Friends on the Way: Jesuits Encounter Contemporary Judaism

Reflections on the Dialogue between Jew and Non-Jew in the Bible and in Rabbinic Literature

Reflections on the Dialogue between Jew and Non-Jew in the Bible and in Rabbinic Literature Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin The Lord your God will keep for you the covenant and the hesed. —(Deut. 7:12) Dialogue between God and man and between man and man is a foundational element of the Tanach (Jewish Bible). It derives in the first instance from the relationship of the deity to humankind as such, and later, specifically to the Children of Israel. This relationship is expressed not only by means of verbal revelation, which is directed exclusively to individuals, but by the very possibility of discourse and dialogue with the deity, which itself derives from the concept of brith (covenant). The first biblical covenant comes into being after the Flood. ‘‘I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be flood to destroy the earth’’ (Gen. 9:11). A careful look at this chapter reveals not only God’s obligation to man but also man’s obligation to God, an obligation that is expressed in a number of basic mitzvoth (commandments), later referred to in rabbinic parlance as the seven Noachite Commandments (Tos Av. Zara 8). The covenant is in essence the transformation of the basic discourse into mutual obligation, formulated in covenantal terms. What Dialogue in the Bible and in Rabbinic Literature / 29 underlies the covenant is obligation/commitment which includes responsibility to the partners in the covenant, be they family members, friends, master and slave, or any other form of belonging in which commitment plays a role. Covenantal dialogue has a unique base in the connection between God and Noah (as an individual and also as representative of all humanity) and between God and the People of Israel at Sinai. It reflects mutual obligation accompanied by many mitzvoth that relate to the relationship between man and man—be he a Jew, that is, ‘‘son of the Sinaitic covenant,’’ or a non-Jew, that is, ‘‘son of the Noachite covenant’’—and of course, between man and the divine. There is no specific expression or phrase in the Tanach that is in any way similar to the word ‘‘dialogue.’’ And the question then presents itself: How is it that a book based upon what God says to man and man’s turning to God, through direct speech, prayer, ritual, poetry, music and the like, a book in which the covenant between God and the universe is so fundamental, appears not to contain any definitive expression for the concept of dialogue? Rabbi and professor of archaeology Nelson Glueck wrote his doctoral dissertation in German on Das Wort Hesed im altestamentlichen Sprachgebrauche als menschliche und göttliche gemainschaftsgema ̈sse Verhaltungsweise.1 A study of this dissertation, as well as of the entry Hesed in the Biblical Encyclopedia, written by Yizhak Heinemann , enables the reader to delve into the fine points of this concept: ‘‘Hesed . . . does not reflect purely legal relationships but rather the existence of the spiritual connection which grows out of the covenant . . . good deeds without any expectation of recompense.’’2 Thus hesed is in many instances found coupled with the words truth (emet) and faithfulness (emuna). As Heinemann points out, the concept of hesed expanded from something directed toward the Children of Israel to a concept directed toward all humanity, finding its ultimate expression in the words of the Prophet Micah (eighth century bce): ‘‘He has told [higeed] you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires/expects [doresh] of you: only to do justice and to love hesed (deeds of loving 30 / Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin kindness) [goodness] and to walk modestly with your God’’ (Mic. 6:8). It must be emphasized that the prophet addresses himself here to his audience not as members of his nation but as part of humankind. The two verbs that precede the instruction itself—NGD (to tell, explain ) and DRSh (to require, expect)—are verbs of encouragement and do not carry the same weight as ZIVA (command). Hesed includes an element of affection for the other, without which there can be no hesed relationship. Therefore Martin Mordecai Buber, the great Jewish existentialist of the twentieth century, translates hesed by the Old German word huld, which implies something of sympathy, empathy, finding favor, friendliness, a positive spirit, affection, cordiality, loyalty , and...