Q&A: Disseminating the Values of the Hebrew Bible in the World
Disseminating the Values of the Hebrew Bible in the World
Question
I am quoting a paragraph from your book The First Existent, page 515:
“It begins with the role of Jewish faith in imparting morality and monotheistic belief and its values to the world at large. One must be careful of an anachronistic perspective that projects today’s situation—where the cultured world is relatively enlightened and moral—onto the past. The world in which Jewish faith operated and within which it received its unique role was completely different. It was a world of idol worship and child sacrifice, cruelty and corruption, almost bestial. The role we received, and also fulfilled, was to change this, and our success, which is reflected in our enlightened world today, should not blind us.”
Is it really correct to say that we are the ones who spread these values throughout the world? Granted, we took this mission upon ourselves, but the ones who spread the Torah in the world, as I understand it, were the Christians. And if so, then they certainly publicized the values of the Hebrew Bible in the world from a Christian angle.
Two questions:
- Is it correct to say that the Christians are the ones who spread the values of the Torah that you are talking about in this paragraph throughout the world?
- If so, is there room to say that those who spread these values spread them differently from the way we understand them?
Answer
- Why do you see a contradiction between my claim and yours? The Christians took the Hebrew Bible and its values from us and spread it further. Maimonides already discusses the role of Christians and Muslims in spreading the Torah and morality.
- I think that in the realm of morality there are no significant differences. Especially since neither among us nor among them is there uniformity, so it is hard to speak of our interpretation and theirs.
Discussion on Answer
The attitude toward the stranger, love of one’s fellow, humility, prohibitions against theft and murder. Even if there were people who understood these things earlier, their internalization and force are to a large extent thanks to the Hebrew Bible.
So if we try to be a bit more precise, what other values (besides idol worship and child sacrifice) did the Hebrew Bible spread and change in the world? Presumably things that were not obvious before and today are obvious, as you describe in your book?