I'd like to continue forward my last post by expanding on, what I feel to be, some of the central points from Rabbi Ken Spiro's book World Perfect: The Jewish Impact on Civilization.
There's an entire class and, so I've been told, powerpoint presentation devoted to teaching this particular book to students enrolled in the Maimonides crash course.
I decided to actually read the book in order to gain more substantial information so I can avoid sweeping generalizations as much as possible. Pretty much all the information here, besides the anecdotes, are directly from his book. This is all Rabbi Ken Spiro. Not me. I just organized and wrote it the way it makes sense to me.
My last post talked about the Greeks and the Romans. The book covers a great deal more about them and if you're interested in doing your own research, I'd like to suggest the following sources:
Martin Kolh's Infanticide and the Value of Life
Michael Grant's From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World
Page DuBois, Torture and Truth
Stanley F. Bonner, Education in Ancient Rome
I also admit that these sources, and the ones that I'll be mentioning throughout, are from Spiro's book. Spiro is not only a Rabbi, but he also completed postgraduate work at the Pushkin Institute of Moscow and holds a master's degree in history from the Vermont College of Norwich University. He's legit.
Please feel free to do your own research if you care to do so. I'm happy to discuss discrepancies as I'm all for the never ending search for truth!
I'm becoming obsessive and anxious about credibility and sourcing, so if you start to notice that throughout my future posts, I apologize in advance. As someone who has been trained in the academic world, I know all about the importance of fact-checking and reliable sources. Given that these blogs are a side project, I hope no one expects me to produce manuscript-esque work every time I post. So please bear with me. If you doubt the validity of something, I strongly recommend that you go and search out the truth yourselves. I am not trying to "sell" anything. I am merely imparting the knowledge that I have been learning on a daily basis.
Anxious disclaimer ended.
I picked quite a bit on the Greeks and Romans in my last post, so I want to talk a little bit about how other cultures also practiced much of the same.
Consider the following:
In Japan, infanticide was called mabiki - a word used to describe the thinning of vegetables.
Indians sacrificed human beings up to the period of the Brahmans around 900-700 B.C.E.
The Chinese practiced human sacrifice longer than the Indians--up until the 16th century.
The Aztecs, considered a highly advanced society for its day, dragged their prisoners of war up their pyramids in order to rip out their hearts to make a blood offering. They believed that blood was the source of life, so they routinely sacrificed people to prevent the (their) world from coming to an end.
I'd recommend Craig J. Reynolds' Feudalism: Comparative Studies, Frank A. Kierman Jr.'s Chinese Ways in Warfare, and Edward Blunt's Social Services in India if you're curious about the particulars.
Before I move on to Judaism, I'd like to emphasize a few things:
Every nation and culture contributed positive and negative things to the world.
Judaism is not perfect. Not every Jew is perfect. Nothing is perfect.
This post is about exploring what Judaism gave to the world.
What many people outside of Judaism, Jews and non-Jews alike, don't actually know is that - according to Judaism - the Jewish people didn't invent anything. It was all God. Not us. God. The Jewish people were merely chosen to disseminate His message to the world.
Sound familiar? Of course it does. Because every other religion on the planet also believes that it has a mission to distribute the word of God (whatever God or Gods) to the rest of the world.
So who were the Jews?
First of all, they appeared around 1300 B.C.E - well before Greek civilization.
Who do they trace their ancestry back to? Abraham. He lived sometime around 1800 B.C.E.
And what was different about the Jews?
They believed in one God.
All 600,000 of them claimed to have miraculously escaped from Egypt due to the intervention of their God.
After said escape, they came to Mount Sinai and received the Torah.
And this Torah - this bible - was different than any other holy doctrine. It made the Jews look like ungrateful jerks. Seriously, when you read the Old Testament, there are a lot of Jews in there who whine, sin, ignore the word of God...but they still chose to cling onto this doctrine as a reminder of both the good and the bad so they wouldn't forget why they were there in the first place.
Remember those 6 universal values I mentioned in my last post? Well, I'm going to give a run-down about how all of those fundamental principles are ingrained in our holy doctrine.
And, again, I'm not an expert on ANY religion, including my own. So I'm sure many other religions have the same values, but - and just referring to Christianity on this one due to my limited knowledge of other religions - Judaism came first. So, you're welcome Christianity. She says in jest, of course.
1) Sanctity of Human Life
The Torah states that every human being is made in the image of God. As in, our souls are part of God and we are all invested with His divine presence. Therefore, every human life is precious. Moreover, the Sixth Commandment is that Thou Shall Not Murder. The word "murder" is used and not kill because murder means that an innocent person has been slain. Judaism allows for killing in the case of defending a life. Judaism is also of the opinion that if you do not actively try to destroy evil, it will destroy you.
I'm still on the fence about that one. I was given a scenario in a different Maimonides class on Monday.
Let's say you were sent back in time. You find yourself in this park. Beautiful day. Lots of kids and parents around. One kid in particular asks you to help him get started swinging. He's incredibly cute and friendly. As you're about to push, a voice whispers in your ear: "This child will grow up to be Hitler."
Let's say you know without a doubt this voice is God.
Would you kill the child?
Honestly, my first reaction was no. I've thought about strangling Hitler the man with my bare hands many times over throughout my life. But I've never imagined Hitler as a kid.
A few of us talked about environmental factors. What if we took Hitler the child and removed him from Germany and brought him up somewhere else. Maybe brought him up in Sweden. The Swedes really seem to have their priorities straight when it comes to avoiding conflict altogether. Could Hitler have grown up an entirely different person?
I guess it depends on whether or not you believe human beings are either inherently good or inherently evil. Frankly, if we're all infused with the divine presence, we should be inherently good, but since we have Free Will (which is what Judaism believes) we can therefore choose to do bad things. Perhaps even become evil.
Would I kill Hitler the child? I would need more than 100% guarantee that it was God telling me it was Hitler. I'd also need undeniable proof that no matter where Hitler grew up, he'd still do precisely what he did. Essentially, I would need God to go all Ghosts of Christmas Past/Present/Future on me in order to prove that Hitler was destined to grow up to become a genocidal maniac before I acted. But then the Holocaust would have never happened. And you have to wonder - would the Jews be known without the Holocaust? How would society view us then? There certainly would be more of us around. But would the bulk of us be observant or would we have all assimilated? Without the Holocaust, would the Jews and non-Jews alike have banded together to ensure that Jewish culture was preserved and that the world learned precisely what genocide was and that it was, without a doubt, the worst crime committed against humanity? The United Nations might have never formed. And all the work the world aims to do today to prevent and put an end to genocide might not even be existence.
The world without Hitler. I'm sure it might have been a beautiful place. But then again, maybe someone else would have come along and done the same. We'll never know.
To sum up the universal value of the sanctity of the human life:
While the Romans were getting their rocks off watching people die, the Rabbis wrote in the Mishna (Sanhedrin 4:5):
"He who saves one life ... it is as if he save an entire universe. He who destroys one life ... it is as if he destroys an entire universe."
If you want to avoid a metaphorical apocalypse, don't murder. But, as Edmund Burke supposedly once said, evil prevails when good men do nothing. Defend the innocent, destroy the evil. But either way, all human life is sacred.
2) Peace and Harmony
For those of you who don't know, the Jewish word for "Hello", Goodbye", and "Peace" is "Shalom". One word to express all three. When we come and go, our message is, and always has been, peace.
Have any of you ever visited the United Nations? I haven't. I would, especially since they're responsible for the prevention of genocide and 'taking care of' the world. When bad things happen, they step in. They're an important crew.
The UN has never been accused of being Pro-Jewish. They have, however, since the Palestine partition vote, passed more than a thousand resolutions condemning Israel, even going so far as to declare Zionism to be racism (Phelps-Brown, Egalitarianism and the Generation of Inequality).
Despite this, what do they have posted on the wall outside the General Assembly headquarters in New York City?
Oh hey. Quoting the Torah.
This is what they didn't put onto the wall:
"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid, the calf and the beast of prey shall feed together with a little child to herd them."
That's the Jewish version of peace: brotherhood and harmony. This is known as the "Messianic vision" since we're still waiting for the Messiah to bring peace into this world. Otherwise known as the "Second Coming" for Christians.
According to Maimonides, the great medieval Jewish scholar, "The sages and prophets ... [wanted] to be free to pursue Torah and its wisdom... [They longed for a time when] there would be no hunger and no war; no jealousy and no strife ... and the entire world would be entirely occupied to acquire the knowledge of God".
So if the Jews were all about peace, did they ever go to war? No. War was considered a last resort. The exception being the settling of the Promised Land by the year 1258. Since King David had blood on his hands, God prevented him from building a temple in his honour. Even participating in a justified war renders you unsuitable for holy tasks.
At the end of the day, Jewish people just wanted to be free to study the Torah, do good, and bring harmony to humankind.
I'm not saying the Jews never rose up and fought others. The Maccabees had to kill the Greeks and Hellenist converts in order to avoid being massacred themselves. The ancient world was a bloody time, but the Jews never went out of their way to pick a fight with anyone.
No, I'm not about to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict. I could read and read every day about that issue and still be entirely left in the dark about it. I'll leave that to someone far more informed.
3) Justice and Equality
The word justice occurs 120 times in the Torah.
The Torah states:
"You shall not commit a perversion of justice; you shall not favor the poor and you shall not honor the mighty; with righteousness you shall judge your neighbors."
Jewish scholars were expected to copy out the Torah. The King was expected to make two copies. One to carry around with him to remind him of his responsibilities.
But the Jewish government wasn't a monarchy or a theocracy.
It had a king (executive branch).
Sanhedrin (a supreme court; judicial branch).
No legislative branch. The Sanhedrin were responsible for applying the laws.
The Sanhedrin were made up of 71 men. No man could become a member unless he had children. According to Judaism, no person truly understands the concept of mercy until they have a child.
No one was voted into power either. A person rose through the ranks, so to speak, based on their knowledge, integrity, and dedication to the community.
This is actually similar to many tribes in Africa, specifically from what I learned in reading Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The story is set in Nigeria in the 1890s. Many of the men who are in a position of power are there solely due to their wisdom. Not their wealth or their status.
During the Roman Empire, the president of the Sanhedrin was Hillel - one of the poorest of Jews.
To deal with prisoners, instead of separating them from society, the Jews sent the criminal to work for a good family and the family became responsible for the person. They became an "aved" - essentially an indentured servant but still respected and treated properly. They were "sold" to a family willing to take responsibility for this person. The aved could not be kept for more than 7 years and were released once they paid off their debt (that they stole).
In the Talmud, it states "Whoever acquires a slave acquires a master."
If you had a servant, you were responsible for them. They were your equal and needed to be treated with respect.
No one keeps slaves or servants anymore. Hired help, yes, but they must always be respected.
No one is above the law.
4) Education
In Judaism, to be an ethical or lawful person, one needed to be educated.
Education and the law went hand in hand. In fact, education was essentially the top priority.
In order for parents to teach their children the word of God, they had to be literate themselves.
As far back as King Hezekiah (late 8th century, B.C.E.), we know that among the Jews there existed a system of schools for every single child.
In the non-Jewish ancient world, the literacy rate was under 1%.
The Jews were the only people in the ancient world to have 100% literacy rate.
Peter Abelard, a French medieval monk, wrote in the 12th century:
"A Jew, however poor, even if he had ten sons, would put them all to letters, not for gain as Christians do, but for understanding of God's law. And not only his sons, but his daughters."
In 17C Poland and 18C Italy, Jewish communities maintained free schools staffed with professional teachers and provided - besides books and education - free hot meals and clothing to the students.
There's also documented proof that Jewish communities encouraged continuing education for adults. Organizations such as "The Society of Wood-Choppers for the Study of Mishnah in Berditchev" and the "Society of Wagon Drivers for the Study of Talmud" were apparently common.
Higher education for the win.
5) Family
According to Judaism, when God created Adam, he actually created a being that was both male and female. When he removed Adam's rib to create Eve, he was simply removing the female part from the man and created two separate beings.
In Judaism, when a man and a woman get married, it is like the halves of a soul are re-attaching to become one again.
Romantic.
In Judaism, a husband has the LEGAL obligation to sexually satisfy his wife. In most other ancient societies, it was the other way around!
In Jewish history, the women are treated with the utmost respect.
Abraham was told by God to listen to Sarah.
Rebecca was considered wiser than Isaac as she possessed prophetic insight regarding her twin sons Jacob (the good one) and Esau (the bad one).
Miriam, Moses' sister, risks her life to save her baby brother.
To name a few. But seriously, there are countless heroic women in the Torah.
I think we know how the rest of the world viewed women.
One Greek poet sums it up nicely:
"Marriage brings a man only two happy days: the day he takes his bride to bed and the day he lays her in her grave" (Palladas).
Talk about your Prince Charming.
What do the Rabbinical sages write in the Talmud?
"Love your wife as you love yourself and honor her more... He who is without a wife dwells without blessing, life, joy, help, goodness, peace and without defense against temptation."
I consider myself a modern liberal feminist and I've often looked on orthodox Judaism with distrust and weariness.
But let's take a few steps back for a moment and think about this. If the rest of the ancient world considered women good for two things: sex and childbearing, while the Jews treated women like equals, then what is our real problem with Jewish women?
I take a Jewish femininity class that discusses the woman's role in Judaism every Wednesday. I'm not going to get into that just yet because I'd like to stick to one theme at a time. However, I will say that if people just took the time and did their research, they'd actually see a lot of sense in many of the expectations that women take on.
Will I be able to take them on myself? I couldn't tell you. My sole priority is learning. In the meantime, I have been actively dressing more modestly in the sense of the word itself. For me, that means no cleavage and dresses that at least come down to around the top of the back of my knees. I also only wear dresses/skirts outside now. For now, I'm satisfied with that. Woot.
My other big issue with Judaism and women had to do with what women are allowed and not allowed to do. That is one complicated series of things, so I'm going to just stick to one: leadership roles.
In circa 1100 B.C.E, the judge and prophetess Deborah ruled the Israelites for roughly 40 years. Why? Because she was the best person for the job.
If women are the best person for the job, they're going to be asked to do it.
The more ambiguous stuff I'll get into another time. But don't worry. I'm not dismissing it or sweeping it under the rug. I'm seriously grappling with these issues as I learn more about Judaism. The feminist in me rages on.
6) Social responsibility
Did you know that Judaism obligates Jews to give away 1/10th of their earnings to tzedakah (charity) every year? The word actually means "justice".
To give to charity is to enact justice.
Just as God obligates charity, he too obligates love.
We're all familiar with the Golden Rule: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (otherwise known as Do Unto Others as you Would Have Them Do Unto You).
I'm not going to list everything we're told to do. Believe me, it's a lengthy list.
But in Leviticus, we are told "You shall not stand idly by while your neighbour's blood is shed."
Hell, even America doesn't have a law that makes it a crime to be a bystander to someone's suffering. Obstruction of justice, yes, but not a bystander.
But in Judaism, it's not enough to avoid being bad. We have to actively be good every second of every day.
We're not just obligated to be good to other people - we need to treat animals and the environment nicely as well.
So the whole Green Movement? Grounded in Judaism. The Torah says you can't destroy the environment in any way. Can't even cut down a fruit tree in a time of war.
In the US, the first Earth Day was in 1970. We can trace the movement further back to the 1960s with all that Love the World music (some of my favourite music actually). Further still, to the founding fathers of "eco-wisdom" in the 1800s: Whitman, Emmerson, and Thoreau.
When did the Jews receive the Torah? More than 3300 years ago.
We're trend-setters, y'all. Sorry, God is the trend-setter. Thanks God!
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For sure Judaism brought a lot into this world, but we also recognize there were some pretty bad Jews too. As I said before, no one is perfect.
But if one Jew messes up - even though in Judaism it essentially says we're all responsible when one of us does - you can't blame Judaism.
Not every Jewish person follows every single Torah law. Just like not every Christian follows all of their codes of conduct. My point, though, is that morality - as much as I feel it is inherent - had to have come from somewhere.
But what I really want to end off with is this: we're ALL responsible for the upkeep of this world. Upkeep of the world and ourselves.
With all that said, we know that we didn't necessarily inherit these universal values from the Greeks, and although the Torah embodies these particular values, the Jews did not believe in democracy.
So if we live in a liberal western democratic society, how have we come to accept Jewish values as our own?
Rabbi Ken Spiro provides the answer. And I'll tell you what he says in the next post!
It's a 300 page book. You didn't seriously think I was going to finish summarizing this in one post did you? I hope you've at least enjoyed my commentary throughout.
Many thanks to Rabbi Ken Spiro who I hope to meet later this year when I go to Israel! Also thanks to the Mandels who, three times a week, provide me with the substance for these posts.
And thanks, of course, to Aish for welcoming me into your community of scholarly individuals.
MB
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