JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

largely an offshoot of German Reform Judaism, while describing
the other Ethical Culture societies as largely offshoots of
liberal German Protestantism.
The later philosophical orientation of the Ethical Culture
movement was influenced by American humanistic and naturalistic
ideas, and its audience became increasingly a Jewish
and non-Jewish suburban public. The suburban societies have
also served as compromise religious “homes” for couples of
mixed background.
In keeping with the movement’s mandate to affirm the
importance of working to make people’s lives and the world
at large more humane, the American Ethical Union takes positions
on specific issues at delegated national assemblies and
meetings, striving to apply its ideals to current concerns. Local
Ethical Societies engage in a wide range of service, humanitarian,
and social change projects. An affiliate of the AEU, the National
Service Conference, works with other non-governmental
organizations at the United Nations and within the AEU on
ethical peace-building and other programs. The Washington
Ethical Action Office works toward achieving its selected goals
by activities such as lobbying and disseminating information
through the Washington Ethical Action Report.
Since 1990, some of the resolutions passed by the American
Ethical Union include opposing capital punishment,
seeking a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict by ensuring
a Palestinian state and a secure Israel, supporting the
legalization of gay marriages, and advocating free choice regarding
abortion.
On the international front, the International Humanist
and Ethical Union has special consultative status with the UN,
general consultative status at UNICEF and the Council of Europe,
and maintains operational relations with UNESCO.
Succeeding Adler, David Algernon *Black led the movement
into the 1980s.
Bibliography: American Ethical Union, Ethical Religion
(1940); D.S. Muzzey, Ethical Religion (1943); idem, Ethical Imperatives
(1946); H. Neumann, Spokesman for Ethical Religion (1951); H.
Radest, Toward Common Ground: The Story of the Ethical Societies
in the United States (1969). Add. Bibliography: C. Neuhaus, A
Lively Connection: Intimate Encounters with the Ethical Movement in
America (1978); H. Friess, Felix Adler & Ethical Culture: Memories &
Studies (1981); E. Ericson (ed.), The Humanist Way: An Introduction
to Ethical Humanist Religion (1988); H. Radest, Can We Teach Ethics?
(1989); H. Radest, Felix Adler: An Ethical Culture (1998).
[Joseph L. Blau / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
ETHICAL LITERATURE (Heb. רָ סּומַה ּ תּור ְפס, ִ sifrut ha-musar).
There is no specific ethical literature as such in the biblical
and talmudic period insofar as a systematic formulation
of Jewish *ethics is concerned. Even the Wisdom *literature
of the Bible, though entirely ethical in content, does not aim
at giving a systematic exposition of this science of morals and
human duties, but confines itself to apothegms and unconnected
moral sayings. The same is true of the tractate *Avot,
the only wholly ethical tractate of the Mishnah, which consists
largely of the favorite ethical maxims of individual rabbis,
ethical literature
and later works, such as *Derekh Ereẓ and *Kallah. The ethical
principles and concepts of Judaism are scattered throughout
the vast area of rabbinic literature and it was only in the Middle
Ages that this data was used as the basis of ethical works
and from this time ethical literature becomes a specific genre
of Jewish literature.
The term “ethical literature,” applied to a type of Hebrew
literature, has two different meanings. Both refer to an
important part of Hebrew literature in medieval and early
modern times, but while one denotes a literary form which
encompasses a group of works closely resembling each other
structurally, the other denotes a literary purpose expressed in
various literary forms. Traditional authors generally use the
term in the first sense, while the latter sense is preferred by
modern scholars.
Literary Form
“CLASSICAL” ETHICAL LITERATURE. These writings are
in book form and aim at instructing the Jew in religious and
moral behavior. Structurally, the books are uniform: each is
divided according to the component parts of the ideal righteous
way of life; the material is treated methodically – analyzing,
explaining, and demonstrating how to achieve each
moral virtue (usually treated in a separate chapter or section)
in the author’s ethical system.
The first major work in “classical” ethical literature, Ḥovot
ha-Levavot, by Baḥya b. Joseph ibn *Paquda (written in the
11th century), postulates ten religious and moral virtues, each
forming the subject of a separate chapter. In Ma’alot ha-Middot,
Jehiel b. Jekuthiel *Anav of Rome expounds 24 ethical
principles of perfect moral conduct (positive and negative –
the latter to be avoided). Baḥya b. Asher, one of the most
prominent kabbalists in Spain, lists and analyzes the components
of moral perfection in alphabetical order in Kad ha-
Kemaḥ, while Moses Ḥayyim *Luzzatto’s major ethical work
Mesillat Yesharim, constructed in the tradition of the baraita
of R. *Phinehas b. Jair, enumerates the main steps to perfection
and holiness. Writings falling into this structural category
form the main body of the traditional ethical literature.
ETHICAL MONOGRAPHS. Closely following the formalistic
pattern of “classical” ethical literature, ethical monographs
concentrate on one particular stage in the journey to religious
perfection. The first major work of this kind was the
Sha’arei Teshuvah by *Jonah b. Abraham Gerondi. In this work
the author analyzes every situation and problem that might
possibly confront a repentant sinner and advises him how to
purge himself completely of the effects of sin. Jonah Gerondi
paved the way for what was to become one of the major literary
forms in medieval Hebrew literature.
Literary Purpose
The second meaning of the term ethical literature includes,
besides the two categories mentioned (the classical ethical
writing and the ethical monograph), nine literary forms,
which, though structurally very different, have the same ob-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 525