{"id":42040,"date":"2018-10-16T00:02:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T21:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=42040"},"modified":"2022-05-12T08:25:43","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T05:25:43","slug":"from-people-to-body-politic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/from-people-to-body-politic\/","title":{"rendered":"From People To Body Politic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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[T]he covenant at Mount Sinai was where the Israelites became an <\/span>edah<\/span><\/em>, a body politic, as opposed to an <\/span>am<\/span><\/em>, a people with shared ancestry and history. Their assent to the covenant turned them into a nation under the sovereignty of God whose written constitution was the Torah. Indeed, we find just this idea in the early rabbinic sources:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I am the Lord your God\u2019 (Ex. 20:2) \u2013 this tells us the merit of Israel. \u00a0When they all stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah they resolved, as with a single mind, to accept the kingdom of God with joy. And not only this, but they pledged themselves, each for the other. Nor was it for overt acts alone that the Holy One, blessed be he, intended to reveal himself to them in order to make a covenant with them, but also the secret deeds. But they said to him, \u2018For overt acts we will make a covenant with you, but not for the secret ones, lest one of us should sin in secret and the whole community be held liable\u2019, as it is said, \u2018The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and our children\u2019 (Deut. 29: 28. R. Judah the Prince, in the halachic midrash to Exodus, \u00a0Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Yitro, 5).<\/span><\/p>\n

At Mount Sinai, the Israelites accepted the principle of mutual responsibility, with one proviso, that liability was restricted to acts committed in public or, at least, generally known. The logic is straightforward. If I know that you are engaged in wrongdoing, I may reasonably be expected to try to stop you. If I do not know, how can I be held responsible? Thus, according to R. Judah, for overt sins there is collective responsibility; for sins committed in secret, only personal responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

Excerpted from: \u201c<\/span>To Heal a Fractured World\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"From People To Body Politic","main_caption":"The covenant at Mount Sinai was where the Israelites became an edah, a body politic, as opposed to an am, a people with shared ancestry and history. ","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The limits of collective responsibility","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"old_create_date":"","links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42040"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42040"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104787,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42040\/revisions\/104787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}