The words of the ten commandments are clear, but is the tribe of
Israel living up to the rules their God gave them?
Jewish protest against Israel and its atrocities
Video nr. 3. You shall not take the name of God in vain.
THE GOLDEN
RULE:
The Golden Rule originates in a well-known Torah verse (
Hebrew: "ואהבת לרעך כמוך"):
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinsfolk.
Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the
LORD.
—
Leviticus 19:18
This Torah verse represents one of several versions of the
Golden Rule, which itself appears in various forms, positive and negative. It is the earliest written version of that concept in a positive form.
At the turn of the eras, the Jewish rabbis were discussing the scope of the meaning of Leviticus 19:18 and 19:34 extensively:
The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of
Egypt: I the LORD am your God.
—Leviticus 19:34
Commentators summed up foreigners (=
Samaritans), proselytes (= 'strangers who resides with you') (
Rabbi Akiba, bQuid 75b) or
Jews (
Rabbi Gamaliel, yKet
3,1; 27a) to the scope of the meaning.
The Sage Hillel formulated a negative form of the golden rule. When asked to sum up the entire Torah concisely, he answered:
"
That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn it."
—Talmud, Shabbat 31a, the "
Great Principle"
The
Jewish sage and
martyr Rabbi Akiba, following
Hillel the Elder (c.
110 BCE, died 10 CE), had singled out the Golden Rule (Leviticus 19:18) as a basic principle of the Torah meaning, that the principle of love must have its foundation in
Genesis verse 1, which teaches that all men are the offspring of
Adam who was made in the image of God (Sifra, Ḳedoshim, iv.;
Yer. Ned. ix. 41c;
Genesis Rabba 24). According to Jewish rabbinic literature, the first man Adam represents the unity of mankind. This is echoed in the modern preamble of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And it is also taught, that Adam is last in order according to the evolutionary character of God's creation:
"Why was only a single specimen of man created first? To teach us that he who destroys a single soul destroys a whole world and that he who saves a single soul saves a whole world;[65] furthermore, so no race or class may claim a nobler ancestry, saying, '
Our father was born first'; and, finally, to give testimony to the greatness of the
Lord, who caused the wonderful diversity of mankind to emanate from one type. And why was Adam created last of all beings? To teach him humility; for if he be overbearing, let him remember that the little fly preceded him in the order of creation."
- published: 06 Dec 2012
- views: 554