{"id":78397,"date":"2020-08-03T22:48:03","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T19:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78397"},"modified":"2020-08-03T22:48:03","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T19:48:03","slug":"micah-came-and-reduced-them-to-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/micah-came-and-reduced-them-to-three\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMicah Came and Reduced Them to Three\u201d"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78397","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"538","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The condition of humility for ethics\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a famous passage, the Talmud (Makkot 23b) records that \u201cR. Simlai, when preaching, said that 613 Mitzvot were communicated to Moses.\u201d It then follows with a series of homilies that attempt to reduce the number of \u201cessential\u201d commandments: \u201cDavid came and reduced them to eleven\u2026 Isaiah came and reduced them to six\u2026\u201d Then we arrive at v.8 of our chapter:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Micah came and reduced them to three [principles], as it is written, \u201cIt hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord doth require of thee: [i] only to do justly, and [ii] to love mercy and [iii] to walk humbly before thy God.\u201d \u2018To do justly,\u2019 that is, maintaining justice; and \u2018to love mercy,\u2019 that is, rendering every kind office; \u2018and walking humbly before thy God,\u2019 that is, walking in funeral and bridal processions. And do not these facts warrant an a fortiori conclusion that if in matters that are not generally performed in private the Torah enjoins \u2018walking humbly,\u2019 is it not ever so much more requisite in matters that usually call for modesty? (Makkot 24a)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In response to the rhetorical question: \u201cWith what shall I approach the Lord\u2026 shall I approach him with offerings\u201d (6), the prophet replied in a manner reminiscent of several of his predecessors: Samuel (1 Samuel 15: 2-23), Isaiah (1:11), Jeremiah (7:21-23), and Amos (5:25).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God desires both religious devotion and moral-ethical righteousness, a point elucidated by the Maharsha (R. Shlomo Eidels, 1555-1632) in his talmudic commentary:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These [principles] are more all-encompassing and are agreed upon even in civil society. \u201cIt has been told to you, O man, what is good,\u201d in civil law that appeals to human reason, and \u201cwhat the Lord your God requires of you,\u201d refers to the divine religion. In these three things, civil law and religion agree: justice, love of mercy, and humility. However, religion has an extra [requirement], namely the provision that mitzvot not be performed for ulterior motives, but solely for the sake of Heaven, to wit: \u201cAnd walk humbly before your God.\u201d Even when it comes to something obvious and well-known, let one not say that he performed a mitzvah to achieve honor and self-glorification, since that is not for its own sake and represents an ulterior motive. How much more so regarding things that are customarily performed in private, such as charity, that it is prohibited to do them publicly lest it embarrass the recipient.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Tablet Quoting Prophet Micah (1925), photographed by Reverend Wolcott Cutler (2009), Boston Public Library, Charlestown Branch \/ flickr<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":78399,"id":78399,"title":"mic6-humbly","filename":"mic6-humbly.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/mic6-humbly.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/micah-came-and-reduced-them-to-three\/mic6-humbly\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"mic6-humbly","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78397,"date":"2020-08-03 19:47:43","modified":"2020-08-03 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