20th Century Jewish Religious Thought: Original Essays on Critical Concepts, Movements, and Beliefs

Mercy

Mercy David R. Blumenthal T he Hebrew language is rich in words describing mercy. A large number of roots (ra~em, ~us, ~amol, hitra~eh, hitpayyes , ~anon, ~esed, erekh apayim) occur in many formsas beseeching verbs, as evocative adjectives, and as powerful nouns-in the Bible as well as in the liturgy. These roots imply others (hoshi'a, ha~el, ga'al, azor, zakhor) that mean, respectively, to save, to rescue, to redeem, to help, and to remember. There are many more. God's mercy is described as the mercy of a parent toward a child (Ps. 103:13). He is called ha-Ra~aman and Ra~amana (the merciful One) and Av ha-ra~amim (the father of mercy). His people, when they practice mercy, are called ra~amanim benei ra~amanim (merciful ones, the children of merciful ones).l What are the types of mercy found in the tradition? On what bases does the Jew appeal to God for mercy, and what are its limits? In the post-Holocaust world, how adequate is the concept of mercy? The Jewish appeal to God's mercy is twofold: the appeal from covenantal justice, which itself has two dimensions, and the appeal from helplessness. The tradition teaches that in the very beginning there was God in his 590 MERCY aloneness. In the mystery of his being there welled up in him a desire to create, to have children, and so he chose to form the world and to create humankind. Bringing humanit.y into existence, however, was not enough; God found that, because of his love, he had to give guidance to humankind. And so he chose humankind again and made a covenant with Adam, and then a covenant with Noah, and then a covenant with Abraham. Finally, God gave the Jews the Torah, together \Yith the obligation to interpret it. He was pleased because some made the effort to mold themselves to his revealed image, and displeased that many did not. God's love, then, is of two kinds. From part of his heart overflows a boundless unconditional love for his creatures. From another part of his heart flows a love engaged in human existence, a love devoted to guiding humanity. The former is called ~esed, grace; the latter ra~amim, engaged love. The former was, and is, easy; it is of the immutable essence of God. The latter was, and is, hard; it requires patience, understanding, and forgiveness. Ijesed motivated creation. It brought the world into being. Ra~amim motivated revelation. Moved by it, God gave standards of action and measures of inner piety, and set forth his expectations of the Jewish people, together with his obligations to them; the result is a two-way street, a covenant between two parties. Generations would quarrel about the details and emphases, but the basic terms would abide: the Jewish people would not be alone. The Jewish people would always know what God wanted of them. And they could depend upon his engaged love to take into account their strivings and failings. Justice and righteous judgment would be the bywords of their relationship. Within this covenantal understanding, the key metaphor is "our Father, our King"-the fair Father, the just King. He can say, "It has been told you, o man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you" (Micah 6:8), and the Jew can ask, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" (Gen. 18:25). God can command, "Choose life" (Deut. 30:19), and the Jew can pray, "Grant us justice according to the law" (daily liturgy, Amidah, J. Hertz, Authorised Daily Prayerbool~, rev. ed., 143). The final judgment, as C. S. Lewis has remarked, is to be a moment of joy and triumph, for then our devotion to God and his love for us will be justified.2 Were it not for this covenant, the Jew would not know how to address God. The Jew would be conscious of God's holiness, of his sublimity; would know his beauty and his power; would experience awe, reverence, and fear. But how would he approach God? What would be the protocol, the eti- MERCY 591 quette? What would be the expectations by which the jew could come into God's presence and talk to him? Even kings of flesh and blood have procedures ; even earthly fathers have standards on which relationships are based. Knowing...