Home Forums Blogs Articles Photos Videos Contact FAQ

Jewish ethics - Sanctification of God's name

Jewish ethics - Sanctification of God's name: Encyclopedia II - Jewish ethics - Sanctification of God's name

The idea of God's holiness became in rabbinical ethics one of the most powerful incentives to pure and noble conduct. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" (Deut. vi. 5) is explained (Sifre, Deut. 32; Yoma 86a) to mean "Act in such a manner that God will be beloved by all His creatures." Consequently a Jew is not only obliged to give his life as witness or martyr for the maintenance of the true faith, but so to conduct himself in every way as to pr ...

Jewish ethics, Jewish ethics - Medieval and early modern ethical literature, Jewish ethics - Jewish family ethics, Jewish ethics - Altruistic virtues, Jewish ethics - Prophetic ethics, Jewish ethics - Ethics in rabbinic literature, Jewish ethics - Justice, Jewish ethics - Truth and Peace, Jewish ethics - Charity, Jewish ethics - Peace and hatred, Jewish ethics - Sanctification of God's name, Jewish ethics - Animals and the environment, Jewish ethics - Bioethics

Jewish ethics, Jewish ethics - Altruistic virtues, Jewish ethics - Animals and the environment, Jewish ethics - Bioethics, Jewish ethics - Charity, Jewish ethics - Ethics in rabbinic literature, Jewish ethics - Jewish family ethics, Jewish ethics - Justice, Jewish ethics - Medieval and early modern ethical literature, Jewish ethics - Peace and hatred, Jewish ethics - Prophetic ethics, Jewish ethics - Sanctification of God's name, Jewish ethics - Truth and Peace

Jewish ethics: Encyclopedia II - Jewish ethics - Sanctification of God's name

Jewish ethics - Sanctification of God's name

The greatest sin of fraud, therefore, is that committed against a non-Israelite, because it leads to the reviling of God's name. The desire to sanctify the name of God leads one to treat adherents of other creeds with the utmost fairness and equity.

Respect for one's fellow creatures is of such importance that Biblical prohibitions may be transgressed on its account (Ber. 19b). Especially do unclaimed dead require respectful burial (see Burial in Jew. Encyc. iii. 432b: "met miẓwah"). Gentiles are to have a share in all the benevolent work of a township which appeals to human sympathy and on which the maintenance of peace among men depends, such as supporting the poor, burying the dead, comforting the mourners, and even visiting the sick (Tosef., Giṭ. v. 4-5; Giṭ. 64a).

Friendship is highly prized in the Talmud; the very word for "associate" is "friend" ("chaver"). "Get thyself a companion" (Abot i. 6). "Companionship or death" (Ta'an. 23a).

Other related archives

Akiva, Aristotle, Ashkenazi, Bahya ibn Paquda, Christian ethics, Conservative, David Novak, Duties of the Heart, Emmanuel Levinas, Golden rule, Halakha, Hans Jonas, Hebrew Bible, Hermann Cohen, Hillel, Jewish denominations, Jewish law and tradition, Jewish philosophy, Judaism, Maimonides, Martin Buber, Martin Heidegger, Mesillat Yesharim, Mishnah, Moses, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Mussar Movement, Nicomachean Ethics, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Reform movement, Talmud, Thomas Aquinas, aggadah, applied ethics, biology, business ethics, chosen by God, ethics, law and ethics, medicine, natural law, oral Tora, phenomenology, philosophy, prophets, rabbinic, rabbinic literature, religious ethics, religious law, responsa, science, theology

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Sanctification of God's name", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

More material related to Jewish Ethics can be found here:

Main Page
for
Jewish Ethics Index of Articles
related to
Jewish Ethics