
Levi Yitzhak believed that there was a service we could perform in addition to ritual responsibilities, which would return the fragments of God in exile in our world to the Godly realm.
avodah, service of God, can be simple ritual observance without any moral dimension, or, when the ethical dimension is included, our service becomes a gift to God.
https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/ritual-obligations-and-moral-lessons/
avodah, service of God, can be simple ritual observance without any moral dimension, or, when the ethical dimension is included, our service becomes a gift to God.
https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/ritual-obligations-and-moral-lessons/
Rabbi Sampson Raphael Hirsch (Germany 1808–1888)
avodah : “striving to regain the eternal values of life if we should have lost sight of them through the deceptions, errors, conflicts and temptations of living.”
Our sages call true devotion avodat ha–lev — the service of the heart; that is, the fulfillment of God’s will toward our own inner person by purifying and ennobling our character.”
avodah : “striving to regain the eternal values of life if we should have lost sight of them through the deceptions, errors, conflicts and temptations of living.”
Our sages call true devotion avodat ha–lev — the service of the heart; that is, the fulfillment of God’s will toward our own inner person by purifying and ennobling our character.”
Rabbi Sandy Sasso
Spirituality can keep religion from forgetting the experience that formed the story. Religion keeps spirituality from selfishness; it reminds us of our obligations. Spirituality keeps religion from absolutism; it reminds us that the breath of God blows through each and every human soul.
Spirituality can keep religion from forgetting the experience that formed the story. Religion keeps spirituality from selfishness; it reminds us of our obligations. Spirituality keeps religion from absolutism; it reminds us that the breath of God blows through each and every human soul.
Holy self-esteem is the foundation for leading a good life. Holy self-esteem doesn’t mean you ignore your flaws. Instead, you recognize you are flawed, but don’t allow your flaws to shatter you. Instead, you believe in yourself and believe you are very, very precious to Hashem. You believe doing teshuva and coming closer to Hashem is the best possible way to express your self-worth. ~Chaya Rivka Zwolinski
(י) כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ וּנְתָנ֞וֹ יְהֹוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ בְּיָדֶ֖ךָ וְשָׁבִ֥יתָ שִׁבְיֽוֹ׃
(10) When you [an Israelite warrior] take the field against your enemies, and your God יהוה delivers them into your power and you take some of them captive,
The Hebrew phrase al oyvecha, עַל־אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ“on your enemies,” can also be understood in the literal sense of “on top of your enemies.” In every battle, the way to achieve victory is to gain the higher ground. We must never stoop to the level of evil to fight it on its own terms; in the words of our sages, “One who wrestles with a filthy person becomes dirtied as well.” Rather, we should rise above it, affirming our belief that there is no true existence other than G‑d, and that nothing contrary to His goodness and truth has any real power. When our going to war is in a manner of “on your enemies,” we are guaranteed that “G‑d shall deliver them into your hands.” ~The Chassidic Masters www.chabad.org
"The Torah doesn't write if you go out to war, but rather when. We fight real wars just as we fight moral ones. Turbulence and struggle is inevitable. We fight character traits just as we struggule to use our time wisely and develop our talents fully." ~Chana Weisberg
(ט) כֹּ֥ה אָמַ֛ר יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֖וֹת לֵאמֹ֑ר מִשְׁפַּ֤ט אֱמֶת֙ שְׁפֹ֔טוּ וְחֶ֣סֶד וְרַֽחֲמִ֔ים עֲשׂ֖וּ אִ֥ישׁ אֶת־אָחִֽיו׃
(9) Thus said GOD of Hosts: Execute true justice; deal loyally and compassionately with one another.
Also from one’s spiritual enemies one must “capture captives” וְשָׁבִ֥יתָ שִׁבְיֽוֹ
Anything negative in man or in the world can be exploited for the good, if one can derive a lesson from it in the service of the Creator. ~ The Ba'al Shem Tov - [Besht]
Anything negative in man or in the world can be exploited for the good, if one can derive a lesson from it in the service of the Creator. ~ The Ba'al Shem Tov - [Besht]
The great sage Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, who I believe is the savior of Judaism, walked with one of his students in Jerusalem and came to the Temple, which recently had been destroyed by the Romans. The student raised his voice and cried: “Woe is to us. The Temple is destroyed, and how will we gain atonement and absolution for our sins?”
Rabbi ben Zakkai responded: “We have something even more powerful than sacrifices. Performing gemilut chasadim, the performance of acts of lovingkindness, is the surest way to achieve redemption for sins.”
https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/shema-yisrael-morals-more-important-than-rituals/
Rabbi ben Zakkai responded: “We have something even more powerful than sacrifices. Performing gemilut chasadim, the performance of acts of lovingkindness, is the surest way to achieve redemption for sins.”
https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/shema-yisrael-morals-more-important-than-rituals/
The Torah, our sages remind us, begins and ends with G-d performing acts of lovingkindness. He provided fig leaves to Adam and Eve when they became aware of their nakedness. He came to take Moses’ soul with a kiss, and He himself buried Moses.
https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/shema-yisrael-morals-more-important-than-rituals/
https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/shema-yisrael-morals-more-important-than-rituals/
A maximal Jew practices rituals that are rooted in ethics, and acts on an ethical system that finds expression and reinforcement through ritual. Ethical rigor and ritual profundity — that is the Jewish definition of holiness. By blending those two strands, we create a tapestry stronger and more enduring than either individual thread alone.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ritual-and-ethics-a-holy-blend/
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ritual-and-ethics-a-holy-blend/
Ethics alone make man the measure of all things. Ritual alone surrenders the intellect to the power of unregulated passion. As many people have perished from emotion unleashed as from an unfeeling mind. The two need each other to teach restraint, balance, and compassion. By blending ritual and ethics, we shift the focus from our perspective to God’s. “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ritual-and-ethics-a-holy-blend/
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ritual-and-ethics-a-holy-blend/
The Dalai Lama tells the story of a visit to Israel where he asked one of the chief rabbis what element of doctrine unites Jews throughout the world.
The rabbi responded, “When it comes to doctrine, there is hardly any uniformity. What unites all faithful Jews are the rituals.”
https://daytonjewishobserver.org/2015/04/ritual-matters/
The rabbi responded, “When it comes to doctrine, there is hardly any uniformity. What unites all faithful Jews are the rituals.”
https://daytonjewishobserver.org/2015/04/ritual-matters/
Mosaic Haggadah, David Silberman writes,
“Tradition is designed to make us think, to look for bigger messages that apply to us today, not just to automatically rote go through a ritual.”
Through symbol and action, rituals are catalysts for the moral development of individuals and communities.
“Tradition is designed to make us think, to look for bigger messages that apply to us today, not just to automatically rote go through a ritual.”
Through symbol and action, rituals are catalysts for the moral development of individuals and communities.
“Morality is God’s supreme demand of all human beings,” Rabbi Reuven Hammer asserts in The Torah Revolution. “Ritual is secondary to right conduct.”
If morality is the ultimate obligation, why add the intermediary of rituals? Can’t we just learn a catechism of Jewish values and moral precepts?
If asked to identify the core of their faith, devout Christians would undoubtedly point to the belief that Jesus is the Christ; indeed, even if they were raised as Christians and are no longer Christian, they would say that they held this belief at one time but not now.
Religious Jews asked the same question, on the other hand, would indubitably cite the commandments (mitzvot) embedded in Jewish law (halakhah) as the central feature of Judaism even before they mention God, who presumably commands them, or Jewish peoplehood or Torah—and long before they would mention Jewish beliefs about the Messiah or life after death.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/legal-and-political-magazines/jewish-observance
Religious Jews asked the same question, on the other hand, would indubitably cite the commandments (mitzvot) embedded in Jewish law (halakhah) as the central feature of Judaism even before they mention God, who presumably commands them, or Jewish peoplehood or Torah—and long before they would mention Jewish beliefs about the Messiah or life after death.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/legal-and-political-magazines/jewish-observance