Jewish ethics

Jewish ethics are the ethics of the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. A type of normative ethics, Jewish ethics may involve issues in Jewish law as well as non-legal issues, and may involve the convergence of Judaism and the Western philosophical tradition of ethics.

Literature

Biblical and rabbinic

Ethical traditions can be found throughout the Hebrew Bible and the rabbinic Oral Torah that both interpreted the Hebrew Bible and engaged in novel topics.
Ethics is a key aspect of rabbinic legal literature, Halakha, which is found in the Mishnah, Talmud, and other texts. Ethics is also a key aspect of non-legal aggadah. The best-known text of Rabbinic Judaism associated with ethics is Pirkei Avot of the Mishnah.

Medieval

Direct Jewish responses to Greek ethics may be seen in major rabbinic writings in the medieval period. Notably, Maimonides offers a Jewish interpretation of Aristotle, who enters into Jewish discourse through Islamic writings. Maimonides, in turn, influenced Thomas Aquinas, a dominant figure in Christian ethics and the natural law tradition of Christian moral theology. The relevance of natural law to medieval Jewish philosophy is a matter of dispute among scholars.
Medieval and early modern rabbis also created a pietistic tradition of Jewish ethics. This ethical tradition was given expression through Musar literature, which presents virtues and vices in a didactic way. The Hebrew term musar, derived from a word meaning "discipline" or "correction", is often translated as ethics, morality, moral instruction, or moral discipline.
Examples of medieval Musar literature include:

Chovot HaLevavot by Bahya ibn Paquda
Ma'alot ha-Middot by Jehiel ben Jekuthiel Anav of Rome
Orchot Tzaddikim, by an anonymous author
Kad ha-Kemah by Bahya ben Asher

Halakhic writings of the Middle Ages also inform the Jewish ethical corpus. Important sources of Jewish ethical law include Maimonides's 12th-century Mishneh Torah and Rabbi Joseph Karo's and Rabbi Moses Isserles's Shulkhan Arukh, especially the order entitled Choshen Mishpat. A wide array of topics on ethics is also discussed in medieval responsa literature.

Modern

In the modern period, Jewish ethics sprouted many offshoots, partly due to developments in modern ethics and partly due to the formation of distinct Jewish religious movements. Trends in modern Jewish normative ethics include:

The pietistic Musar movement was continued by 18th-century rabbis like Moshe Chaim Luzzatto in his book Mesillat Yesharim. Other Musar writings were authored by Haskalah writers like Naphtali Herz Wessely and Menachem Mendel Lefin.
The Musar tradition was revived by the 19th-century Musar movement within the Orthodox Ashkenazi Jewish community.
The 19th- and early 20th-century Reform movement promoted Judaism as the original ethical monotheism. The writings of Abraham Geiger and Kaufmann Kohler show this approach.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, liberal Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis have fostered novel approaches to Jewish ethics, for example, in the writings of Eugene Borowitz and David Teutsch. Some Reform rabbis, as well as Orthodox and Conservative rabbis, have also engaged in applied ethics by writing legal responsa, especially on bioethics, sexual ethics, and business ethics. Leading Conservative ethicists such as the philosopher and rabbi Elliot Dorff have also written extensively on moral theory.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, Jewish feminism has produced feminist Jewish ethics, using the principles of feminist ethics. Leading Jewish feminist ethicists include Judith Plaskow, Rachel Adler, Tamar Ross, Rebecca Alpert, and Laurie Zoloth.
Other modern Jewish philosophers have pursued a range of ethical approaches, with varying degrees of reliance upon traditional Jewish sources. Notably, Hermann Cohen authored Religion of Reason in the tradition of Kantian ethics. Martin Buber wrote on various ethical and social topics, including the dialogical ethics of his I and Thou. Hans Jonas, a student of Martin Heidegger, draws upon phenomenology in his writings on bioethics, technology, and responsibility. Emmanuel Levinas sought to distinguish his philosophical and Jewish writings; nevertheless, some scholars are constructing Jewish ethics around his innovative and deeply Jewish approach.

Academic scholars of Judaism have also engaged in descriptive Jewish ethics, the study of Jewish moral practices and theory, which is situated more in the disciplines of history and the social sciences than in ethics proper.
In 2003, the Society of Jewish Ethics was founded as the academic organization "dedicated to the promotion of scholarly work in the field of Jewish ethics." The Society promotes both normative research and descriptive research.

Central virtues and principles

Major themes in biblical ethics

The writings attributed to the biblical prophets exhort all people to lead a righteous life. Kindness to the needy, benevolence, faith, compassion for the suffering, a peace-loving disposition, and a truly humble and contrite spirit, are the virtues which many Prophets hold up for emulation, although Samuel and Moses were important exceptions, for Samuel urged the massacre of all Amalekites, including women and children, and Moses, concerning the Midianites, said "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."
Civic loyalty, even to a foreign ruler, is urged as a duty. "Learn to do good" is the keynote of the prophetic appeal. Prophets yearn for an era of peace and righteousness; war will be no more.

Summaries of classical rabbinic ethics

formulated a version of the Golden Rule: "What is hateful to you, do not do unto others". Rabbi Akiva stated "Whatever you hate to have done to you, do not do to your neighbor; therefore do not hurt him; do not speak ill of him; do not reveal his secrets to others; let his honor and his property be as precious to you as your own".
Rabbi Akiva also declared the commandment "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" to be the greatest fundamental commandment of the Jewish doctrine. Ben Azzai, in reference to this, said that a still greater principle was found in the Scriptural verse, "This is the book of the generations of Adam . In the day that God created man , in the likeness of God made he him".
Rabbi Simlai taught "613 commandments were given to Moses; then David came and reduced them to eleven in Psalm 15; Isaiah, to six; Micah, to three: 'To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God'; Isaiah again, to two: 'Maintain justice, and do what is right'; and Habakkuk, to one: 'The righteous person lives by his faithfulness'."

Justice, truth, and peace

Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel taught: "The world rests on three things: justice, truth, and peace".
Justice, being God's, must be vindicated, whether the object is of great or small value. "Let justice pierce the mountain" is the characteristic maxim attributed to Moses. Stealing and oppression, even if only in holding back overnight the hired man's earnings, are forbidden.
Falsehood, flattery, perjury and false swearing are also forbidden. The reputation of a fellow man is sacred. Tale-bearing and unkind insinuations are forbidden, as is hatred of one's brother in one's heart. A revengeful, relentless disposition is unethical; reverence for old age is inculcated; justice shall be done; right weight and just measure are demanded; poverty and riches shall not be regarded by the judge. We are taught to attempt judging others LeKaf Z'Chut, giving more weight to an assumed side of merit, yet advised what can be translated as Respect but Suspect.
Shalom is one of the underlying principles of the Torah, as "her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are shalom." The Talmud explains, "The entire Torah is for the sake of the ways of shalom". Maimonides comments in his Mishneh Torah: "Great is peace, as the whole Torah was given in order to promote peace in the world, as it is stated, 'Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace.

Loving-kindness and compassion

taught: "The world rests upon three things: Torah, service to God, and showing loving-kindness ". Loving-kindness is here the core ethical virtue.
Loving-kindness is closely linked with compassion in the tradition. Lack of compassion marks people as cruel. The Torah repeatedly commands the Prophets to protect the widow, the orphan and the stranger.
Friendship is also highly prized in the Talmud; the very word for "associate" is "friend". "Get thyself a companion". "Companionship or death".
Respect for one's fellow humans is of such importance that Biblical prohibitions may be transgressed on its account. For example, the unclaimed dead must be given respectful burial.

Health and self-respect

In addition to teaching caring for others, Jewish sources tend to teach that humans are duty-bound to preserve their lives and health. Foods dangerous to health are more to be guarded against than those ritually forbidden. Jewish ethics denies self-abasement. "He who subjects himself to needless self-castigations and fasting, or even denies himself the enjoyment of wine, is a sinner". People have to give account for every lawful enjoyment they refuse. A person should show self-respect in regard to both one's body, "honoring it as the image of God", and one's garments. According to Judaism, real-life goes beyond the concept of breathing and having blood flow through our veins, it means existing with a purpose and connecting to God and others.