54 | JULY 27 • 2023 

B

uried among the 
epic passages in 
Va’etchanan — 
among them the Shema and 
the Ten Commandments — 
is a brief passage with large 
implications for 
the moral life in 
Judaism. Here it 
is together with 
the preceding 
verse: “Be 
very vigilant 
to keep the 
commandments 
of the Lord your God, and 
the testimonies and decrees 
with which He has charged 
you. Do what is right and 
what is good in the Lord’s 
eyes, so that it may go well 
with you, and you may go 
in and take possession of 
the good land that the Lord 
swore to your ancestors to 
give you.” Deut. 6:17-18
The difficulty is obvious. 

The preceding verse makes 
reference to commandments, 
testimonies and decrees. 
This, on the face of it, is the 
whole of Judaism as far as 
conduct is concerned. What 
then is meant by the phrase 
“the right and the good” 
that is not already included 
within the previous verse?
Rashi says it refers to 
“compromise (that is, not 
strictly insisting on your 
rights) and action within or 
beyond the letter of the law 
(lifnim mi-shurat ha-din).” 
The law, as it were, lays 
down a minimum threshold: 
this we must do. But the 
moral life aspires to more 
than simply doing what 
we must. The people who 
most impress us with their 
goodness and rightness 
are not merely people who 
keep the law. The saints and 
heroes of the moral life go 

beyond. They do more than 
they are commanded. They 
go the extra mile. That, 
according to Rashi, is what 
the Torah means by “the 
right and the good.”
Ramban, while citing 
Rashi and agreeing with him, 
goes on to say something 
slightly different: “At first 
Moses said that you are 
to keep His statutes and 
his testimonies which He 
commanded you, and now 
he is stating that even where 
He has not commanded you, 
give thought as well to do 
what is good and right in his 
eyes, for He loves the good 
and the right.
“Now this is a great 
principle, for it is impossible 
to mention in the Torah all 
aspects of man’s conduct 
with his neighbors and 
friends, all his various 
transactions and the 

ordinances of all societies 
and countries. But since He 
mentioned many of them, 
such as, ‘You shall not go 
around as a talebearer,’ ‘You 
shall not take vengeance nor 
bear a grudge,’ ‘You shall 
not stand idly by the blood 
of your neighbor,’ ‘You shall 
not curse the deaf,’ ‘You shall 
rise before the hoary head,’ 
and the like, He went on to 
state in a general way that 
in all matters one should 
do what is good and right, 
including even compromise 
and going beyond the strict 
requirement of the law… 
Thus, one should behave in 
every sphere of activity, until 
he is worthy of being called 
‘good and upright.’”

BEYOND THE LAW
Ramban is going beyond 
Rashi’s point, that the right 
and the good refer to a 

The Right and the Good

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

