Shavuot: The Golden Rule

By Barry Kaplan, delivered May 30, 2009

We are celebrating Shavuot – the commemoration of the Israelites receiving the Ten Commandments from G-d. The Jewish people received this code of moral behavior after their exodus from Egypt. It was transmitted through Moses and has been central to the concept of being a Jew. For the last 3,500 years, all 613 commandments have defined Jewishness and have also greatly influenced non-Jewish ethical, legal, and political systems around the world.

The Ten Commandments were delivered in two tablets. The first five commandments deal with obligations that people have to G-d.

There is one G-d
There should be no idol worship
We should not take G-d’s name in vain
We should keep the Sabbath, and
We should honour our parents.

The next five commandments deal with the relationships of people to people.

There should be no murder
There should be no adultery
There should be no stealing or kidnapping
There should be no false testimony against others, and
There should be no jealously or coveting of others and their property.

As Rabbi Halevy Donin says in his book, To Be A Jew: The festival of Shavuot emphasizes the spiritually significant lesson that the release from bondage and the winning of political freedom does not constitute complete freedom unless it culminates in the spiritual restraints, disciplines, and duties inherent in the Revelation to Israel and in Israel’s acceptance of the Torah.

This morning I want to discuss what I consider to be the essential distillation of the Torah – “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, or as Hillel put it, “what is hateful to you, do not do to others”. I’ll try to make my point by using some examples from my recent experiences of being in Israel and from hearing lectures from people living in Israel.

1. The code of ethics of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Several weeks ago, I heard a lecture by Colonel Bentzi Gruber. He is a deputy commander of the Israeli army’s armoured division, and is thus responsible for approximately 20,000 soldiers. He noted in his lecture that the IDF is motivated and constrained by a three-fold Code of Ethics. These are the three principles:

Do not hurt innocent people.
Use force in proportion to the military mission.
Collateral damage to the enemy is only acceptable in relation to their expected threat.

Col. Gruber gave an example of how the IDF Code of Ethics is realized in the real world. The example involves an IDF air strike to kill a suspected terrorist while the terrorist is riding in a taxi with children. Before the IDF would fire rockets at the taxi, senior IDF officers confer with their lawyers to determine if there is sufficient evidence to support the case that the terrorist is about to launch an attack on Israeli civilians. Even if it is established that the terrorist has killed Israeli civilians prior to this taxi ride, and even if delaying a quick decision to strike will place IDF soldiers in danger, the decision will be made to strike only after thorough debate, based on evidence.

Col. Gruber showed videotaped examples of how IDF air strikes were delayed or rescinded when the perceived threat from the enemy, though significant, was not great enough to justify the possibility of injuring nearby civilians. He stated that the Israeli Defense Force’s Code of Ethics used in Gaza is more stringent than the ethical code the American forces use in Iraq, or the Canadian forces use in Afghanistan.

Here is another illustration of moral integrity in the recent Gaza campaign. Prior to an air attack the IDF did the following:

They dropped leaflets in Arabic explaining that there will be an air strike in the area in 24 hours.
Several hours before the strike, they actually phoned or sent text-messages to every house in the area to alert the residents of the imminent strike.
And they phoned and text-messaged again 5 minutes before the actual attack.

A popular Palestinian counter-tactic to these steps was for many residents of the to-be-attacked building to gather on the roof, with the hopes of either deterring the IDF attack, or becoming martyrs and making grisly headlines in the Western media. The Israeli air force responded to this by firing a small rocket at the building to scare the Palestinians off the roof. These warning rockets were precisely laser-guided by the IDF pilot to an area of the building where it reasonably appeared that were no Palestinians congregating. The diversionary warhead was armed to frighten rather than injure or kill. Only after it was confirmed that the residents vacated the building, was the building destroyed.

2. The Save a Child’s Heart charity

For my second example of Jewish leadership and the Golden Rule – “Do unto others…” I chose the Save a Child’s Heart charity. Here is what they do (I quote from their brochure): Save a Child’s Heart is an extraordinary Israeli-based international humanitarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children, regardless or nationality, religion, color, gender or financial status, who come from developing countries where the heart surgery they need is unobtainable. Save a Child’s Heart is a hospital-based project whose services are provided in Holon, Israel by a team of 70 dedicated experts, from chief surgeon to physiotherapist, who substantially contribute their time without any payment from Save a Child’s Heart.

I visited the hospital ward and family residence of this organization outside Tel Aviv in early May. I was moved by the ecumenical and seemingly removed-from-politics work they do.

I hope that the examples I offered of the IDF Code of Ethics and the Save a Child’s Heart charity show that the people who developed these policies and institutions were guided by the Golden Rule. Their efforts and sacrifice in the face of intolerance, suffering, ignorance, or hatred, embodies a unique and exemplary Jewish commitment to restraint, discipline, and duty. But being the “chosen people” does not automatically guarantee justice or salvation. We have choice and free will, but we need to engage in the world responsibly and meaningfully. The Torah shows how. It provides the context for being in the world. The putting-into-action of the Torah is a light in the darkness.