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