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Human Obligation
Feb. 24th, 2019 09:31 amCurrently I am reading To Heal a Fractured World by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Subtitled The Ethics of Responsibility it is a book, as might be inferred from said title and subtitle, what our duties as humans and the religious philosophy behind that.
I am up to chapter 2, and will be reading one chapter a day.
Rabbi Sacks talks in this second chapter about the difference between heavenly justice and human justice. One of the examples he brings up is the story of Job. In this example he points to the ethical fallacy of
determining that when bad things happen to someone else they are the results of the person having been judged or that the negative event betters the world as a whole.
Wrong approach he warns.
"G-d in making humanity conferred upon us the right and duty to see things from a human point of view. (check 2 page 26).
We are required to fight for justice in terms of our human understanding, using the Torah as a guideline to what that justice is as "We are G-d's children, not G-d." (ibid).
And it is our purpose in life to do our best to help those who are in need, not to rely on someone else. To hear the cries of the unfortunate.
Will we err? Inevitably. We still must do.
And as journalists of our ownselves we must ask, what have we done, what are we doing for the world and the people around us?
I am up to chapter 2, and will be reading one chapter a day.
Rabbi Sacks talks in this second chapter about the difference between heavenly justice and human justice. One of the examples he brings up is the story of Job. In this example he points to the ethical fallacy of
determining that when bad things happen to someone else they are the results of the person having been judged or that the negative event betters the world as a whole.
Wrong approach he warns.
"G-d in making humanity conferred upon us the right and duty to see things from a human point of view. (check 2 page 26).
We are required to fight for justice in terms of our human understanding, using the Torah as a guideline to what that justice is as "We are G-d's children, not G-d." (ibid).
And it is our purpose in life to do our best to help those who are in need, not to rely on someone else. To hear the cries of the unfortunate.
Will we err? Inevitably. We still must do.
And as journalists of our ownselves we must ask, what have we done, what are we doing for the world and the people around us?
