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!TORAH PORTION

Reception for the Rosh Yeshiva

RABBI YERUCHIM OLSHIN shlita
BETH MEDRASH GOVOHA
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 8:15 at the home of

Mr. and Mrs. JOSEPH NUSBAUM
15041 Burton, Oak Park

Religion And Ethics
Cannot Be Separated

MORTON F. YOLKUT

Special to The Jewish News

T

his week's Torah
portion recounts the
quintessential event of
Jewish history: the Sinaitic
covenant between God and
Israel. When God gave the
'Ibn Commandments to our
ancestors he presented them
on two tablets. In so doing, he
revealed to man the two-fold
concern of Judaism.
The first tablets delineate
the mitzvot b'ain adam
lamakon, the commandments
regulating man's relationship
to God. The second contain
the mitzvot b'ain lachavero,
the commandments which
govern man's relationship to
his fellow man.
Judaism thus addresses
itself to the two most impor-
tant relationships in human
existence. The first deals with
piety — fealty to God,

Shabbat Yitro:
Exodus 18:1-20:23,
Isaiah 6:1-7:6, 9:5-6

reverence for Him and the
recognition that He is the
master of the world. The se-
cond relationship is between
people. Here our religion is
concerned with respect for
human life and property, feel-
ing and sensibilities, freedom
and dignity.
Throughout history, various
philosophies of life have
directed man's attention to
one or the other of these two
relationships. From the
Revelation of Sinai, however,
it is clear that neither can
exist independently.
Religion and ethics are one,
according to Judaism, even as
the God who revealed them is
One. This was the implication
of the sage who said: "The
Ten Commandments parallel
the ten divine imperatives
which brought the world into
being." Just as the world is a
unified system — we cannot
imagine it without a sun,
vegetation, without man — so
God's moral revelation is a
unified system. "Thou shall
not murder" is as integral a
part of it as is "I am the Lord
your God."
It is clear that religion
without ethics is unaccep-
table. Imagine a God-fearing
man being a murderer. We
would denounce him,
ostracize him and abhor his
hypocrisy. Surely we would

Morton F Yolkut is rabbi at Cong.
B'nai David.

say that the religious man
who is unethical and immoral
is a caricature of religion.
But, if religion without
ethics is a farce and a sham,
then ethics without religion
is equally unacceptable. Of
course, there are many today
who will not accept this asser-
tion. There are many self-
described religious people
whose religion is confined to
the second tablets, to the
ethical realm exclusively.
Why does traditional
Judaism insist that ethics
cannot exist or survive
without a religious founda-
tion? One reason is that the
ethical life is not always the
easiest life. Practically speak-
ing, it doesn't always pay to be
honest and above board.
"Nice guys," said the sage of
the baseball diamond, "finish
last." He was absolutely right
— in the practical sense.
One great scholar of the last
century is said to have own-
ed a store in which he sold
galoshes. When a man came
in for snow shoes, the rabbi,
instead of trying to sell him
his own goods, would advise
him to go across the street for
a larger and better selection
of sturdy boots. This sage was
ethically pure, morally
perfect — but a dismal failure
in the business world!
Conversely, the recent Wall
Street scandals remind us
that when exorbinant profits
and greed are one's raison
d'etre, ethical standards can
often and conveniently be put
aside.
Business ethics are not
always practical and pro-
fitable. You practice ethics not
for pragmatic gain, but
because you believe in a
religious way of life, because
you accept the yoke of the
Kingdom of Heaven upon
yourself, because the ethical
way is also God's way. It may
not be the easiest or most
lucrative way, but it is the
right way
"When a problem in socie-
ty arises," says Moses in this
week's portion, let the dispute
be brought to me. I shall
judge between man and man."
This capacity to search for
an answer to ethical problems
by turning to God's law, is a
quality peculiar to the Jewish
people according to the late
Chief Rabbi Abraham Kook.
The original source of that
quality is the two-fold revela-
tion of God, religious and
ethical — two theoretical
realms that are fused into one
integrated philosophy of life,
indivisible in theory, and in-
separable in practice.

Guest Speaker

RABBI MOSHE EISEMANN shlita

Dean of Men Ner Israel College
Baltimore, MD

Chairman of Sponsors Committee
Master of Ceremonies
MR. YEHUDA ELCHONEN
RABBI ARTHUR GOLD
Rabbi and Mrs. Joseph Nusbaum
Rabbi and Mrs. Dov Loketch
Mr. and Mrs. Sol Nusbaum
HOSTS

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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