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Social Responsibility 
The Jewish People are very aware of the idea of being responsibile to society and the world.
Jews have given charity in far greater proportion than others. Look at the United Jewish Appeal. The UJA raises $750 million annually, making it the third
largest charity in the U.S., after the Red Cross and the United Way. Keep in mind that Jews constitute about 2% of the total
population of the U.S. Of the approximately 5.5 million Jews in the U.S., about 800,000 of
them contribute to the UJA.
Social consciousness is a
mitzvah, a legal obligation. In the Torah:
"Don't stand by
your neighbor's blood."
LEVITICUS 19:16
When you see a human being in distress, you have an obligation to help him. Judaism mandates positive behavior, which is a unique innovation in law: In other legal systems, it's not a crime to be a bystander, even in America today. In Judaism, however, you can't stand by, you must act. "I'm a good person, I don't hurt anyone" is not the Jewish understanding of a "good person". Being a good person
requires us to take action, not just avoid evil.
You're either part of the problem or part of the solution.
Jewish law demands:
"Love your neighbor as
yourself." LEVITICUS 19:18
The message that Judaism teaches is that you are responsible for the world. This is an extremely powerful concept. The Talmud teaches that every person must say to himself, "The
world was created for me," not as a statement of ultimate self-centeredness, rather
out of a sense of unique responsibility for the world. This is my world and I’m
it’s caretaker. If there’s a problem, it’s happening in my backyard, and
I’ve got to do something about it.
TIKUN OLAM
This concept is referred to in ancient Jewish writings as "Tikun Olam," "fixing the world."
Jewish law is very specific about our obligations toward others, including
how much money one should give to charity, what percentage of crops belong to the poor
and many acts of loving kindness to others. Every Jewish community throughout history had a social welfare
infrastructure: 100 years ago, 5 million Jews lived in poverty and oppression in the giant
ghetto of Eastern Europe called the "Pale" of Jewish settlement. Of those 5
million, none of whom were wealthy, 14-25% lived off community charity. That's a minimum
of 700,000 people supported by the community. (That's the equivalent of about 40 to 50
million Americans living off of charity)
(Source: "A Historical Atlas of the Jewish
People" Martin Gilbert)
Being responsible for the world includes animals and the environment. In Jewish
law you cannot eat before your animal eats. You're not allowed to be cruel to an animal.
If you see an animal in distress you have to help it. You can't cut down a fruit tree,
even in a time of war.
The humane values of the Bible became the
basis for social welfare. This is the vision of social responsibility that was adopted by modern European and American thinkers during the last 200 years.
Thomas Huxley, English writer and biologist, writes:
"The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor and oppressed; down to modern
times, no state has had a constitution which the interests of the people are so largely
taken into account, in which the duties so much more than the privileges of the rulers are
insisted upon, as that drawn up for Israel in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Nowhere is the
fundamental truth that the welfare, in the long run, depends on the righteousness of its
citizens so strongly laid down."
Quoted by Gabriel Sivan. The Bible
and Civilization. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1973. 77.
Huxley is saying that the Jewish vision of social welfare is the reality that we are
all modeling ourselves after.
Kyman Abbot, an American preacher and publicist echoes a similar sentiment. (1901)
"It would be impossible to mention any other people even at a much later age...
whose law and constitution embodied an ideal so noble as that embodied in the Hebrew civil
laws, or any people whose history shows the existence of such political institutions so
essentially just, free, and humane... We Gentiles owe our life to Israel... It is Israel,
who in bringing us the divine law has laid the foundations of liberty. It is Israel who
had the first free institutions the world ever saw... When sometimes our own and Christian
prejudices flame out against the Jewish people, let us remember that all we have and all
that we are, we owe, under G-d, to what Judaism has given us."
Life and Literature of the Ancient
Hebrews, 1901
Like the other items on our list, social responsibility is also largely a
Jewish invention.
Conclusion
LIFE
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
PEACE
JUSTICE
FAMILY
EDUCATION
In summary, we are not saying that everyone else was horrible and evil. We
are also not saying that we are always perfect and righteous. However, it is clear that Judaism has contributed to humanity a moral vision, a blueprint
for an ideal world. Since antiquity, the Jewish People have stood for these six
fundamental values that comprise our vision of a perfect world.
We presented it to the world and, to a large extent, lived by it. Despite being
subjected to horrendous persecutions for centuries, we, as a people, maintained a level of
humanity and caring that usually far exceeded the surrounding civilizations.
The question is: What gave the Jewish People the
unique insight and genius to embody these values, something ancient Greece and Rome were
unable to do?
Why was it only the Jews?
Continue WorldPerfect
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