Iyunim - Weekly insights on the Parasha with commentaries by Nehama Leibovitz, za"l
Doing the right and decent thing
The main principles of Judaism – the prohibition of idolatry, the principles of the unity, love and fear of god, the Decalogue, the duty of studying the Torah – all are given an honourable mention in this sidra. It also constantly emphasises the obligation to actually carry out and faithfully observe all the precepts contained in the torah. First: Now, O Israel listen to the statutes and judgements Which I am teaching you for the purpose of practice (4, 1) See, I have taught you statutes… For you to practice in the land you are going to possess. (4, 5) Then again as a concluding refrain to the account of the Giving of the Torah: you. Stray not to the right or left. (5, 29) After these numerous exhortations to put the commandments, statutes and judgements into practice in their daily lives, the Torah once again calls upon us to
The question that immediately springs to mind is: Surely this exhortation to do what is right and good is already implied in all the numerous injunctions already enjoined in the torah. Surely one who strictly obeys all the positive and negative commands in the Torah ipso facto fulfils the admonition to do what is “right and good in the eyes of the Lord”! What new obligation then does this admonition imply? Or is it perhaps merely a summary of all that has been stated previously? We must, of course, assume that the Torah does not multiply injunctions merely for rhetorical effect. We have, therefore, to seek the specific contribution of this verse to the whole, one which we could not have deduced from any other dictum in the Torah. Both Rashi and Ramban explain that this verse implies a further divine injunction not included in what has been recorded previously:
Ramban this time agreeing with Rashi elaborates on his explanation:
The Ramban’s words will become clearer if we compare them with another precept occurring in the Torah, enunciating the most sublime principle of divinely ordained conduct.
But one question still remains for us to clarify. Surely he who observes all the precepts in the Torah will find himself, of necessity, fulfilling the highest principles of holiness enunciated in the above citation. Holiness and righteousness are surely the logical noncomitants of a total observance of the divine precepts. Is it conceivable that one who observes loyally all the moral and ritual observances of the torah should fall short of the standards of holiness and uprightness implied in the injunctions already referred to of: “ye shall be holy” and “thou shalt do that which is upright and good?” According to Ramban such a state of affairs is indeed conceivable. Commenting on the above verse from Leviticus he states:
In my opinion the separation referred to here is not merely to abstention from immorality as Rashi maintains but rather to the abstention invariably referred to in the Talmud, the practicers of which we termed perushim (ascetics). Since the torah warned us against immorality and forbidden foods but permitted marital relations and the partaking of meat and wine, the immoderate person might abuse these dispensions, overindulging in permitted sexual relations and in eating and drinking, maintaining in common with all foolish people that this was not specifically prohibited by the Torah. He would be a fool by authorisation of the torah (naval bi-reshut ha-torah). For this reason the Torah adds to its list of explicit prohibitions and injunctions a general admonition to be holy, to sanctify oneself through minimizing hid indulgence in even permitted enjoyments, in food and drink and sex. The Nazirite abstainer is called “holy” by the Torah. Similarly every man should sanctify himself till he attains a higher state of holiness and separation, as it was said of R. Hiyya that he never indulged in idle conversation. Ramban thus shows how is possible for a man to keep to the letter of the Torah and yet violate its spirit. Often in everyday life there are cases to which no direct and explicit injunction of the Torah applies. But we are called upon to act in these circumstances in accordance with the general principle of holiness and righteousness. This is the implication of those two admonitions “ye shall be holy” and “thou shalt do that which is upright and good”. We may note that, in the former, Ramban confines his examples to precepts governing relations between man and man. Our Rabbis explained the verse in our sidra to refer to relations between man and man in which the individual is called upon not always to stand upon his rights but rather to agree to a compromise in the interests of a higher morality. Here we quote an instructive example of the application of this divine exhortation to practice holiness in our everyday lives:
A further example of the supreme importance of acting in the spirit rather than the letter of the law is epitomized in the following rabbinic saying:
The practical legal implications of these general moral injunctions may be seen from the following restatement of rabbinic rulings in Maimonides’ Code. These admonitions to be holy and deal uprightly were not intended to be merely high-sounding phrases:
Although by law it would seem that a man can sell his land to anyone he wishes the Torah demands the exercise of the maximum moral consideration. Let us conclude our study with a quotation on this subject from a modern religious Jewish thinker, R. Yeshaya Shapiro the “rabbi halutz” (d. 1942), who lived as a farmer in Kfar Piness in the Sharon valley in the Holy Land. The injunction of “ye shall be holy,” implies that the letter of the law must not be strictly adhered to, but as Ramban phrases it “one should follow the intention of the Torah”. Whoever wishes to achieve a perfect observance of the Torah cannot rest content with adhering to it explicit rulings. He must penetrate deeper in order to arrive at the ultimate aim of these rulings. He must penetrate deeper in order to arrive at the ultimate aim of these rulings. He must not only think of that which is good and upright in his own eyes but that “which is upright and good in the eyes of the Lord”. It would seem that this latter injunction added by the Torah to its list of rulings is superfluous since all the divine precepts are designed to show mankind the right way of living. However, there are many things which are permitted by the letter of the law and are only forbidden from the point of view of “thou shall do that which is right and good in the eyes of the Lord”. Regarding the seizing of property for a debt our rabbis stated that the law does not demand the return of such property, but it is to be returned in accordance with the injunction of “thou shall do that which is right…” This special injunction demonstrates that Judaism does not rest content with limiting active evil doing, but also aspires to eradicate potential evil from the soul of man.
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