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

Natural Law

Natural Law Jeffrey Macy T he term natural law has been used to describe various doctrines that, while differing in detail, present a relatively consistent outlook regarding the existence of some natural standard that is or should be the standard for law and human action. There are at least two common elements that can be found in the various doctrines of natural law: (1) the existence of a general or universal (that is, natural) standard-based on principles more binding and permanent than custom, convention, or human agreement-that can serve as the basis for human action and societal norms; (2) the acknowledgment that the natural standard can and should be used as a criterion by which particular laws or legal codes can be judged or grounded. Alternatively offering legitimization or criticism of existing legal codes, this natural standard can provide criteria for appeals to a higher standard of justice than that standard contained in a particular legal code and can serve as the basis for resolving legal questions when the existing code of laws does not make reference to a particular problem. Among the various doctrines of natural law, however, there exist 664 NATURAL LAW differences in the definition of the standard that is called natural and is the basis of the natural-law theory. There is no unequivocal answer to the question whether there exists a concept of natural law in Jewish thought. At the outset, it is worthwhile to note that there is no word for nature in the Bible~ the Hebrew word tevawith the meaning "nature"-first appears only in medieval Jewish philosophic literature. It is therefore not surprising that there is no reference to a specific concept of natural law in the Bible. Despite the absence of a specific reference to natural law in biblical literature, there have been Jewish thinkers who have argued that there is a notion of natural law implicit in the Noachite commandments. This position is seemingly supported by reference to certain talmudic and other rabbinic passages, which suggest that in the case of all but two of the seven Noachite commandments, even "if they had not been written [in Scripture], they should by right have been written" (BT Yoma 67b). Indeed, according to traditional Jewish sources, the Noachite commandments are considered to be the sine qua non for civilized human life, as well as the minimum standard that must be met by a non-Jew who desires to live as a resident alien among Jews. Nevertheless, the equation of the Noachite laws with natural law is far from universally accepted by Jewish thinkers, either ancient or modern. It would appear that the lack of reference to nature in the Bible is a necessary corollary of God's omnipotence-a position that the Bible assumed and emphatically developed. Thus, the absence of independent laws of nature and the emphasis on divine creation and control of everything that exists and occurs highlight the position that everything in our world is subject to the absolute authority of God and is responsive to his will. In addition to having absolute power over the creation and continued existence of the physical objects which exist in the world God is also perceived to be the legislator who revealed the true and perfect law that he gave to his chosen people. Further, God is said to possess absolute power over the reward and punishment of men, and he is said to reward those who act in accordance with his divinely revealed law and to punish those who transgress that law. Any attempt by man to act in a way that contradicts the ways that are pleasing to the Lord therefore inevitably will meet with a suitable divine response. In such a context, there surely is no room for an independent category of human law that is superior to the divinely revealed law and that could be said to be based upon an independent natural principle ~ the only law that is true and perfect is the law the Lord has revealed. Thus, according to the scriptural account of the Jewish law, there is no place for an additional and independent category of law that would be called nat- NATURAL LAW 665 ural law, at least in the sense in which almost all philosophers discuss natural law. At most, one can observe that certain human actions appear, customarily , to lead to certain results-or one can repeat...