{"id":45539,"date":"2018-12-11T14:55:24","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T12:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45539"},"modified":"2022-07-06T10:06:49","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T07:06:49","slug":"live-by-them-and-not-die-by-them-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/live-by-them-and-not-die-by-them-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Live By Them and Not Die By Them"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[480,667,401],"acf":{"old_id":"45539","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":45148,"related_cahpter":"109","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A leading Jewish thinker's take on Leviticus and Life (Part II)","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.929.org.il\/lang\/en\/page\/108\/post\/45438\">See yesterday\u2019s post for Part I<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chapter 19 &#8211; the Holiness Code &#8211; calls on the Israelites to \u201cbe holy for I the Lord your God am holy\u201d (19:2). This means living and acting completely on the side of life &#8211; just as God is the Creator and Sustainer of life. \u201cThe Source of Life\u201d (Psalms 36:11), \u201cthe Ruler who lusts for life\u2026 the Living God\u201d (High Holy Days Liturgy) is completely committed to life. Therefore, to be holy is to live deeply, intensely, and to sustain life and thus act for life and be in the presence of the God of life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All the laws of the Torah are on the side of life. Moses says: \u201cBehold, I place before you today, life and good, death and evil\u2026 choose life.\u201d (Deuteronomy, 30:15,19). The Torah\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">links life and good together, and death and evil together. Says Maimonides: This linkage means that the definition of a good act is that it is a choice of life and the definition of a sin\/evil act is that it is an act on the side of death.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Judaism\u2019s main action message is that humans are commanded to join with God to fill the world with life. \u201cThe world was not created to be void; it was formed (by God) to be filled with life\u201d (Isaiah 45:18). All humans are commanded, \u201cbe fruitful and multiply.\u201d While the minimum fulfillment is having two children (so as to leave behind no less life than the parents represent), the Talmud instructs people to have a third child and beyond in order \u201cto fill\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the world with life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The prophetic call to <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tikkun olam<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is to upgrade Nature and repair society so that all the dignities that humans are entitled to, will be fully sustained for all. In Messianic times, humans will overcome poverty, oppression, inequality, sickness and war. This will enable society to fully honor the dignities of infinite value, equality and uniqueness with which human beings\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">created \u201cin the image of God\u2026 male and female\u2026\u201d are endowed. (Genesis 1:27;\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sanhedrin 37A).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every commandment in the Torah is intended to advance the quantity of life or honor the dignity and the quality of life in the world. Not even intended obedience to God can justify behavior that advances death or allows death to win out over life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The call to holiness is a call to increase life. As Rabbi Soloveitchik wrote: &#8220;Holiness means the holiness of earthly, here and now life&#8221; (Halakhic Man, p.33). Being holy means becoming holy &#8211; all the time. Holiness is not a static state but a constant deepening, intensifying, ennobling of life behaviors.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":45481,"id":45481,"title":"shutterstock_109913345","filename":"shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/live-by-them-and-not-die-by-them\/shutterstock_109913345\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"shutterstock_109913345","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":45438,"date":"2018-12-10 20:56:02","modified":"2018-12-10 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