Jewish Values
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ShareBetween You and Other People:
Mishnah Peah 1:1
These are things that are priceless: leaving the corners of your fields for the poor, bringing your first fruits to the Temple, bringing offerings at each festival, doing kindness, and studying Torah.
These are things that yield interest during your life, while the principal remains for you in the world-to-come: honoring your father and mother, doing kindness, arriving early to study morning and evening, welcoming strangers, visiting the sick, providing for the bride, burying the dead, paying attention to prayer, bringing peace between one person and another; and the study of Torah is like them all.
Between You and Environment
Genesis 2:15
And God took the man and God placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.
(יט) כִּֽי־תָצ֣וּר אֶל־עִיר֩ יָמִ֨ים רַבִּ֜ים לְֽהִלָּחֵ֧ם עָלֶ֣יהָ לְתׇפְשָׂ֗הּ לֹֽא־תַשְׁחִ֤ית אֶת־עֵצָהּ֙ לִנְדֹּ֤חַ עָלָיו֙ גַּרְזֶ֔ן כִּ֚י מִמֶּ֣נּוּ תֹאכֵ֔ל וְאֹת֖וֹ לֹ֣א תִכְרֹ֑ת כִּ֤י הָֽאָדָם֙ עֵ֣ץ הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה לָבֹ֥א מִפָּנֶ֖יךָ בַּמָּצֽוֹר׃
(19) When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city?
Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:28
Look at My works! How beautiful and praiseworthy they are. Everything that I have created, I created for you. Take care not to damage and destroy My world, for if you damage it, there is no one to repair it after you.
Chassidic Tradition
There is told a story about the Hafetz Hayyim, a famous rabbi, from the early part of the 20th century. When an American visitor to his home saw how bare his room was, he asked him, “Where is your furniture?”
The Hafetz Hayyim asked the man “Where is your furniture?” The American answered,“Furniture, I don’t have any here- I am only a visitor.”
But the Hafetz Hayyim answered,“I, too, am a visitor in this world.”
Between You and God
(כו) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכׇל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכׇל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (כז) וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃
(26) And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.” (27) And God created humankind in the divine image, creating it in the image of God— creating them male and female.
Chassidic Story
Rabbi Nahman Kossover, would look out at his community as he would lead them in prayer, and he would see the letters of God's name reflected back at him. But then times changed and the rabbi was forced to become a merchant. In the marketplace, amid the rapid pace of buying and selling, he found it harder always to concentrate on the name of God. So he hired an assistant who came with him wherever he went. That person's function was to remind him of God's name. Whenever he looked at the face of his assistant, Rabbi Nahman would remember the name of God.
Leviticus 19:18
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Eternal.
(כג) לֹא־תָלִ֨ין נִבְלָת֜וֹ עַל־הָעֵ֗ץ כִּֽי־קָב֤וֹר תִּקְבְּרֶ֙נּוּ֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא כִּֽי־קִלְלַ֥ת אֱלֹהִ֖ים תָּל֑וּי וְלֹ֤א תְטַמֵּא֙ אֶת־אַדְמָ֣תְךָ֔ אֲשֶׁר֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ נַחֲלָֽה׃ {ס}
(23) you must not let the corpse remain on the stake overnight, but must bury it the same day. For an impaled body is an affront to God: you shall not defile the land that your God יהוה is giving you to possess.
Rashi on Deuteronomy 21:23:
It’s an insult to the king, because people are made in the image of the One they are like, and Israel are God’s children. It is like two twin brothers who looked alike. One of them was king over all the world; the other one became a criminal, and they hanged him.But everyone who went past, said, “The king is being hanged!”
