JEWISH VALUES FOR MODERN MAN By EMANUEL RACKMAN Jewish Education Committee Press PRESENTED BY one/ or • • qp . JEWISH EDUCATION COMMITTEE OP NEW YORK 11 U i Ci JEWISH VALUES FOR MODERN MAN by Emanuel Rackman Introduction by Leon A. Feldman JEWISH ORIENTATION AND TRAINING SEMINAR JEWISH EDUCATION COMMITTEE PRESS J 30 ר! Reprinted from Tradition, vol 2, No. 1 (Fall 1959); Vol 3, No. 2 (Spring 1961); Judaism, Vol. 1, No. 2 (April 1952); vol. 3, No. 3, (Summer 1954); Vol. 10, No. 2 (Spring 1961); New York University Law Review, Vol. 31, No. 7 (November 1956); Commentary, Vol. 18, No. 3 (September 1954); Vol. 21, No. 4 (April 1956), with approval of the author and the kind permission of the respective editors. Copyright 1962 Jewish Education Committee of New Yori DEDICATED to GRAENUM BERGER Consultant on Camping, Community Centers and Religious Education DR. MORRIS HINENBURG Consultant on Hospitals and Care of the Aged MRS. MARTHA K. SELIG Consultant on Child Care, Family and Vocational Services RABBI ISAAC N. TRAIN IN Director of Religious Affairs of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York whose inspiration and support guided this project to realization and success i FOREWORD I he concern for values in our society, particularly Jewish values for modern man, occupies the thinking of not just the educator and the social worker, but is also of interest to the Jewish layman for two reasons: this type of literature, which is written too seldom, does not generally come to the attention of the average person, and its subject matter represents one of the major areas of thought by concerned Jews. The emphasis is on Jewish values because firstly, these receive a special kind of treatment in Jewish tradition, and secondly, these values are vital forces in the life of the modern Jew who is trying to live by them. We are pleased to re-publish these nine essays, the ideas for which were partly developed in a series of seminars for group and case workers. The semi- nars were part of the Jewish Orientation and Training Seminar, conducted under the joint auspices of the Department of Adult Education of the Jewish Educa- tion Committee of New York and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, in cooperation with the New York Metropolitan Section of the National Jewish Welfare Board. The theme of the seminars was Jewish Values for Modern Man. The essays — covering a great diversity of topics — attempt to demon- strate how Jewish values can be gleaned from the rich literature of the Bible and the Talmud, The material contained in the first essay was used to acquaint the seminar participants with the relationship between the Written Law and Oral Law. In the second essay, several human rights were discussed, while the third essay ex- plores some aspects of Jewish communal organization. The fourth essay deals with the question of medical ethics, and the fifth and sixth essays deal with Jewish religious observances, including the Sabbath and Festivals. Some of the Jewish law of personal status is analyzed in the seventh and eighth essays. The last essay is a historical survey of the role of the land of Israel in Jewish thought and practice. Some of the material for these essays was developed in the seminars, while others were written especially for publication in Commentary, Judaism, Tradi- tion and New York Law Review, and each essay had a limited objective. All are now assembled and republished by the Jewish Orientation and Training Seminar as an aid to discussions on Jewish values and their source in the basic literature of Judaism. -7- Oui thanks ate due to Earl Morse, chairman of the JEC—Federation Joint Com- mittee on Training, for his inspiration and support in the development of this program as part of his greater interest in Jewish values and Jewish communal service. We also gratefully acknowledge the generous non-budgetary grant by the Fede- ration of Jewish Philanthropies of New York to the Jewish Education Committee of New York, which made possible the Jewish Orientation and Training Seminar, as well as the publication of this volume. Leon. A. Feldman, Director Jewish Orientation and Training Seminar CONTENTS Foreword 7 Truth and Wisdom: An Orthodox Approach 11 Talmudic Insights on Human Rights •23 From Synagogue Toward Yeshiva • 33 Morality in Medico-Legal Problems: A Jewish View • • •45 Can We Moderns Keep the Sabbath? 55 Health and Holiness • • • • * * ^ Ethical Norms in the Jewish Law of Marriage 85 The Dialectic of the Halakha .97 Eretz Israel in the Jewish Tradition . 115 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Emanuel Rackman is Rabbi of Congregation Shaatay Tefila and The Jewish Center of Far Rockaway, New York; and Associate Professor of Political Philosophy and Jurisprudence at Yeshiva University. He is a past presi- dent of the New York Board of Rabbis (1955-57), Rabbinical Council of America (1958-60); Association of Jewish Chaplains of the Armed Forces of the U.S.; and a vice-president of the Religious Zionist Organization of America. Dr. Rackman serves as chaplain (Lt. Col.) in the United States Air Force Reserve, and is a member of the Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy of the National Jewish Welfare Board. He "holds an Army Commendation Ribbon with one Oak Leaf Cluster. He was military aide to European Theatre Commander's Special Advisor on Jewish Affairs in 1946 to work on DP problems. He earned his BA, LL.B, and PH.D. degrees at Columbia University, and received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University, which bestowed upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. He is the author of "Israel's Emerging Constitution" and his essays and book reviews have been published in the Menorah Journal, Commentary, Judaism, Tradition, and in other scholarly journals. -10- I וי TRUTH AND WISDOM: AN ORTHODOX APPROACH -11- Reprinted from Judaism, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Spring 1961), pp. 142-150. 1 -12- I LIntwithstanding populai opinion to the contrary, Orthodox Judaism does not • " give its adherents unequivocal answers to the basic questions of life. Nor does it even prescribe for every situation in which the Jew may find himself. While it does have religious, philosophical and ethical imperatives, these are often antithetical in character and man is rarely spared the onus of deliberate choice and decision. It is important to point this out for the benefit of those who are already committed to the Law as well as for those who are about to embrace it. Judaism affords no escape from the awareness of reality or the exercise of reason. Indeed, the divinely revealed must be true—in the absolute sense—and what is absolutely true can be an anchor for emotional and intellectual security. But the divinely revealed is limited in word and scope. Life, on the other hand, is complicated, nuanced and calls for cautious application of divinely revealed norms to an endless diversity of situations. To make this application the Jew must constantly muster all of the resources of heart and mind available. And for this he has his Oral Law and the sea of the Talmud. Most appropriately has it been said that while truth is to be found in the Decalogue, the Talmud has wisdom. The former is absolute; the latter is qualified, antithetical, even unsure of itself. As simple an imperative as "Thou shalt not steal" cannot be treated as an absolute. Is man's right to the ownership of things divinely protected? When can his neighbors, or his fellow-citizens, invade the right and subject owner- ship to the requirements of the public weal? What is the nature of the higher good, or how many of its beneficiaries, that in its name the public—a state or a community-may expropriate an individual? The Talmud suggests that the pro- hibition against the theft of things may not even be part of the Decalogue—the theft of things is too unimportant an evil to be given equal status with prohibi- tions against murder, incest and adultery. The Oral Law, therefore, regards the commandment as directed against kidnapping. As murder and incest and adultery are crimes involving personality, not property, so must the prohibition against stealing involve humans, not things. Is the prohibition against murder, however, any more absolute than the one against theft? Apparently, judicial punishment, even when capital, is not mur- der. Is killing in self-defense murder? And what of the killing of one's enemies in war, or after their conquest? As murder must be defined, so must adultery -13- and incest. Even the mandate to tell the truth may have exceptions, and cei- tainly envy—though generally reprehensible—is often encouraged when it stimu- lates rivalry in righteous and scholarly living. Thus, even the revealed truth of the Decalogue becomes qualified and nuanced in life and the simplest revelation provides none of the absolutism that so many moderns associate with Orthodoxy. Man retains a creative role in the very pro- cess of applying revelation itself. He cannot altogether abdicate the autonomy of his reason. Nor can he, in Judaism, altogether delegate this responsibility, to others. Even his choice of an authority is ultimately an act that calls for deliberation and decision. However, if with regard to the commands of the Decalogue, there remains an area for interpretation, then a fortiori with regard to the remainder of the Law, one can anticipate an uncertainty or ambiguity. Many texts of the Pentateuch— in the narratives and in the codes—invite a multiplicity of exegeses. Saadiah Gaon argued that the lack of clarity is deliberate, for thereby God stimulated understanding by man on many different levels—literal, mystical, allusive.