Generations of rabbis and scholars have endeavored to understand the reason for the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. The Talmud and Midrash propose a wide range of solutions, all of which assign the blame to the behavior of the generation that experienced tragedy. One of the most fascinating of these interpretations is found in the Babylonian Talmud (Bava Metzia 30b). According to Rabbi Yohanan, \u201cJerusalem was destroyed because they limited their decisions to the letter of the law of Torah\u2026 and did not perform actions that would have gone beyond the letter of the law.\u201d At first sight, this is quite astonishing, given that compliance with the laws propagated by the Torah is the consummate religious ideal. How can obedience to its precepts be cited as the reason for the tragic catastrophe of the loss of the Temple and, in its wake, the loss of sovereignty?<\/p>\n
More generally, going beyond the strictly religious discourse, it is the law, the rule of law, that holds society together. Without it, if each person acted according to his or her own lights, we would deteriorate into total social chaos and, in the words of the Mishnah, \u201cman would swallow his fellow alive\u201d (Pirkei Avot 3:2). How, then, can the tradition suggest that precisely the maintenance of the rule of law, religious or other, was the cause of the destruction?<\/p>\n
Rabbi Yohanan was a member of the rabbinic elite of his age (third century C.E.). Torah law was his daily fare, and observing it the center of his life. He was no anarchist preaching civil disobedience or worse. The message he wanted to convey was that the behavioral norm of obeying the law is not enough. If you hunker down in this minimum, the final result will be the destruction of your national home.<\/p>\n
Law \u2014 civil and religious \u2014 is a collection of behavioral imperatives that provide the negative definition of a \u201ccrime\u201d or \u201csin,\u201d with an attendant sanction for violating them. But is every behavior that is not unlawful necessarily appropriate? Is living strictly by the book a guarantee of virtue and integrity? Is \u201clawful\u201d also necessarily ethical and moral?<\/p>\n
Jewish tradition answers these questions with a resounding \u201cno.\u201d We are all deeply conscious of the dictum that \u201cderech eretz (ethical conduct) comes before the Torah \u2014 the law.\u201d Even the Lord himself must meet the obligations of ethical conduct, as may be inferred from Abraham\u2019s protest against the impending destruction of the Cities of the Plain: \u201cShall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?\u201d (Genesis 18:25). The late Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein demonstrated that Jewish tradition recognizes the existence of a natural morality that does not depend on Halachah, and in fact precedes it. This moral code, which is not part of the binding legal system, is what Rabbi Johanan meant by \u201cbeyond the requirements of the law.\u201d It was the people\u2019s failure to hold to the moral and ethical principles not spelled out in the law book that led to the national catastrophe.<\/p>\n
To jump from our ancient traditions to our national life here and now: Israel has experienced a sweeping process of \u201clegalization,\u201d in which every dispute and disagreement is submitted for a judicial decision. The contending parties prefer to rely on the statute book to resolve their quarrels, and feel that they are right to do so. However, life that exists exclusively in the shadow of legal norms is trivial and even cruel. The law can produce a cut-and-dried result with winners and losers, but it frequently fails to cope with the complexity of human life. When it comes to relations with other people, consideration, understanding and gentleness are required \u2014 not just the assertion of inflexible rights and duties.<\/p>\n
There is good reason why the wisest judge of all, King Solomon, recognized that \u201cAlongside justice there is wickedness, Alongside righteousness there is wickedness\u201d (Ecclesiastes 3:16). The Jerusalem poet Yehuda Amichai observed something similar, in a slightly different context (trans. Stephen Mitchell):<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the place where we are right<\/p>\n
Flowers will never grow in the spring.<\/p>\n
The place where we are right<\/p>\n
Is hard and trampled,<\/p>\n
Like a yard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabbi Judah L\u00f6w, the Maharal of Prague (15th century), explained that Rabbi Yohanan did not see the destruction of the Temple and loss of sovereignty as a punishment \u2014 after all, the people were observing Torah law. Rather, the calamity was the natural outcome of a community whose behavior was based exclusively on law, without the saving grace of moral sensitivity. This is a very important message for Israel in its 71st year.<\/p>\n