Lesson 2 - Sources of Ethical Teaching 17.9.11

Jewish ethics stem from the 10 Commandments, part of the 613 laws (Mitzvoth) listed in the Torah. These form the backbone of Jewish morals (and, subsequently, those of other religions). We discussed in detail why these ten laws were good ones, which ones we thought were the most important, why they might have been put in the order that that appear in the Torah and, if they could, what would the class add to the list as an 'eleventh' commandment.

We learned that the rest of the Mitzvoth were divided into the mishpatim (judgements for which reasons were given) and the chukim (statutes for which no reasons were given). This led to a lively discussion about which laws we, as progressive Jews, might not follow without question (e.g. the kashrut laws).

We discussed how the Tenakh (Jewish Bible) is divided into three parts:

• Torah - five books of Moses (sometimes translated as 'law' but more accurately 'teaching')
• Nevi'im - the books of prophecy
• Ketuvim - the books of writings

We read some Jewish proverbs and discussed how relevant they were (or not as the case maybe) to modern life.