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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

http://sulekha.com/chpost.asp?for...ilosophy&show=0&cid=74816

(in a Nazi Concentration Camp):

Viktor Frankl writes:

I was admitted to the cook house and was assigned to the line filing
up to prisoner-cook by the name of F. He stood behind one of the
huge pans and ladled soup into the bowls which were held out to him
by the prisoners, who hurriedly filed past. He was the only cook who
did not look at the men whose bowls he was filling; the only cook who
dealt out the soup equally, regardless of recipient, and who did not
make favorites of his personal friends or contrymen, picking out the
potatoes for them, whil the others got watery soup skimmed from the
top.

But it is not for me to pass judgment on those prisoners who put
their own people above everyone else. Who can thow a stone at a man
who favors his friends under circumstances when, sooner or later, it
is a question of life or death? No man should judge unless he asks
himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might
not have done the same.

- from "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.

Sitaram comments:

For me, the above passage, from Viktor Frankl's memoirs of life in a
concentration camp, is a portrait of a good Jew. Let us read
(below) the very first page of a large popular book on Jewish Wisdom

(ISBN 0-688-12958-7 published by Morrow, 1994)

=======

Chapter One

Page 1

"Does Judaism Have an Essence?"

In the hour when an individual is brought before the heavenly court
for judgment, the person is asked:

1.) Did you conduct your (business) affairs honestly?

2.) Did you set aside regular time for religious study?

3.) Did you make an honest effort to have children and raise them
properly?

4.) Did you look forward to the world's redemption?

- from the Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31 a

Note that the first question asked in heaven is not "Did you believe
in God?" or "Did you observe all the rituals?" but "Were you honest
in your dealings with others?" Unfortunately, despite many texts
that insist on the primacy of ethics, most Jews associate being
religious solely with the outward observance of rituals. Thoughout
the Jewish community, when one asks, "Is so-and-so a religious Jew?"
the response invariably is based on the person's observance of ritual
laws: "Yes, they keep Kosher and observe the Sabbath" or "No, they do
not keep Kosher and observe the Sabbath."

From such responses, one could easily conclude that Judaism regards
ethical behavior as an "extracurricular activity," something
desireable but not essential.

The above passage from the Talmud unequivocally asserts that ethics
is at Judaism's core; God's first concern is with a person's decency.

- from "Jewish Wisdom" by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

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