Essays on Ethics

Overview

Essays on Ethics is the second companion volume to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s celebrated series Covenant & Conversation. Believing the Hebrew Bible to be the ultimate blueprint for Western morality, Rabbi Sacks embarks upon an ethical exploration of the weekly Torah portion, uncovering its message of truth and justice, dignity and compassion, forgiveness and love.

Index

---

#

• 9/11 attack 97

A

• Aaron
  • disparaging Moses 229
  • and the Golden Calf 118
  • and priesthood 191
  • punished for sins 18
  • abasement 67, 68
• Abel
  • and animal sacrifice 160
  • envied by Cain 107
  • abortion xxxiii, 127
• Abrabanel (Abarbanel) 80
• Abraham
  • asking to sacrifice Isaac 21–22
  • and Avimelech xxxi
  • death 336
  • and Dershowitz 278
  • forced to leave his home because of famine xxvii
  • and God xxiii, xxviii, 42, 127, 163
  • going to Egypt 15–17
  • and the Hittites 199
  • sending his servant to find a wife for Isaac 28–9
  • on Sodom and Gomorrah 196, 301, 331
• Absalom 73
• absolution 67
• Adam xxvi, 63, 271, 284
• Adam I 227–8
• Adam II 227, 228
• addiction 87
• adultery 106
• African bishops 54
• The African Queen 157
• After Virtue (MacIntyre) 94
• Agag, king of the Amalekites 101
• agriculture 293–6
• Ahab, King 149
• Ahaz 22
• Akiva, R. 121–2
• Albaketz, Shlomo 45
• Albo, Rabbi Joseph 86, 159–60
• Almohads 257
• alone, being 251–3
• Alter, Robert 60
• altruism 112, 141
  • reciprocal xx, xxviii, 41–2
• altruistic evil 113
• altruistic punishment 134
• Amalek 102
• Amalekites 98–9, 100
• America
  • judges 278
  • and religion 139–40
  • society based on the concept of covenant 92
  • see also United States
• American Declaration of Independence 3–4
• American dream 309–10
• Amida 289–90
• Amnon 50
• Amos 149, 164, 196, 221
• amygdala 13–14, 237
• amygdala hijack 14, 88
• anarchy xxxiv
• The Ancient City (Coulanges) 23
• Ancient Greece xix, xviii, 70, 179
• Andersen, Hans Christian 88
• angels 10, 74–5, 112
• anger
• appeasement of 67–8
  • best way of defeating 249
  • of Moses 246, 247–8
• animal instinct 155, 156
• animal sacrifice 160–1
• animal soul 154, 155, 156
• Antigone 83
• anti-Semitism 252, 254–5
• anusim 258
• appearances, deception of 62, 63
• Arama, Rabbi Isaac 49, 317, 318, 319
• Arendt, Hannah 265
• argument, in Judaism is a holy activity 241
• Aristotle 4, 192, 203
  • and God 284
  • on happiness 311
  • Nicomachean Ethics 223
• Arnold, Matthew xviii
• Asch, Solomon 88
• Ashrei 311
• assisted dying xxxiii, 127
• Athenians 13
• atonement 68, 186, 187
• Auerbach, Erich 62
• Aumann, Professor Robert 205
• Austin, J.L. 264
• Auto-emancipation (Pinsker) 254
• autonomy xxxiii, 106
• Avihu 165–6, 168
• Avimelech, King of Gerar xxxi
• Aviram 240–1
• Azazel 183–5
• Azikri, Eliezer 45
• Aztecs 98

B

• Baal 173–4, 260–1
• Babel, Tower of 6
• bakar 155
• Balaam 251, 253
• bal tashchit 300, 301
• barbarism xxxiv
• BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) 242
• Becker, Gary 205
• Beethoven, Ludwig von 315
• behema 155
• Ben Azzai xx
• Benedict, Ruth xxv, 179, 186
• Benjamin 69
• ben sorer umoreh 299–300, 301
• Ben Zoma 108
• Berlin, Sir Isaiah, on freedom and equality 73, 202
• Berners-Lee, Tim 65
• betrayal, and clothes 62, 63
• The Better Angels of Our Nature (Pinker) 10
• Bible, translations of 81
• Big Gods (Norenzayan)234
• Birchot HaShachar 289
• birth rate xxxiv
• bishgaga 270
• blame 211
• blood-redeemer 270, 271, 272
• Boaz 29, 270
• Bogart, Humphrey 157
• Bohns, Vanessa 233–4
• Bohr, Niels 45
• Bosnia 273
• Bowling Alone (Putnam) 140–1
• Brandeis, Louis 278
• brides 74
• Britain, Lord Chief Justices 278
• Brooks, David 227, 228, 231

C

• Cain
  • and envy 107
  • Eve’s first child 25
  • and free will 88
  • and God xxii, xxiii, 159–60
  • restless wanderer on the face of the earth 271
• Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Piketty) 201, 202
• Cardozo, Benjamin Nathan 278
• Carter, Stephen 28, 31
• Catholic Church 140
• census 308
• Chajes, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch 18
• change, and repentance 69, 70
• charity 30, 141, 148–9, 235
• cheating 235
• Chen-Bo Zhong 233–4
• Chesterton, G.K. 93
• child, stubborn and rebellious 299–300, 301
• child poverty xxxiv, 309
• children
  • and the American dream 309–10
  • are not the property of their parents 25–6
  • duty of parents to educate 93, 308–9
  • and effect of divorce on xxxiii–xxxiv
  • and family xxviii
  • honouring parents 106
  • punished for parents’ sins 17, 305–6, 307–8
• child sacrifice 22–3, 26
• China xvii–viii
• Chinese Academy of Social Sciences xxxiv
• choice 128, 210, 211, 319, 321
• Christianity
  • and forgiveness 70
  • and Pelagian heresy xxiii
  • and Rambam 54
  • and the Reformation xviii
• Chronicles 121, 270
• The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (Benedict) 179
• the Church, forbad vernacular translations of the Bible 81
• church-goers 141
• Churchill, Winston 92
• circumcision xxviii,47–8, 50, 174–5, 176
• cities of refuge 269, 270–2, 273
• city, condemned 299–300, 301
• civil disobedience 80, 83
• Civil Disobedience (Thoreau) 83
• Civility (Carter) 28
• Civilization and Its Enemies (Harris) 97, 102
• Civilization: The West and the Rest (Ferguson) xvii
• Classicists 10
• cloning xxxii
• clothes, role of 61–2, 63
• collective responsibility 69
• Coming Apart (Murray) 309
• common good 133, 141, 143
• Common Sense (Paine) 82
• communism 73, 202
• community
  • and the Mishkan 142
  • and religion 140, 141, 142, 143
• comparative advantage 205
• compassion 132
• Comte-Sponville, André 290
• concentration camps 279
• condemned city 299–300, 301
• conflict, and love 44
• conflict management 68
• conformism 88, 89
• consumer societies 108 converts 257–60
• Cortés, Hernando 98
• Cosgrove, Hazel 278
• Cotler, Irwin 252
• Coulanges, Fustel de 23–4
• covenantal societies 92–3
• covenants 12–13, 208–9, 264–5, xxviii–xxxi
  • with God 279
  • and marriage 173, 174
  • and Moses 317, 321
  • with Noah xxiv, xxx, 269–70
  • and Rebecca 38
  • Sinai 104–5
• Coverdale, Miles 31
• createdness of life 106
• creation 105
• creative destruction 126
• Creon, King 83
• crime against humanity 80
• Crypto-Jews258–60
• curses 207–8, 312

D

• Damasio, Antonio 325
• Darwin, Charles
• The Descent of Man xxx
  • and Galapagos Islands 137
  • and natural selection 138
• Datan 240–1
• David, King 29, 121, 220, 270
  • and Absalom 73
  • and census 308
  • on errors xxxvi
  • punished for sins 18
  • and Samuel 63
• Dawn Blessings 289
• death, rite of purification after contact with 117
• Democracy in America (Tocqueville) 137
• Dershowitz, Alan 278
• Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (Damasio) 325
• The Descent of Man (Darwin) xxx, 138
• desert 217–18, 219–20
• Deuteronomy
  • 1:16–17, 277
  • 4:10–12, 336
  • 4:12, 7
  • 6:5 xxviii, 41, 145, 175
  • 6:17–18 281
  • 8:11–17 288
  • 10:19 13, 41
  • 12:7 312–13
  • 13:16 299
  • 14:23 294–5
  • 14:25–26, 295
  • 14:29, 296
  • 16:11, 313
  • 20:19–20, 300
  • 21:18–21, 299
  • 23:8, 99
  • 24:5, 312
  • 24:16, 305
  • 25:17–19, 99
  • 26:11, 311–112
  • 28:47, 312
  • 29:13–14, 317
  • 30:19, xxii–xxiii, 211, 319
  • 31:2, 323
  • 32:1–2, 329
  • 32:4, 23, 330
  • 32:5, 330
  • 32:12, 253
  • 32:15–18, 330
  • 32:19, 323
  • 34:6, 19, 29, 337
  • 34:7, 323, 338
• Dictator Game 234
• dignity xx–xxi, xxxii
• Dina xxvii, 47–8, 50, 51–2
• dining 124–5
• divorce xxxiii
• Dostoevsky, Fyodor 236, xix
• Douglas, Mary 24
• Dreyfus Affair 111
• dualism 332

E

• Ecclesiastes 18–19, 154, 313–14
• economic equality 73
• economic inequalities 201–2, 203
• economics 204–5
• egoist 290
• Egypt
  • Abraham goes to, to escape famine 15–17
  • Joseph living there 60
  • pharaohs said to be in image of God 5
  • and plagues xxiv–xxv, 85–6, 105
  • pyramids 229
  • and slavery 89
• Egyptians, oppressed the Israelites because they were too numerous and strong 99–100
• Einstein, Albert 42
• Elazar, R. 221
• Eldad 229
• elders, seventy 229, 230
• electric motor, invention of 65
• Eli 55
• Eliezer 28–9, 31
• Eliezer, R. 299
• Elijah 149, 257, 260–2
• Elisha 261, 262
• Eliyahu Rabba (Spira) 290
• emotional intelligence 246
• emotions 128, 287–8
• The Emperor’s New Clothes (Andersen) 88
• emuna xxvii–xxviii
• enemy 97, 98
• England, tradition-based society 92
• Enlightenment xxxi, 101
• environmental responsibility 300, 302–4
• envy 107–8
• Epicurus 315
• Epstein, Rabbi Yechiel Michel 327
• equality 73, 74, 192, 202, 203
• Er 56
• Esau
  • despised his birthright 34
  • Jacob in fear of 51
  • Jacob made amends to 39, 67–8
  • on learning that Jacob had taken his blessing 35–6
  • loved by Isaac 44
  • received a different blessing to Jacob 37–8
  • reconciled with Jacob 19, 254
  • on wishing to kill Jacob 71
• ethic of guilt 68
• ethics of shame xxxiii, 68
• ethnic war 273
• eulogy virtues 227
• euthanasia xxxiii
• Eve
  • exiled from Eden 271
  • and forbidden fruit xxvi
  • on giving birth 25
  • and role of clothes 63
• eved Hashem 339
• evil 100, 101, 102, 332
  • altruistic 113
• evil speech 178, 179, 181
• evolutionary psychology 10–11
• exculpation 67
• exile 271–2
• Exodus
  • 1:16, 79
  • 1:17, 80
  • 1:19, 80
  • 1:20–21, 83
  • 3:11, 230
  • 3:14, 7
  • 4:1, 260, 339
  • 4:7, 178
  • 4:10, 25, 338
  • 5:22, 331
  • 7:3, 85
  • 10:7, 85, 100
  • 12:25–27, 93
  • 13:2, 25
  • 13:8, 93
  • 13:14, 93
  • 17:14–16, 99
  • 18:17, 252–3
  • 18:21, 147
  • 19:5–6, 190
  • 19:6, xxxi, 5, 106, 128, 19, 239
  • 20:16, 120
  • 22:21, 113
  • 23:7, 74
  • 23:9, xxviii, xxx, 113
  • 23:12, 301
  • 24:7, 317
  • 25:1–2, 120
  • 25:8, 120, 121
  • 28:2, 123
  • 32:1, 118
  • 32:7, 119
  • 32:11–12, 197
  • 32:22–24, 118
  • 32:25, 128
  • 32:32, 228, 338
  • 33:1–6, 119
  • 33:7, 119
  • 33:11, xvi
  • 33:13, 119
  • 33:13, 18, 131
  • 33:18, 119
  • 33:19, 7
  • 33:19–20, 131
  • 34:6–7, 131–2
  • 34:7, 17, 305
  • 38:21, 146
• Exodus, story of 93–5
• Ezekiel
  • 18:1–4, 306
  • 18:2, 17
  • 36:17–20, 196
  • 37:11, 307
  • and chillul Hashem, 197

F

• Fackenheim, Emil, 100
• fairness 125, 127
• faithfulness, xxvii–xxviii
• false witness, bearing 106, 107
• family xxviii
• Faraday, Michael 65
• fate 70, 320, xxiii
• fear
  • distorts our perception 237
  • of strangers 112
• Fear and Trembling (Kierkegaard) 21–2
• Ferguson, Niall xvii
• Fessler, Dan 234
• Fiddler on the Roof 171–2
• fight-or-flight reactions 14
• fire 169
• firstborn 24, 25, 191
• first fruits ceremony 311–112
• forgiveness 66–7, 68, 70, 71, 187
• Before Forgiveness: The Origins of a Moral Idea (Konstan) 67
• France 140
• Frankfurter, Felix 278
• Franklin, Benjamin 82
• freedom xxi–xxiii, xxxii–xxxiii, 85, 203, 264, 320
  • to do the right and the good 89
  • and equality 73–4, 202
  • God gives us the power of 7
  • and promising 265, 266
  • and remembering Amalek 102
  • and trust 267
• free economy 73
• free rider game 297–8
• free riders 133, 134, 135
• free will 87, 88
• Freud, Sigmund xxii, 26
• Friedman, Milton 205
• fruit-bearing trees 300, 301
• Future Tense (Sacks) 252

G

• Gad 266
• Gadites 148
• Galapagos Islands 137
• game theory 205
• Gaon, Rabbi Nissim 236
• The Genealogy of Morals (Nietzsche) xxviii–xxix
  • Genesis
  • 1:2, 11
  • 1:26, xx, 303
  • 1:26–27, 3, 5, 190
  • 1:27, 11
  • 2–3, xxvi
  • 2:7, 264
  • 2:15, 303
  • 2:18, xxx, 11, 252
  • 2:23, 174
  • 2:25, xxvi
  • 3:6, xxvi
  • 3:7, xxvi
  • 3:8, xxvi
  • 3:21, 29, 284
  • 4:6–7, xxii, 209
  • 4:7, 88
  • 4:10, 270
  • 4:12, 25, 271
  • 6:6, xxii, 12
  • 6:11, 11
  • 8–9, 11
  • 8:21, 13
  • 8:29–9:6, 160
  • 9:6, xxiv, 11, 270
  • 9:32–35, 43
  • 12:1, 15
  • 17:18–21, 38
  • 18:19, xxiii, xxviii, 23, 42, 127, 163, 308
  • 18:25, 196, 278, 301, 331
  • 20:11, xxxi
  • 21:9–10, 18
  • 21:18, 38
  • 22:2, 21, 44
  • 23:6, 199
  • 24:12–14, 28–9
  • 25:8, 336
  • 25:23, 33–4
  • 25:34, 34
  • 26:34, 34
  • 27:27, 61
  • 27:33–36, 35
  • 27:41, 71
  • 29:20, 43
  • 29:25–26, 36
  • 29:26, 42
  • 29:30, 43
  • 29:31, 43
  • 30:15, 44
  • 31:19, xxvii
  • 32:8, 51
  • 32:21, 67
  • 33:4, 254
  • 33:11, 37
  • 34:1, 47
  • 34:3–4, 50
  • 34:30, 48
  • 34:31, 48
  • 37:26–27, 69
  • 37:33, 61
  • 38:26, 57
  • 41:41–43, 60
  • 42:6, 59
  • 42:7–8, 60
  • 42:21–23, 69
  • 42:33, 69
  • 44:16, 69
  • 45:4–8, 65
  • 47:9, 36
  • 49:5–7, 48
  • 50:16–17, 66, 71–2
• Geneva Bible 81
• Gennep, Arnold van 218–19
• genocide 80
• George, Henry 293
• Germany, Jews represented 16.6 per cent of lawyers and judges 278
• Gettysburg Address 91
• Ghiselin, Michael T. 9
• The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World (Hyde) 121–2
• Gino, Francesca 233–4
• Ginsburg, Ruth Bader 278
• Girard, René 161
• Gnosticism 222
• goats 183–5
• God
  • and Abraham xxiii, xxviii, 42, 127, 163
  • and the angels 74–5
  • and Aristotle 284
  • asked for an offering 121
  • belief that he sees what we do 234
  • blessed Ishmael 38
  • and Cain xxiii, 159–60
  • a case was brought against by the Jewish prisoners in a concentration camp 279
  • and charitable giving 235
  • children belong to 25
  • on choice 209–10
  • desecration of his name 198–9
  • different ways of thinking about 135
  • disobeying xxii
  • does not leave the guilty unpunished 136
  • and Elijah 261–2
  • and equality 192
  • and the Golden Calf 119, 120
  • image of xx–xxi, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12–13, 190
  • land belongs to 204
  • and law xxv
  • and love xxvii, 45, 173, 174, 175
  • love of 21–2, 220
  • and Moses 119, 245
  • and Pharaoh 85–6, 89
  • regretted making human beings 12
  • and seventy elders 229
  • and Ten Commandments 106
  • and Thirteen Attributes of Mercy 131–2
• Godly soul 154, 155
• goel hadam 270, 272
• Gogh, Vincent van 314
• Golden Calf 117–20, 128, 197
• Goleman, Daniel 14, 88
• Graetz, Heinrich 62
• gratitude 288–90
• Great Seal of Virginia 82
• Greece xix, xviii, 70, 179
• Greeks
  • and fate xxiii
  • and Peloponnesian War 111
• groups
  • identity xxx, xxxi
  • and survival 138–9
• The Guide for the Perplexed (Rambam) 4, 101, 129, 185, 271–2
• guilt 186–7, 271
  • ethic of 68
• guilt cultures xxv–xxvi, 68, 179–80, 186, 187
• Gutenberg, Johannes 65

H

• Haazinu 323
• Habakkuk 278
• Hagar, and Sarah 15, 16
• Haidt, Jonathan 112, 124, 125
• HaKappar, R. Eliezer 222
• Halbertal, Moshe 224
• HaLevi, Judah xx
• Haley, Kevin 234
• Haman 101
• Hamor 48, 49, 50
• Hannah 24, 55
• happiness 311, 312, 313, 315
• Hardin, Garrett 132–3
• harm 125
• Harris, Lee 94, 98, 100, 102
• Hasidei Ashkenaz 222
• hate 99, 100, 252, 254
• health 287–8
• hearing 42–3
• Hebraism xviii
• Hellenism xviii–xix
• Hepburn, Katharine 157
• herd instinct 156
• Herrmann, Benedikt 297
• Heschel, Rabbi Abraham Joshua 31
• ĥesed 28–31, 127
• hevel 313
• hierarchy 191–2, 239, 240
• High Priest 271, 272
• Hilchot Deot 223
• Hilchot Nezirut 223
• Hillel 41, 126, 161
  • on brides 74
  • and patience 248–9
• ĥillul (Chillul) Hashem 196, 197, 199, 337
• Hirsch, Rabbi Samson Raphael 255, 302–3
• History of the Jews (Johnson) xxxv–xxxvi
• Hittites 34, 199
• Hobbes, Thomas 9
• Hoffmann, David Zvi 178
• holiness 190, 193, 231
  • and the Sanctuary 129
• Holocaust
  • and kiddush Hashem 198
  • worship of race brought about xxxi
• the holy 167–8
• holy people 167
• holy space 167
• holy times 167
• Homer 62
• The Home We Build Together (Sacks) xxxiv
• homicide 269
• Hosea 30–1, 149, 172–4, 218
• House of Lords 103
• hubris 59, 166
• ĥukkim (chukim) 302
• Hulme, T.E. 10
• human dignity xxxii
• human freedom xxi–xxiii
• humanity, crime against 80
• human rights 191
• Hume, David 111, 112
• humiliation 67
• humility 229, 230–1, 290
• Hungary 109–11
• husband 173, 174
• Hutus 113
• Hyde, Lewis 121–2
• Hyksos 100

I

• Ibn Ezra 184, 195, 240
• idealism of youth 338
• identity
  • based on story 94
  • group xxx, xxxi
  • Jewish 319
  • and Oedipus complex 26
• idolatry xxvii
• Iggeret HaShemad 259
• Ignatieff, Michael 163, 273
• The Iliad (Homer) 62
• immoral conduct 196
• income 201
• incorporation 219
• individual, birth of 26
• individualism xxxiv, 298, 140, 296–7
  • community is the antidote to 143
• individual responsibility 308
• inequality 201–2, 203
• inner-directed people xxv, 179
• Internet 181–2
• interpersonal love xxviii
• Inventing the Individual; The Origins of Western Liberalism (Siedentop) 23
• Iraq 273
• ir hanidachat 299–300, 301
• Isaac
  • Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for him 28–9
  • Binding of 21–6, 44
  • seeing the true nature of his sons 34, 37–8
  • on discovering that Jacob had deceived him 35–6
  • forced to leave his home because of famine xxvii
  • loved Esau 44
• Isaiah
  • 2:3, 253
  • 51:7, 280
  • 66:1, 120
  • and peace 75
  • and protests 149
• ish 174
• Ishmael 18, 38
• ISIS xxxiv
• Islam
  • and converts 257–8
  • and Rambam 54
• Israel
  • campaign against on campuses 242–3
  • hate of 254
• Israel of Ruzhin, Rabbi 285
• Isserles, Rabbi Moses 149
• Is Shame Necessary? New Uses for an Old Tool (Jacquet) 177–8

J

• Jabès, Edmond 217
• Jacob
  • appeasing Esau 67–8
  • deceived by Laban 36, 42
  • and Esau’s blessing 33–9
  • Esau wished to kill 71
  • fear of Esau 51, 254
  • in liminal space 219
  • loved by Rebecca 44
  • loved Rachel 43, 44
  • reconciled with Esau 19
  • and Shechem 48, 49
  • wore Esau’s clothes 61
• Jacquet, Jennifer 177–8
• Jakobovits, Lord 103
• James, King 82
• Japan 179
• Jefferson, Thomas 3–4, 82, 92, 107, 191
• Jeremiah 149, 196, 278, 306–7
  • 2:2, 218
  • 9:2–5, 266
  • 9:22–23, 127
  • 12:1, 331
  • 17:9, 237
  • 31:28, 17
  • 31:33, 280
• Jewish identity 319
• Jezebel 261
• Joab 73
• Job 279
• Jobbik party 109–11
• Johnson, Paul xxxv–xxxvi
• Joseph
  • envied by his brothers 107
  • and forgiveness 68–70, 71–2
  • imprisoned on false charge of rape xxvii
  • and Jacob 36, 44
  • met his brothers again 59–60
  • revealed his identity to his brothers 65–7
  • and role of clothes 61–2, 63
• Josephus 80, 280
• Joshua
  • and the Amalekites 98–9
  • and the elders 229, 230
  • and Haazinu 323
• joy xxii, 311–113, 314, 315
• Jubilee years 302
• Judaeo-Christian ethic 70, 103
• Judah xxvii, 55–7, 69, 70
• justice 132, 277–8, 284, 332–3
  • form of fairness 127
  • and love 42, 45
  • retributive 273
• Justice, Not Vengeance (Wiesenthal) 273

K

• Kahneman, Daniel 133, 134, 205
• Kant, Immanuel 112
• kappara 186
• Karo, Rabbi Joseph 149
• Kaufmann, Walter 19
• Kennedy, John F. 7–8
• Keriat HaTorah 42
• Kestenbaum, Sara 28
• kiddush Hashem 198, 199
• kiddushin 175
• Kierkegaard, Søren 21–2, 314
• kindness 28–31, 127
• King, Martin Luther 332
  • Memorial 91
• Kings
  • I, 120, 257, 260, 261
  • II 147, 149, 306
• Konstan, David 67
• Korah 239–40, 241, 242, 308
• Kosovo 273
• Köves, Slomó 110

L

• Laban 36, 42
• Lamentations 253
• land
  • belongs to God 204
  • law preceded 217
  • and Rambam 302
• language
  • creates moral obligations 267
  • and performance utterance 264
• La Rochefoucauld, François de 290
• lashon hara 178, 181, 182
• law
  • about universals 283
  • alternative to power xxv
  • preceded the land 217
  • and Rambam 324
  • and Rashi 282
• Leah
  • felt hated 43
  • Jacob deceived into marrying her 36, 42
  • and mandrakes 44
• Learned Hand, Judge 107
• Lecha Dodi 45
• leper 253
• A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World’s Oldest Religion (Sacks) 319
• Levi 19, 43, 47–8, 49, 50
• Levites 191, 294
• Leviticus
  • 1:2, 153
  • 6:14–36, 207–8
  • 9:23, 165
  • 9:24, 169
  • 10:1, 169
  • 10:1–3, 165–6
  • 10:2, 169
  • 13:45–46, 180
  • 13:46, 253
  • 16:21–22, 185–6
  • 16:22, 184
  • 16:29–30, 185
  • 17:7, 184
  • 18:5, 197
  • 19, 193
  • 19:1–2, 189
  • 19:18, xxviii, 41
  • 22:32, 195
  • 25:10, 203–4
  • 25:23, 192, 204, 302
  • 25:42, 204
  • 26:13, 207
  • 26:34, 302
• Lewis, C.S 41, 230
• libel 181
• liberty 203–4
• Liberty Bell, Philadelphia 203–4
• Lichtenstein, Rabbi Aharon 280
• lies 72–3, 75, 87–8
• life
  • choosing xxii, 211, 319–20, 321
  • createdness of 106
  • sanctity of xxiv–xxv, xxxiii
• liminal space 219
• Lincoln, Abraham 4, 231, 290–1
• Lincoln Memorial 91
• listening 63, 217–18
• Livy xxxv
• Lloyd George, David 92
• Locke, John 107, 267
• The Lonely Man of Faith (Soloveitchik) 227–8
• Lord Chief Justices 278
• Lot xxvii
• love 41, 99, 171–2, 218
  • and conflict 44
  • and God xxvii, 21–2, 45, 173, 174, 175, 220
  • interpersonal xxviii
  • is particular 45, 284
  • Jacob and Rachel 42
  • Leah’s desire for from Jacob 43
  • and marriage 176
  • of strangers 114
• loving-kindness 31
• loyalty 125, 126, 127
• Lueger, Karl 111
• Luzzatto, Samuel David 80, 83
• lying 112

M

• Macbeth 186
• MacIntyre, Alasdair 94
• Maimonides, Moses see Rambam
• Malachi
  • 1:11–12 196
  • 2:10 13
• Malhotra, Deepak 235
• Mandela, Nelson 92
• mandrakes 44
• Manichaeism 222
• manslaughter 269
• market economics 74, 293
• Marr, Andrew 95
• Marranos 258–60
• marriage
  • in America 139
  • breakdown of xxxv
  • called kiddushin 175–6
  • and covenant 173, 174
  • devalued 309
  • no longer seen as a holy commitment 127
  • sanctity of xxviii, xxxiii–xxxiv
  • and the Ten Commandments 106–7
• marshmallow test 320
• Martin Luther King Memorial 91
• martyrdom 197–8
• Mary I, 81
• Medad 229
• Melchizedek 190
• Melians 13
• memory 115
• Menashe 22
• menora 229–30
• Mesha, King of Moab 22
• Mesopotamia 5
• Micah
  • 4:3, 75
  • 4:4, 204
  • 6:7, 23
  • 6:8, 23
• Michal 220
• midwives 79–80, 81, 83
• Milgram, Stanley 88
• Mill, John Stuart 125, 310
• Milton, John 6
• minyan 142
• Miriam
  • disparaging Moses 229
  • punished for sins 18, 178, 230
• mirror neurons xx, 111
• Mishkan 120, 121, 128
  • detailed account of how the donations to the building of were used 146
  • gave the Israelites the chance to give back to God 122
  • introduced the ethic of holiness 129
  • Moses instructed the Israelites to build 142
• monogamy 175
• Montezuma 98
• monuments 91–2
• moral agents 26
• moral community 127
• moral heroes 80
• morality xxiv, 112–13, 283, 284
• moral laws 12, 14, 81
• Moroccan Jewry 257–8
• Morris, Desmond 156
• Moses xxi, 24–5, 260, 329–31
  • and the Amalekites 98–9
  • burial place unknown 19
  • on choosing life xxii–xviii, 211, 319
  • and covenant 317, 321
  • and Datan and Aviram 240–1
  • on duty of parents to educate their children 93
  • and God 7
  • and the Golden Calf 118–20, 197
  • and gratitude 288–9
  • hit the rock for water 245–7
  • in the House of Lords 103
  • issued a detailed reckoning of how the donations to the building of the Mishkan were used 146, 149
  • on joy 315
  • on justice 277–8
  • and Korah 242, 308
  • lonely man of faith 228–30, 231
  • not allowed to enter the Promised Land xvi
  • not a man of words 25
  • on prophets 239
  • punished for sins 18
  • and the Reubenites and Gadites 148
  • taught the Jewish people how to become great 338–9
  • and Thirteen Attributes of Mercy 131–2
  • turned the Israelites into a community 141–2
  • and tzaraat 178
  • and Yitro 252–3
  • at the end of his life 323
  • death 335–6
• Moses ben Nahman Girondi, Rabbi see Ramban (Rabbi Moses ben Nahman Girondi, or Nahmanides)
• motzi shem ra 181
• Mount, Ferdinand xix
• murder 106, 269, 270
• Murray, Charles 309–10
• music 325–7

N

• Nadav 165–6, 168
• nachalah 324
• Nahmanides see Ramban (Rabbi Moses ben Nahman Girondi, or Nahmanides)
• Naomi 29, 270
• nation-state xxxi
• natural selection 138
• Nazirite 221–5
• Nazis 113
• neighbours xxviii
• nemesis 59
• Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin) 283–4
• Neumann, John von 205
• neuroscience 13–14
• Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle) 223
• Nielsen, Michael 234–5
• Nietzsche, Friedrich xxviii–xxix, 7, 265
• on dignity xxxii
• and will to power xxiv
• Nimrod 6
• Ninth Symphony (Beethoven) 315
• Noah
• end of his life, drunk and dishevelled 18
• God’s covenant with xxiv, xxx, 269–70
• offering an animal sacrifice in thanksgiving for having survived the Flood 160–1
• Nobel Prizes 205
• nomocracy 272
• Norenzayan, Ara 234
• Not In God’s Name (Sacks) 332
• Nowak, Martin 41–2, 133
• Numbers
  • 6:8, 221
  • 6:13–14, 221
  • 11:5, 228
  • 11:11–15, 228
  • 11:23, 230
  • 11:29, 229, 239
  • 12:3, 229
  • 13:31, 237
  • 15:39, 236
  • 16:3–4, 239
  • 16:13–14, 240
  • 16:15, 146
  • 16:22, xxi, 308
  • 17:41, 242
  • 20:10–12, 245
  • 20:12, 337
  • 23:8, 253
  • 23:8–9, 251
  • 24:5, 253
  • 27:16, 283
  • 29:39, 263
  • 30:3, 266
  • 32:22, 148
  • 35:25, 271
  • 35:26–27, 271
  • 35:28, 269
  • 35:33, 270
• Nun Study 287–8
• Nuremberg trials 80–1

O

• oaths 267
• obedience to authority 88
• Ode to Joy (Schiller) 315
• The Odyssey (Homer) 62
• Oedipus complex 26,
• Onan 56
• Oral Torah 280
• Oral Tradition 279, 300, 304, 323, 324, 327
• orders, obeying 80
• ostracism 180, 181
• other-directed people xxv, 179, 231
• Our Kids (Putnam) 309

P

• Paine, Thomas 82
• parable of the tribes 50–1
• Paradise Lost (Milton) 6
• parents
  • children are not the property of 25–6
  • children punished for sins of 17, 305–6, 307–8
  • duty to teach their children 93, 308–9, 310
  • honouring 106
• patience 248–9
• patria potestas 24
• Paul xxiii
• peace
  • and the Amalekites 100
  • and rational actors 102
  • and truth 75–6
• peacemaking 68
• Pelagian heresy xxiii
• Peloponnesian War 111
• penitence 132
• peoplehood 255
• Pepys, Samuel 215–16, 220
• performative utterance 264
• Pharaoh
  • and Joseph 60
  • and the midwives 80
  • and the plagues 85–6
  • refused to let the Israelites go 85–6, 89
• Pidyon HaBen 25
• Piketty, Thomas 201, 202
• Pilgrim Fathers 82
• Pinker, Steven 10, 157
• Pink Floyd 126
• Pinsker, Leo 254
• plagues xxiv–xxv, 85–6, 105
• Plato
  • division of society into men of gold, silver, and bronze 4, 203
  • The Republic xxiv, xxxiv, 192
  • on virtue 111
• pleasure 321
• Plotinus 142
• The Poetics of Biblical Narrative (Sternberg) 49–50
• politics, covenantal 209
• Polynices 83
• posek 300
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 289
• Potiphar’s wife 61–2
• Potiphera 190
• poverty 293–4
• power xxiv–xxv, 241, 242
  • moral limits of 11, 106
• prefrontal cortex 13, 237
• pride 246
• priests 5–6, 123, 195–6, 271, 272
  • agricultural support for 294
  • focused on the relationship between the people and God 124
  • Levites 191
  • non-Israelite 190
• printing press, invention of 65, 81
• promises xxix, 264, 265–6
• prophets
  • focused on the relationship between the people and one another 124
  • spoke truth to power 149
• protection 271–2
• Protocols of the Elders of Zion 109
• Proverbs, 6:30, 259–60
• Psalms
  • 1:1–3, 312
  • 8:4–7, 154–5
  • 85:12, 74–5
  • 92, 331
  • 128:2, 205
  • 137:4, 196
• psychology, evolutionary 10–11
• Puah 79–80, 81, 83
• public exposure 181
• public shaming 177–8, 181–2
• punishment 134, 135, 301
• purification 186, 187
• Purim 101
• Puritans 92, 93
• Putnam, Robert 140–1, 297, 309–10
• pyramids 229

Q

• al Qaeda xxxiv

R

• Rabinovitch, Rabbi Dr. Nachum 53, 54–5, 57, 100
• race xxxi
• Rachel
  • and Leah 36
  • loved by Jacob 42, 43
  • and mandrakes 44
• Rambam
  • on Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac 21
  • and the Amalekites 100–1
  • on anger 248
  • and Azazel 185
  • on choice 319
  • on cities of refuge 271–2
  • and community 142
  • on complete repentance 69
  • on dialogue 53–4
  • on emotional intelligence 246–7
  • and freedom xxii–xxiii
  • on fruit-bearing trees 300
  • The Guide for the Perplexed 4, 129
  • and Iggeret HaShemad 258–60
  • on land 302
  • on the law 324
  • on the Nazirite 222–5
  • on Pharaoh 85
  • and role models 198
  • said laws of the Torah make us think before we act 14
  • on the second tithe 295–6
  • on Shechem 49
  • on sin 308, 309
  • on Ten Commandments 105
  • wrote that we can all be as great as Moses 339
• Ramban (Rabbi Moses ben Nahman Girondi, or Nahmanides) 282–3
  • on Abraham and Sarah 15–17
  • and Azazel 184
  • on the Nazirite 221
  • on statutes 302
  • on Ten Commandments 105
• Randolph-Seng, Brandon 234–5
• rape xxvii, 47, 50, 62
• Rapoport, Anatol 133
• Rashi
  • and Azazel 184
  • on binding of Isaac 44
  • commentary to Genesis 283
  • on the law 282
  • and the Shema 145
• rational actors 97–8, 100, 102
• Rawls, John 125
• reading 42–3
• reason, something we use to rationalise choices 128, 129
• Rebecca
  • associated blessing with covenant 38
  • encouraged Jacob to take Esau’s blessing 33–5
  • loved Jacob 44
  • showed hesed (chessed) 29, 31
• reciprocal altruism xx, xxviii, 41–2
• reconciliation 163
• redeemers 270
• Red Heifer 117
• Reformation 81, xviii
• refuge, cities of 269, 270–2, 273 regulatory bodies, responsible for the implementation of professional ethics xxxv
• reminders 234–7
• repentance 69, 70, 187
• The Republic (Plato) xxiv, xxxiv, 192
• Resh Lakish 247
• resilience 289
• respect, for authority 126, 127
• responsibility 69, 211, 306, 308
• résumé virtues 227
• retaliation 272, 273
• retribution 272, 273
• retributive justice 273
• retributive punishment 301
• Reuben 43, 44, 266
• Reubenites 148
• revenge 163, 164, 270, 272, 273
• reverence 129
• The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Walzer) 93
• Ricardo, David 205
• The Righteous Mind (Haidt) 124
• righteousness 127
• Rilke, Rainer Maria 325
• rites of passage 219
• ritual defilement 186
• riv 279
• The Road to Character (Brooks) 227
• robes of office 123
• role models 198
• role-reversal 114–15
• Romantics 10
• Rome 30, xix
• Ronson, Jon xxxiii, 177, 178
• Roosevelt Memorial 91–2
• Rousseau, Henri 9
• Rozhinkes mit mandlen 326
• Rubenites 240
• Rush, Benjamin 92
• Ruth 29
• Rwanda 113

S

• Sabbatical years 302
• Sacco, Justine 177
• the sacred 126, 127
• sacrifices 153–6, 159–61, 162
• child 22–3, 26
• sage 223, 225
• saint 223–4, 224–5
• Salinger, J.D. 313
• Samael 184
• Samet, Rabbi Elchanan 49–50
• Samuel
  • I 24, 180
  • II 50, 73, 308
  • and Saul 63, 100
• sanctity 126, 127
• Sanctuary 120, 121, 128
  • detailing account of how the donations to the building of were used 146
  • giving the Israelites the chance to give back to God 122
  • introducing the ethic of holiness 129
  • Moses instructing the Israelites to build 142
• Sarah
  • believing she was to old to have a child 72
  • and Hagar 15, 16
• Sartre, Jean-Paul 143
• Satan 184
• Saul, King, and Samuel 63, 100
• scapegoat 185, 187
• Schiller, Friedrich von 315
• Schmookler, Andrew 50–1
• scientific laws 12
• Scott, Sir Walter 87
• Seal of Virginia 82
• second tithe 294–6, 298
• sectarians 104
• self-denial 224, 225
• self-interest 133
• self-renunciation 167
• Selichot 132
• Sennacherib 100–1
• separation 219
• seven, number 192
• sex 176
• sexual anomie xxvii
• sexual ethics xxviii
• Sforno, Ovadiah 86
• Shabbat 106, 142, 301–2
• Shakespeare, William 186
• shame 58, 70, 186
  • ethics of xxxiii, 68
  • and lashon hara 181
  • and the scapegoat 187
  • and social media xxxiii
• Shame and Necessity (Williams) xxvi
• shame cultures xxv–xxvi, xxxiii, 68, 179, 180, 186, 187
• shaming 177–8, 181–2
• Shammai 74
• Shapiro, Rabbi Avraham 326
• Shariff, Azim 136
• Shechem 47–50, 51–2
• Shekel Chamber, Temple 148
• Shelah 56
• Shema 45, 104, 145
• Shifra 79–80, 81, 83
• Shimon b. Yochai, R. 254, 301
• Shir HaShirim 45, 218
• Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Rabbi 153–4
• sibling rivalry 44, 61
• Siedentop, Larry 23
• siege 300
• Simeon 43, 47–8, 49, 50, 69
• simcha 311–113
• Simchat Torah 215–16
• Simlai, R. 29
• Sinai covenant xxix, xxx, xxxi, 104–5
• Singer, Isaac Bashevis xxxiii
• single-parent families xxxiv
• sins 18, 309, 337, xxiii
  • and Rambam 308
  • and Yom Kippur 185–6, 187
• slander 181
• slavery 4, 89, 204
• Smith, Adam 111–12, 112
• social animals, and mirror neutrons xx
• social capital 141, 298
• social media, and shame xxxiii
• societal beatitude 280
• society-as-a-hotel xxxiv
• society-as-home xxxiv
• Sodom and Gomorrah 196, 278, 301
• Solomon, King 18, 120
• Soloveitchik, Rabbi Joseph
  • Adam I and II 227–8
  • on the Binding of Isaac 21–2
• Song of Songs 175, 218
• songs 326–7
• Sophocles 83
• Sosis, Richard 128
• soul 154, 155
• So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed (Ronson) xxxiii, 177
• Spain 319
• spies, sent by Moses 237
• Spinoza, Benedict de 209
• Spira, Rabbi Elijah 290
• Stanford Prison Experiment 88–9
• the state, and the consequences of the breakdown of marriage xxxv
• statutes 302–3
• Sternberg, Meir 49–50
• stigma 180, 181
• strangers
  • caring for 115
  • fearing of 112
  • love of xxviii, 114
  • prohibition to mistreat or oppress xxx, 113
• sugnome 67
• suicide bombers 113
• The Suicide of Reason (Harris) 94
• Sukkot 315
• sustainability 301
• synagogue-goers 141
• Syria 273
• Szegedi, Csanad 109–11, 114–15

T

• tact 73
• tahara 186
• Tamar 50, 56–7, 61
• Tarfon, R. 336
• Taylor, Peter 278
• Ten Commandments 103–4, 105–8, 235
• terror 101
• Thanksgiving Day 290
• Thebes 83
• theft 106, 107
• Theory of Moral Sentiments (Smith) 111–12
• Thirteen Attributes of Mercy 131–2, 305
• Thomas, Dylan 336
• Thoreau, Henry David 83
• Thrasymachus xxiv
• tinok shenishba 112
• “Tintern Abbey” (Wordsworth) 31
• tithe, second 294–6, 298
• Tocqueville, Alexis de xxiii, 107, 139–40
  • Democracy in America 137
  • on individualism 296–7
• Torah Shebe’al Peh 279
• tov 4–5
• tragedy 83
• tragedy of the commons 132–4
• transition 219
• tribes, parable of 50–1
• trust
  • and freedom 266–7
  • in public life 149
  • undermined by lashon hara 181, 182
• truth 74, 75, 149, 241
• tum’a 186, 187
• Tutsis 113
• Tversky, Amos 133, 205
• Tyndale, William 31, 81, 184
• type scenes 60–1
• tyranny xxxiv
• tzaraat 178–9, 180–1
• tzedaka 30
• tzidduk hadin 329
• tzimtzum 167
• tzitzit 235–6, 237
• tzon 155, 156

U

• United Nations Conference against Racism, Durban, 2001 252
• United States
  • covenant 208–9
  • divided into two classes 309–10
  • and income 201
  • see also America
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights xxxiv
• universities, and BDS 242–3

V

• values, conflicting 73–4
• vengeance 161, 162, 163, 273
• victim culture 210–11
• Vietnam War veterans 289
• violence
  • opposite of morality xxiv
  • and revenge 164
  • sacrifice a substitute for 161, 162
  • and Shechem 51–2, 52
• virtue 111
• Voegelin, Eric 217–18
• vows 263, 267

W

• Waal, Frans de 9–10, 68
• Walzer, Michael 93, 101
• The Warrior’s Honor: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience (Ignatieff) 163, 273
• wars
  • and dual covenant xxxiv
  • ethnic 273
  • and group identity xxxi
• Washington 91–2
• Washington, President George xv
• wealth 145–6
• Weaver, Richard 98
• Weber, Max 4, 199
• Weinberg, Rabbi Yechiel 54
• WEIRD societies 124, 125, 126
• whistle-blowers 87
• Whitehead, A.N. 142–3
• white lie 72–3, 75
• Wiesel, Elie 95, 279
• Wiesenthal, Simon 273
• wilderness, and liminal space 218, 219
• Williams, Bernard xxvi
• will to power xxiv
• Wilson, James Q. 236
• Wittgenstein, Ludwig 155, 236
• Wolterstorff, Nicholas 7
• woman wearing tallit and tefillin 55
• Woolf, Harry 278
• Wordsworth, William 31
• World Wide Web 65
• worship, places of 141 Written Torah 280
• Wycliffe, John 81

Y

• Yedid Nefesh 45
• Yehuda, R. 299
• yerusha/morasha 324, 325
• Yeshurun 330–1
• Yiftah 22
• Yitro 147, 190, 252–3
• Yochanan b. Zakkai, R. 147
• Yom Kippur, and sins 185–6, 187
• Yona, Rabbenu 241
• Yose the Galilean, R. 301
• Yugoslavia, former 273

Z

• Zechariah, 8:23 253–4
• ziggurat 229
• Zimbardo, Philip 88