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There are two principles which I would like to delineate that
will help me to develop the topic of Religion, Woman and
Family
The first principle comes from the Talmud expression
The essence of values does not lie in education, but in
behavior. That is to say knowledge, wisdom, learning, is
not the grand purpose God has for mankind, but it lies
better in behavior. If all the wisdom of the world leads us
to a behavior that is detrimental to mankind then the
knowledge is valueless. Great scientific developments
enabled us to bomb Hiroshima at the cost of 100,000 lives,
and to develop cyclone B gas that inexpensively snuffed out
the lives of millions in Auschwitz.
The Talmudic expression tells us that we should judge
ourselves not by what we think, not by what we believe, and
not by what we know, but only by what we do. The ultimate
improvement of the world will be determined by our actions.
Second principle No one can tell us what to feel. The
Bible does not dictate emotions. For instance, when the
Bible says love thy neighbor as thy self, or, thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, it does not mean
that we should emotionally feel love for God or neighbor.
Let me give you an example of what I mean: I may live next
door to someone whose actions irritate me to no end. I do
not feel kindly toward him. I can not love him. But the
Torah says, love thy neighbor as thy self. I therefore
interpret this to mean that when that neighbor has reason to
need me, my behavior towards him must be the same as if I
love him. The dictates of Torah is not how I must feel but
how I must behave toward him.
I would like to share with you a Talmudic expression.
We know that if a person has a large deposit in the bank it
accumulate interest, which a person may withdraw, but, if a
person withdraws the principal he will no longer receive
interest, the return on his money is diminished. Our sages
tell us that there are principles which we can deposit in
our lifetime, and continue to withdraw these principles and
still the aggregate value of our deposit will never be
diminished. Here is the quote, “There are behavioral ways
in which a human conducts himself and no matter how much
value accrues to him in his lifetime, no matter what rewards
he receives from his action, these principles will be
rewarded in the world to come.” Among these listed are:
kindness to others, behavior to a stranger, visiting the
sick, comforting those who have suffered a loss, helping a
poor bride accumulate a dowery so she can marry, and
creating peace and harmony between husband and wife. In
these instance4s there is not difference between male and
female, our obligation is equal in all instances. The
Talmud here again tells us that a value that is of eternal
quality is to create a happy and harmonious family. The
family unit is a microcosm of community. That is why we put
a mezuzah on the door postof our homes. The mezuzah has the
words, “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart.” Since I interpret love not as an emotion but rather
my action, I mean therefore to recognize that as I leave my
peaceful family life I carry that obligation to inculcate
that peace and harmony in the community I greet each day
upon leaving my home. It follows also that when I enter my
home, the mezuzah reminds me that my behavior to my family
shall be in consonance with God’s will, which is a behavior
of harmony and love.
Religion requires us to face each human being as the Bible
says, “male and female created He them, in the image of God
created He them”. What a biblical obligation we have, to
see the image of God in each person, and to teach our
children the Godly value of every human being.
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