Areligion or a culture like Judaism, at least three thousand years
old, cannot be expected to be all of one piece, homogeneous,
self-contained, consistent, a neatly constructed system of ideas.
If Judaism were that, it would have died centuries ago and would be
a subject of interest only to the historian and archaeologist.
Judaism has been a living force precisely because it is a teeming,
thundering, and clamoring phenomenon, full of contrary tendencies
and inconsistencies. Although there are no words or phrases in
Hebrew Scriptures for "human rights," "conscience," or "due process
of law," the ideals and values which these concepts represent were
inherent in the earliest Jewish texts.This volume begins with four
essays on the concept of man's being born "free and equal," in the
image of God. The underpinning of this concept in Jewish law is
explored in Section 2, entitled "The Rule of Law." Section 3, "The
Democratic Ideal," traces the foundations of democracy in the
Jewish teachings in the Bible and the Talmud, which in turn
influenced the whole body of Western political thought. Relations
between man and man, man and woman, employer and employee, slave
and master are all spelled out. Section 4 presents essays analyzing
man's freedom of conscience, and his God-given rights to dissent
and protest. Section 5 deals with aspects of personal liberty,
including the right of privacy. Section 6, entitled "The Earth is
the Lord's," deals with the Jewish view of man's transient tenancy
on God's earth, his obligations not to destroy anything that lives
or grows, and to share the earth's bounty with the poor, the
widowed, and the orphaned. Section 7 delivers an analysis of the
"end of days" vision of Micah and man's continuing need to strive
for peace and not for war. The volume concludes with three new
essays, dealing with contemporary issues: "In God's Image: The
Religious Imperative of Equality under Law"; "The Values of a
Jewish and Democratic State: The Task of Reaching a Synthesis"; and
"Religious Freedom and Religious Coercion in the State of
Israel."This enlarged edition is accessibly written for a general
and scholarly audience and will be of particular interest to
political scientists, historians, and constitutional scholars.
General
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