Doing the Good and Right

Doing the Good and Right
Mark H. Levin

In Deuteronomy 6:18 we find the mitzvah: "Do what is good and right in the sight of the Eternal. . . " This general principle, known in halachah (Jewish law) as "Do what is good and right," shapes other laws and helps us to determine how mitzvot (commandments) should apply to our lives. Should I give tzedakah to this street person? Should I judge a person’s actions? May I gossip to a dear friend about what another person has done? We should ask the question of ourselves, “Does this help me to do what is good and right?”
In Vayikra Rabbah (13:3) we find, “Rab said: ‘This means the precepts were given for the express purpose of purifying mankind’ ” (Rabbi Dr. H. Freedman and Maurice Simon, ed., Midrash Rabbah: Leviticus [New York: Soncino Press, 1983, p. 166). God gave the Torah not just to inform us, but to facilitate us to become better human beings, shaping our souls and enabling us to repair the world (tikkun olam). The covenant between God and the Jewish people demands not only that we correct ourselves, but also that our actions enable us to be “a light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6). When we do so, we perform the mitzvah of Kiddush HaShem, sanctifying God’s name in public by acting responsibly and in an exemplary fashion, so that others admire our actions and turn, also, to God.
The story of “the death of the firstborn” in Parashat Bo should not be taken literally. Rather, we learn in an entertaining fashion that God rewards and punishes in accordance with the evil we commit, midah k’neged midah, “measure by measure.” The story reminds us that our world is both orderly and moral. As participants in the covenant, God commands us to act positively to contribute to God’s moral order.
Rabbi Mark H. Levin, D.H.L. is the pulpit rabbi at Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park, Kansas.