- To talk about ethic is no easy task. In contemporary
liberal democracies we are witnessing a severe tendency towards dismissing
ethics and morality in favor of legal maneuvers. Contrariwise, referring
to the ethical judgment as a vigilant act, attributable to the transcendental
subject rather than to the empirical individual, hints at the uncanniness
of human existence.
-
- In compliance with this position I contend that viewing
justice in legalist terms signifies the Westerners' betrayal of its 'polis'heritage,
where the political is bound to ethics. In Sophocles'Antigone Heidegger
presents us with a human swirl, as a reflection upon arguing rightly and
thinking humanely[i]. In violating the overpowering limiting power of 'Being'
poetically, creative thinkers have created 'the place' in the polis, where
the rhetorician, politician, philosopher, or legislator aspired to convince
the public about the 'truth value' of innovative bits of knowledge in order
to be won. Physics which epitomizes the fluidity of concepts that once
had been defined, their content is constantly altered, reminds us of the
'empty space' in the centre of the polis. In Judaism, where 'truth' is
divine, the 'empty space' does not exist! Thus, it is deprived of the ethical
whirling experience. The question is: How is it possible for the ethical
episode to happen, if science and art are prohibited, and justice is replaced
by obedience? Jewish law tolerates neither empty spaces to be filled up
by rhetoric, nor disparity to be acted out by the means of theatre or epics.
-
- But, the 'empty space' is the core of hermeneutics, as
the art of inspiring new chains for understanding a text creatively. The
Judaic approach to the playfulness of language is more elusive than it
seems. The Jew who is oscillating between immutable textual knowledge and
the "turn it and turn it, for everything is in it", without plumping
for either, is jammed into false hermeneutics. Hence Judaism which conceives
the human being as subordinated to the Text, the claim of bringing hermeneutics
to its prime fails.
-
- In his article 'The Law Wishes to have a Formal Existence'
Stanley Fish speaks ironically about the threat of hermeneutics, as the
exposure of a text to too many uncontrolled interpretations. The two threats
to 'The Law' are morality, to which the law pretends to be related, and
interpretation. If justice could be inferred directly by a chain of moral
obligation there would be no need for a legal system.
-
- The fear of the 'deleterious' influence of morality maintains
the formal existence of the law. Oddly enough, formal legalism coincides
with Judaic conceit of elevating hermeneutics to its peak and at the same
time preserves zealously the formal status of The Law. Thus, for the purpose
of distancing the observant subject from imaginative reading leading to
unruly moral thinking, an esoteric hermeneutics followed by rhetorical
spins was elaborated. In devising self-executing formalities Jewish hermeneutic
ascertain the meaning as possessed by the last word. Lyotard asks: if deconstruction
is about something badly constructed, how can deconstruction deconstruct
a text which cannot be amended? The problem with the Jews is that instead
of being the 'Guardians of Being', they turned into the guardians of 'not-forgetting-the-forgotten',
distorting justice in the name of 'The Law'[ii]. Hence in fact the 'people
of the book' are the 'people of the one and the same book', they are literate
but not knowledgeable. Conceiving themselves as the 'light of the nations',
they fail to show any eagerness to be enlightened. Judaic zeal for abstract
signification, the refusal to supply presentation for the unpresentable
interferes with a capacity to speculate with ideas.
-
- The irreconcilable gap between Hellenism and Judaism
can be exposed. in the Decalogue where sin is not defined in ethical or
moral terms, and ethical wrangling is replaced by dutiful obedience. For
more than 2500 years the world was suffused with the myth of justice and
social welfare which the Ten Commandments bestowed upon it. From a cautious
reading of the Ten Commandments, an all-embracing intention to disconnect
human beings from their natural instincts, impulses and natural drives,
can be revealed.
-
- To start with the commandment that tells us to respect
and love our parents. We love our parents instinctively, but rebel their
authority through many life episodes. This ethical intricate burden that
was relentlessly reconsidered by Greek mythology and tragedy, is delivered
as an imperative, which excludes an ethical battling with the 'given'.
To be commanded to respect our parents in exchange for being rewarded
with long life in the Promised Land does not sound like a revelation of
truth and justice. Likewise with the 'Sabbath': in the ancient world the
tillers of the soil had to plough, sow and reap. Once the tears and toils
of farming and growing were ended by joy, they celebrated with feasts of
wine and dances. The harmony of man and nature was signified by the rhythm
of nature's passing seasons, hoping for balance in a soft way. After sweating
in the fields, people took a rest to rejoice. To punctuate peoples' lives
by six days of 'labour' and 'rest' on the seventh is not such a great socially
beneficial legislation. Notably on the Sabbath Jews are not allowed to
ignite fire or to move from one place to another; in Judaism things cannot
be left alone for a moment. Actually, with pagans as ordinary human beings
the values of decency, civility, respect for parents and the elderly, obedience
to magistrates, and submission to laws are venerated in most ancient pagan
texts.
-
- Jewish monotheism is distinct not only from the Pagan
world but also from Christianity. As a tribal cult, regarding themselves
as chosen, Jews differentiated themselves from the gentiles whom they held
in contempt. Christianity as a universal religion enables ethical contemplation
without the interference of supremacist postures. Judaic Law is an impoverished
system of justice. Even the six tomes of the Talmud as a collection of
behavioral guidance, are scarcely engaged in moral intuitions. Here are
some disturbing questions to raise: If Jewish scholarship, should as declared
by Jews be accredited as a universal wisdom embracing ethics and morality,
why is it that the more the Jews are engrossed in this learning, the more
segregated they turn out to be? How can ethical thinking mesh with learning
that results in segregation? Is it the Judaic suppression of 'the image'
and the submission to the Word, which is recognized as the reign of intellectuality
over sensuality that distances its bearers from being in tune with earth
and heaven?
-
- Despite Jewish attempts to persuade us to extract wisdom
from Talmud, it never evolved into an essential part of western intellectual
thought. Its polemic image disguises a tradition of chewing ready-made
disputes, in which the views and opinions of previous scholars are faithfully
preserved verbatim citing the rabbi who first uttered it. Hence, while
grieving the forgotten wisdom of the Talmud, Jewish scholars disguise its
formal judicial nature. The Jewish Law is not founded in a moral or an
ethical conception of man; but rather as a set of regulations which grew
out of social conditions and cultic motives obsolete no longer understood.
-
- The Jews, who praise themselves for rescuing the oriental
world from the cruelties of paganism, actually impersonated their own mental
picture of an invisible God as a simulacrum of an oriental pitiless tyrant
that grounds His power in the Mosaic Law. In fact, this conception of God
is the most ingenious device ever invented for cementing a group. It is
a mastermind's indestructible strategy, that in combining repression with
gratitude, it authorizes a perfect scheme for self-preservation.
-
- Mosaic monotheism always aimed at achieving a complete
grip on Jewish daily life. In the shma Israel prayer, Israel is told 'You
must love your God with all your heart and soul and strength, when you
lie down and when you rise' (Deuteronomy 6:4-8) . This double-bind imperative:
loving God coupled with dread, imposes indebtedness for being bestowed
with stolen treasures "Your God will bring you into the land which
he swore to your forefathers Abraham, , Isaac, and Jacob that he would
give you a land of great and fine cities which you did not build, houses
full of good things which you did not provide, cistern which you did
not hew, and vineyards and olive-groves which you did not plant. When you
eat your fill there, be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you
out of Egypt (Deuteronomy 6:10-12). The spirit of the Jewish religion was
not inspired by ideas, but rather by a covenantal pact of conditional activities
which took over all aspects of the peoples' life. Yet, many non-observant
Jews, follow the Jewish rites, and maintain the same vague admiration for
Judaic wisdom. This brainwashing regarding the intellectual intensity of
the Talmudic debate is sustained by a predetermined common ignorance. While
Orthodox Jews reject external knowledge, most secular Jews are unfamiliar
with the Talmudic text.
-
- Since Rabbinic tradition does not supply an intelligible
moral meaning for the Law, decision-making is authorized by tribal needs
or personal greed, whilst moral issues are approached in terms of profit/loss
calculations. Relations with God are conceived in contractual terms: good
deeds are measured against bad, as in a business balance sheet. Bultmann
points to the disturbing nature of obedient ethics where the realization
of the ideal man is replaced by the glory of God. Differing from Greek
thought, Jewish morality is perceived in terms of action and not as one
of the virtues of the 'ideal man'[iii]. The people who are inspired by
the god within differ from those who are led by the pillars of 'cloud and
fire'. Devotion based on fear, leaves the trembling Jew to propitiate 'God
authority' by ostentatious obedience[iv]. But then, what is moral satisfaction
when based on dread rather than love? What does God's 'Love' means, if
it is associated with intimidation and fright? Thus, whilst Hellenism inspired
Westerners' thought through 25 centuries, the Old Testament's contribution
can be entirely dismissed. Any attempt to highlight the rift between Athens
and Jerusalem, is immediately denounced as anti-Semitism.
-
- The Law flourishes on the ruins of ethics. Heidegger
opined that the more people are immersed in legalism, the more they quit
the embrace of 'Being'. While legalism is anchored within rules, justice
is an object of an idea. While an ethical judgment is a game without rules,
the Law is a linguistic 'fashioning', elevated to a supreme sacred stage
of secular fundamentalism. If ethics manifest itself in the inexpressible
twilight zone where universalism surrenders particularism, how can
Judaism, which resist 'pluralism', make an ethical act happen? Is it the
subservient choice which forbids theological reflection.
-
- In the book of Job which is the only biblical-theological
text regarding God's justice, we find out how Job's children are killed,
his servants slaughtered, Job himself is brought to the brink of death,
his wife and his friends deny him any support and understanding. Thus,
from the depths of his misery, Job meets with a stone wall, to discover
that his complaints cannot obtain a hearing from the judge who is so much
praised for his justice. The denial of fair trial is the worst of all.
If this is a lesson God teaches us about fairness; why are people in court
asked to swear upon a book which presents us with such heartless injustice?
Jung justly asserts that God is far more preoccupied with a manifestation
of His might than sustaining His right.
-
- The view regarding human beings as granted with the ability
to make rational judgment divides mainstream Enlightenment approaches from
Judaism and Islam in a non-negotiable clash. Conceiving the human subject
as spoken rather than self-defining individuals, reject the notion of democracy.
Yet, while Jews are bestowed with a special status in the eyes of God,
Islam is not a tribal religion. Judaic righteousness is motivated not by
love but by the fear of a jealous power. The bible commands: In the cities
of these nations whose land the Lord is giving you as patrimony, you shall
not leave any creature alive. You shall annihilate them all(Deuteronomy
20:16). Among incompatible groups who resist western thought Judaism is
the most uncompromising. A quest to decipher the triumph of Jewish monotheism
over western civilization is yet to come.
-
- In this paper I focused on Judaism, as dichotomous from
Hellenism and from the other two monotheist religions. Judaism celebrates
the primacy of the ear over visual representation. But despising the vividness
of the referent leaves the Jewish subject sealed in a segregated bubble,
impelled into an incurable detachment. The Jews are homeless; but frightened
by uncanniness. Although regarding themselves as 'citizens of the world',
they feel most secure within the walls of their mental ghetto. In the no
man's land, between Law and Ethics, Is it not much too dangerous for people
who lack the care for Being, to manifest itself as a political-national
entity?
-
-
- [i] Heidegger, M. (2000), Introduction to Metaphysics,
trans. Gregory fried and Richard
- Polt, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp.
159-176
-
- [ii] Lyotard, J. F. (1988 a), Heidegger and "the
Jews", Minneapolis: University of
-
- Minnesota Press
-
-
- [iii] Bultmann, R. (1958), Jesus and the Word, Fontana
Books, pp. 57-8
-
- [iv] Bultmann, R. (1960) , Primitive Christianity, The
Fontana Library
-
-
- *Ariella Atzmon. Israeli born. Senior lecturer in the
School of Education and the School of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
(retired on 2002). Author of "Multiple Amnesia: a poststructuralist
gaze".
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