JULY 27 • 2023 | 55

higher standard than the law 
strictly requires. It seems as 
if Ramban is telling us that 
there are aspects of the moral 
life that are not caught by the 
concept of law at all. That is 
what he means by saying “It 
is impossible to mention in 
the Torah all aspects of man’s 
conduct with his neighbors 
and friends.”
Law is about universals, 
principles that apply in all 
places and times: Do not 
murder. Do not rob. Do 
not steal. Do not lie. Yet 
there are important features 
of the moral life that are 
not universal at all. They 
have to do with specific 
circumstances and the way 
we respond to them. What 
is it to be a good husband 
or wife, a good parent, 
a good teacher, a good 
friend? What is it to be a 
great leader, or follower, or 
member of a team? When is 
it right to praise, and when 
is it appropriate to say, “You 
could have done better?”
There are aspects of the 
moral life that cannot be 
reduced to rules of conduct 
because what matters is not 
only what we do, but the 
way in which we do it: with 
humility or gentleness or 
sensitivity or tact.
Morality is about persons, 
and no two persons are alike. 
When Moses asked God to 
appoint his successor, he 
began his request with the 
words, “Lord, God of the 
spirit of all flesh.” (Num. 
27:16) On this the Rabbis 
commented: What Moses 
was saying was that each 
person is different, so he 
asked God to appoint a 

leader who would relate 
to each individual as an 
individual, knowing that 
what is helpful to one 
person may be harmful 
to another. This ability to 
judge the right response to 
the right person at the right 
time is a feature not only 
of leadership, but of human 
goodness in general.
Rashi begins his 
commentary to Bereishit 
with the question: If the 
Torah is a book of law, why 
does it not start with the 
first law given to the people 
of Israel as a whole, which 
does not appear until Exodus 
12? Why does it include 
the narratives about Adam 
and Eve, Cain and Abel, the 
patriarchs and matriarchs 
and their children? 
Rashi gives an answer 
that has nothing to do with 
morality — he says it has to 
do with the Jewish people’s 
right to their land. But 
the Netziv (R. Naftali Zvi 
Yehudah Berlin; 1816-1893) 
writes that the stories of 
Genesis are there to teach 
us how the patriarchs were 
upright in their dealings, 
even with people who were 
strangers and idolaters. That, 
he says, is why Genesis is 
called by the Sages “the book 
of the upright.” 
Morality is not just a 
set of rules, even a code 
as elaborate as the 613 
commands and their 
rabbinic extensions. It is also 
about the way we respond to 
people as individuals. The 
story of Adam and Eve in the 
Garden of Eden is at least in 
part about what went wrong 
in their relationship when 

the man referred to his wife 
as Ishah, “woman,” a generic 
description, a type. Only 
when he gave her a proper 
name, Chavah, Eve, did he 
relate to her as an individual 
in her individuality, and 
only then did God make 
“garments of skins for Adam 
and his wife, and clothed 
them.” (Gen. 3:21)
This, too, is the difference 
between the God of Aristotle 
and the God of Abraham. 
Aristotle thought that 
God knew only universals 
not particulars. This is 
the God of science, of the 
Enlightenment, of Spinoza. 
The God of Abraham is the 
God who relates to us in our 
singularity, in what makes us 
different from others as well 
as what makes us the same.

JUSTICE AND LOVE
This ultimately is the 
difference between the 
two great principles of 
Judaic ethics: justice and 
love. Justice is universal. 
It treats all people alike, 
rich and poor, powerful 
and powerless, making no 
distinctions on the basis 
of color or class. But love 
is particular. A parent 
loves their children for 
what makes them each 
unique. The moral life is a 
combination of both. That 
is why it cannot be reduced 
solely to universal laws. That 
is what the Torah means 
when it speaks of “the right 
and the good” over and 
above the commandments, 
statutes and testimonies.
A good teacher knows 
what to say to a struggling 
student who, through great 

effort, has done better than 
expected, and to a gifted 
student who has come 
top of the class but is still 
performing below their 
potential. A good employer 
knows when to praise and 
when to challenge. We all 
need to know when to insist 
on justice and when to 
exercise forgiveness. 
The people who have had 
a decisive influence on our 
lives are almost always those 
we feel understood us in our 
singularity. We were not, 
for them, a mere face in the 
crowd. That is why, though 
morality involves universal 
rules and cannot exist 
without them, it also involves 
interactions that cannot be 
reduced to rules.
Rabbi Israel of Rizhin 
(1796-1850) once asked a 
student how many sections 
there were in the Shulchan 
Aruch. The student replied, 
“Four.” 
“What,” asked the Rizhiner, 
“do you know about the fifth 
section?” 
“But there is no fifth 
section,” said the student. 
“There is,” said the 
Rizhiner. “It says: Always 
treat a person like a mensch.”
The fifth section of the 
code of law is the conduct 
that cannot be reduced to 
law. That is what it takes to 
do the right and the good. 

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (1948-

2020) was a global religious leader, 

philosopher, the author of more than 

25 books and moral voice for our time. 

His series of essays on the weekly 

Torah portion, entitled “Covenant 

& Conversation” will continue to be 

shared and distributed around the 

world. 

