6 - The Moral Dimension: Commonality and Particularity

Summary

'They that sit in the gate talk of me'. This refers to the nations of the world who sit in theatres and circuses … Another interpretation … is that it alludes to the Israelites who sit in the Synagogues and Houses of Study …

Lamentations Rabbah, Proems XVII

ATTICISM (HELLENISM) AND JUDAISM

KNOWLEDGE, or ‘Greek wisdom’, could be regarded as ‘neutral’ or ‘universal’, but what about morals and morality? Are moral rules also universal, or are different social groups characterized by particular rules of morality? Is there such thing as a unique JeWish ethics, not in the narrow sense of manners, but in the deeper sense, of rules that shape the entire spectrum of man's attitude to the world and to society?

The great interest shown by the maskilim, men of letters and thinkers, in the contents and origin of Jewish ethics was, to a great extent, a reaction to the portrayal, in the extensive anti-Jewish literature, of Jews and Judaism as amoral. In contrast to the prevalent description of Jews in this literature as possessing negative moral traits, the maskilim of the nineteenth century portrayed them as possessing lofty moral qualities. In contrast to the antiJewish literature and its negation of the existence of Jewish ethics and its value, ethics was represented by Jewish writers as the supreme value of Judaism. Their object in stressing the ethical aspect of Judaism and of Jewish life was to present a different portrait of Jews and Judaism from that painted in anti-Jewish literature. However, their interest also stemmed from the fact that ethics—moral qualities and moral behaviour—should be regarded as a singular expression of the national character. The Torah was now appraised according to the ethical rules it lays down, and Jewish history was judged according to the ethical values it represents. The essence of ethics was not only a question of image or self-awareness; it was also a practical question. Since ethical rules determine social behaviour (and the legal system as well), one can only believe in the coexistence of Jews with non-Jewish society, or in the integration of Jews into their non-Jewish environment, if there is some sort of human basis of morality shared by all.