Struggle for Freedom: The Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship

by Manfred Davidmann

CONTENTS

FREEDOM NOW, FREEDOM FOR EVER
Volume 1
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM:
THE SOCIAL CAUSE-AND-EFFECT RELATIONSHIP

Overview

Introduction and Summary

The Struggle for Freedom

From Dictatorship to Democracy

Struggle within Democracy

Impact of Behaviour

Our Troubled Times

Jewish Religion

Religion

Jewish Religion

Biblical Law Underlies all Freedom

Today's Battle for Freedom

Biblical Law

Ten Commandments

To Every Family its Home, Land and Income

Ownership of Land, of the Means for Independence

Forms of Service and Conditions of Employment

Weekly Day of Rest (Sabbath)

Year of Release (Shemittah)

Year of Freedom (Yovel)

Social Relations

Government

Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship: From Oppression to Freedom, From Exploitation to Good Life

In the Torah

Predictions of the Prophets

In History

Appendices

1 Forms of Service and Conditions of Employment

2 Year of Release (Shemittah)

3 Stranger who is a Settler

4 Cause-and-Effect Relationship in the Torah

5 Ten Commandments

Bibliography {..}

Illustrations

1 Forms of Service Among Hebrews
2 Forms of Service

Relevant Current and Associated Works

Relevant Subject Index Pages and Site Overview

OVERVIEW

This report is one of a series of four which together cover the social laws and social system of the Pentateuch (Torah) and the fundamental scientific 'Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship' which it describes.

The essential but little-known core social laws and social system of the Pentateuch underlie all freedom and liberty.

See Struggle for Freedom: The Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship

Much is known about King Solomon's reign and about the fundamental changes which took place during the Maccabean dynasty to Jewish belief and practice, social conditions and government. Oppression increased both during Solomon's reign and under the Maccabean (Hasmonean) dynasty. Scriptures and other ancient sources look at events from the point of view of the people over whom they ruled. History shows that each time the country was lost, it was lost in accordance with the Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship.

See History Speaks: Monarchy, Exile and Maccabees

The Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship had been described in detail, stating how people's behaviour determined the course of events. The prophets knew and understood the Relationship and so were able to predict what would happen as a result of the way people behaved. They warned rulers, establishment and people in advance about the effects of their behaviour. Loss of country, expulsion and persecution occurred as predicted by the prophets, in accordance with the Relationship.

See Struggle for Freedom: The Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship
and History Speaks: Monarchy, Exile and Maccabees

The social laws of the Pentateuch (Torah) underlie equality, independence, freedom from oppression and exploitation, and a good life of high quality. But at the time of the Maccabean dynasty, the Jewish establishment argued against such laws so as to expose the people to exploitation through need. The resulting decisive internal struggle changed Judaism, determined the fate of the Jewish people and gave rise to Christianity, shaped today's world and today's problems.

What happened at about the time of Jesus to Jewish belief and practice was recorded in the contemporary early part of the Talmud which describes both the struggle and its outcome.

See At the Time of Jesus, This is What Actually Happened in Israel: The Truth about Hillel and his Times which is factual, conclusive and fully documented, including much previously undiscovered material from the Talmud.

It includes a clear and concise summary statement outlining what the Talmud is and how it came to be written, describing its relative authority and that of its components. Included also is a similar statement about the Halachah (code of Jewish rabbinical law). Torah, Talmud and Halachah are related to each other and their relative scope and authority is outlined and defined.

They argued in religious terms about social and political policies. You can see how the Talmud records the bitter feelings of ordinary people about what establishment scholars were doing to Torah (Pentateuch) and people. And when some scholars attempted to provide their own statements with an authority they did not have, the practice was scathingly condemned in the Talmud.

You can see how the Talmud refers in one detailed example to early Christians and their beliefs, and codes used by the early writers of the Talmud to ensure that later generations could not distort or misrepresent the message which was really there. And relevant stories and arguments were linked in the same way as was used contemporaneously by Christian gospel writers.

See One Law for All: Freedom Now, Freedom for Ever. This is a fully documented conclusive record of previously undiscovered material about the decisive struggle then going on within Judaism.

This struggle was about position, influence and control over communities, about changing benevolent rules of behaviour so that people could be oppressed and exploited. It changed Judaism, determined the fate of the Jewish people and gave rise to Christianity and it is this struggle which is exposed here to the light of day.

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY

Manfred Davidmann begins by outlining the social and economic environment in which we live, the problems of today, and then discusses uses and misuses of religion in such circumstances. He then outlines the meaning and significance of Judaism, of the essential but little-known social and economic laws of behaviour, sketched within the environment in which we live and work.

The relevant social laws and the social system of the Torah are described and explained as a self-contained and complete system which prevents people being exploited through need if they fall on hard times and which prevents ownership being concentrated in the hands of a few. The system enables people to live good and satisfying lives in a just and fair society which guarantees freedom and equality. The laws of redemption, for example, are shown to be leasehold laws designed to maintain an equal and fair distribution of income and wealth among the population as a whole. Biblical law underlies all freedom.

Most of the problems now threatening the survival of humankind are caused by the selfish interests of those who are attempting to organise and run society for their own gain. On the other hand are those who resist and struggle on behalf of the interests and benefit of the community at large.

The two sides encourage and spread the kind of behaviour which enables them to gain and keep their own type of society: dictatorship and exploitation on the one hand, freedom and good life on the other.

Hence it is vitally important to know what kind of behaviour serves what kind of ends. If we wish to gain freedom and remain free then we need to know which kind of behaviour gives us strength, enables us to co-operate with each other, helps us to raise the quality of life for all, helps us to lead good and satisfying lives.

It is this which makes the Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship so important. It is stated in the Torah as a fundamental scientific law which applies to all people at all times no matter where they live or what they believe in or what their state of development.

The prophets knew and understood the Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship and how it operates when they predicted what would happen as a result of the way people behave.

Knowledge and understanding of the Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship give us an understanding of how what happens depends on people's behaviour, and a greater understanding of what determines the pattern of events.

Manfred Davidmann details the Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship in biblical language as well as in plain English, detailing the consequences of either following the laws or else of ignoring them.

The legislation shows how people can protect themselves against losing their freedom and how to gain even greater freedom. It opens the door to freedom, to a good life and to government which looks after the interests of its people.

Within Jewish law is described the next step ahead towards complete freedom. The strength of individuals and of countries, and even more so the survival of humankind under present conditions, depend on the application of these Torah laws.

THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

What people like and what they aim at {7} is to provide for and to satisfy the basic needs for

shelter, warmth, clothing, food, affection and belonging (within family), friendly and trustful co-operation and companionship, housing, education, good health and good medical services, security against internal and external threats, employment and satisfying work at increasing levels of skill and usefulness and thus of pay, the highest possible standard of living and constructive satisfying leisure activities.

In other words, people wish to live and behave towards each other in a way in which each serves the community which in turn provides for and looks after its members.

They are opposed in this by those who wish to exploit others. Hence the aims of a community have to be achieved by means of struggle, at the level of the human mind and then at the level of events. This is a struggle both for men's minds and for a good life here on earth. It is a struggle which has gone on since one man tried to enslave another.

FROM DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY

Under dictatorship the freedom of the individual is brutally repressed, the individual is at the mercy of state and employer, is told what to do and how to live. The 'state' attempts to destroy that which enables the individual to resist by attempting to weaken and destroy opposing religious beliefs and the strength of the family unit.

Revolutions are successful only when they succeed in replacing an oppressing dictatorship or government by one providing greater personal freedom, such as is obtained by moving away from dictatorship towards democracy. It is in democracies that people have more individual freedom than under dictatorships of the left or of the right, and it is in democracies that people have a far higher standard of living than under dictatorships.

STRUGGLE WITHIN DEMOCRACY

Successful struggle against dictatorship leads to a democratic form of government and in western democracies there is a large measure of individual freedom, a high standard of living, and the opportunity to struggle and battle freely towards a better life and greater happiness for their citizens. The point of balance has been shifted away from dictatorship towards greater freedom and a better life but the intense struggle taking place within democracies is the same struggle between on the one side those who wish to exploit and oppress, and on the other those who wish to gain, preserve and strengthen freedom.

Correspondingly, there are two ways {6} in which democracies can move, namely on the one side back towards dictatorship and on the other forwards towards a better, more secure and happier life, towards greater freedom from oppression and exploitation, towards a more satisfying life, towards a more egalitarian society.

Those who wish to oppress and exploit use money and the power this provides as a means for doing so. Western democracies are still materialistic societies, money counts and people work for money and material wealth, sometimes regardless of the costs to others or to the community. He who pays the piper calls the tune and the dictates of those who run society, the dictates of those few in whose hands wealth, patronage and power is concentrated, then often seem more important to those whom they employ than the welfare and happiness of the population.

Most of the problems now threatening the survival of humanity are due to this conflict between the selfish interest of those who are attempting to organise and run society for their own personal gain on the one hand, and the interests and benefit of the community at large on the other. There are many examples of which but a few are the man-made Minamata disease {1}, and the cases discussed by Heilbronner {2} and Carson {3}.

The two sides encourage and spread the kind of behaviour which enables them to gain and keep their own type of society: dictatorship and exploitation on the one hand, freedom and good life on the other. Hence it is vitally important to know what kind of behaviour serves what kind of ends.

IMPACT OF BEHAVIOUR

It is a well-known fact that the way in which people behave determines their own life and freedom, and the strength and thus freedom of their people as a whole.

Behaviour of a particular kind strengthens individuals, strengthens their ability to resist oppression and exploitation. Basic is that people behave in a way which enables them to trust and assist each other, that men and women co-operate with each other in a way which will protect and strengthen both, behaving in a way which ensures that all benefit from gains made.

The younger generation has much to gain from the past experience of their parents, has much to gain from their parents' knowledge of tried and proved beliefs and values. Clearly it is one's parents who have the short and long-term interest of the child and teenager at heart, regardless of other considerations. The family is the basic unit of society and it looks after the interests of all its members, as individuals as well as collectively. This gives great strength to each member of the family in the struggle for daily bread, security and happiness.

It is those who wish to weaken democracy and freedom who condone and thus permit and encourage behaviour which separates people and turns them against each other. They also stress material considerations because religious values emphasize that people are all-important.

Here is an example. Causing Jews to disregard the teachings of the Jewish religion encouraged them to turn against each other and live off each other instead of co-operating towards achieving a good life for all.

Another example is promiscuous behaviour. People who behave promiscuously have sexual relations before marriage, or after marriage with a person other than their spouse. Promiscuity turns men against women and robs both of the support of their family.

So you see how important behaviour is and we will now explore this in more detail.

Our Troubled Times

Oppression Through Need

In Egypt there were years of famine but Pharaoh had much grain in his stores. In return for food the people handed over all the money they had, then their horses and farm animals, finally selling themselves to Pharaoh into slavery and selling all their land. The people were then moved from their cities from one end of the land to the other, to drive home to them that they were slaves, that they had to obey regardless of the consequences, that they and the land belonged to their master - Pharaoh. But he had fed his priests so that they had no need to sell either themselves or their land and they glorified Pharaoh in the eyes of the people. From then on the people, Pharaoh's slaves, belonged to him totally and had to pay Pharaoh each year one-fifth of all they produced.

We have not made much progress since then. Much the same situation exists today, much the same techniques are used today to oppress and enslave, in varying degrees in different countries.

For example, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia took a generous and fine people, drove them away from their towns and homes into the countryside into utter starvation and dependence at great loss of life, thus subjecting and enslaving them. In the USSR the land and all other productive capital belonged to the state, the establishment's communist party controlling the people for its rulers. People had no individual freedom. Job and livelihood depended on following the dictates of the state. The people were effectively enslaved, had to do as they were told, were subjected to vicious inhuman treatment if they protested.

'He who pays the piper calls the tune' applies equally in a democracy as in a dictatorship, applies to political parties no matter whether of right or left. It illustrates what happens when power is concentrated in the hands of a few who run a country. Their influence is extended through wealth and patronage. Those who dispense patronage are those who control jobs, are those who through controlling employment in effect control the means of livelihood and of survival. When these few wish to exploit their people they, and their establishment which depends on them for patronage and income, attempt on the one side to persuade and compel the people to obey and on the other to weaken them so that they become less able to resist oppression. In democracies, freedom and good life are under attack.

Brutality of Man to Man

The consequences of regarding religious values and norms as irrelevant and of thus allowing oneself to be divided against one's fellow, that is the consequences of antisocial behaviour, are very clear. People begin to behave in ways which harm other people, and begin to pursue their own selfish interests. Apathy and neglect towards others result, followed by disregard of community and personal property and by cruelty and viciousness towards others.

There is increasing wanton antisocial behaviour such as vandalism and mugging. There is a loss of internal security, both from loss of property and from attack against the person. The quality of life is lowered even further by those who pursue personal gain regardless of its cost to other people.

Viciousness and brutality of people towards each other, disregard of the value of the individual and of life itself, are not normal behaviour. People who behave in this way become isolated and divided against each other. People who behave in this way do not gain, as in reality they are working for the personal power and wealth of their own brutalised leadership.

Promiscuity

Those who understand its effects know {4} that sex performs the enormously important function of creating a special single deep emotional relationship between two people which gives them the strength to overcome life's problems, to form a strong family unit which serves and protects all its members. The depth of such a relationship between husband and wife can be appreciated as one sees them both battling on together successfully regardless of how tough the struggle.

In all countries where sex education has been introduced the same corruptive pattern of social change has been observed {5}: sexual experimentation starts and promiscuity increases. Promiscuity leads to increasing sexual dissatisfaction, to the weakening of family life and marriage bonds and to sexual excesses. The substitute satisfactions of smoking, drinking, and drug-taking increase and there is a lowering of the age of those involved. There is an upsurge in wanton destructive aggression in the community and a rise in aggressive juvenile delinquency. There is increasing concern over the harm done on young children by the practices and by the lack of concern and commitment of their parents, and concern has already been expressed over increasing male impotence. These effects are now obvious to any intelligent reader of the informed press.

It is well known that those who engage in sexual relations outside marriage find themselves looking in vain for the affection which is missing to an ever greater extent from their relationships, become less and less able to commit themselves to the other person, mean ever less to each other. Increasing divorce rates, the resultant delinquency of children, the completely casual and inhuman ways some parents treat each other and their children, are almost the direct outcome of pre-marital and adulterous, that is promiscuous, sexual relations.

History shows that free societies which allow themselves to become 'permissive' (promiscuous) weaken themselves to the point where their civilisation destroys itself, or is destroyed by outsiders. Those who wish to weaken democracy condone and/or encourage 'permissiveness'. On the other hand, those who restrict sex to within marriage gain creativity and increase their strength. {4}

The family is the basic unit of society. Its strength depends on the ability of the partners to commit themselves to each other and that means on those who restrict sexual relations to within marriage. Men and women who do so practice a form of self-control which enables them to form a deep and lasting relationship, which in turn lays the basis for happy and contented family life for themselves and their children. The relationship between them is based on mutual trust and respect arising from the sure knowledge that they are in a vital exclusive relationship to each other, that they are working and co-operating with each other for the common good of themselves and their children.

Those Responsible

The media are at present being used to persuade and condition people into thinking that religion is irrelevant, that antisocial behaviour will not have unpleasant consequences. However, the cost to the community of the kind of negative and antisocial behaviour outlined in the sections above, of the lowering of the quality of life, of loss of freedom for the individual, and of loss of satisfaction from the work we do, is enormous. {8}

To answer the question: "Who encourages antisocial behaviour?" we need to ask: "Who benefits from antisocial behaviour?"

It is those who have power through controlling patronage, money and wealth who benefit from antisocial behaviour and who are thus responsible for permitting and encouraging the different forms of antisocial behaviour we have discussed.

JEWISH RELIGION

RELIGION

Religions teach what is good and should be done, what is bad and should not be done.

However, there are movements and so-called religions which condition and brainwash their members into working so as to enrich the founders or the establishment, or which brainwash members into obediently working for and serving the leadership in unquestioning obedience.

Also one has to appreciate that when it suits their purpose those who run countries will encourage and use religion. Such a 'religion' may be used as a tranquilliser to prevent the population from complaining about being downtrodden and exploited, when the message the religion spells out is 'never mind a hard life now, reward will come in the next life'. Religion may be used in an attempt to give aim and purpose and thus strength to a people who are falling apart. Another example is when a religion is used at a time of war as a kind of stimulating driving force with 'god' helping the side one happens to be on. Or religion may be misused to divide people against each other, for example when religion is used as a way of persuading some people into attacking those who believe in freedom, into attacking those who are on the side of the people as a whole.

The Jewish religion, however, is quite different and does not readily lend itself to such misuses.

The whole record of the exodus from Egypt shows that slave societies can be defeated from within. This is of tremendous importance to those who are oppressed but the Torah (that is the five books of Moses) goes much further. The lessons are driven home: Freedom and good life can be and were gained and then can be and were defended as well as strengthened.

The legislation clearly shows how people can protect themselves against losing the freedom they have gained and how to gain even greater freedom. This is of the greatest importance to democracy, as it shows how to keep and strengthen freedom and good life for its people.

Within Jewish law is described the next step ahead towards complete freedom. Jewish law contains the key which opens the door to freedom, to a good life and to government which looks after the interests of its people.

JEWISH RELIGION

The Torah describes the one successful uprising by an enslaved people against their slave drivers, against the enslaving rulers and their establishment, against the oppressing state.

The exodus from Egypt some 3,300 years ago was probably the first, if not the only, really successful uprising. Events which took place were recorded at the time and have been preserved unaltered to this day. It is a fully documented record of the way in which freedom was gained, of the kind of behaviour which is necessary so as to keep and strengthen freedom, a guide to a social order which serves people and not their masters.

The Torah provides a factual statement of the steps that were taken and that have to be taken if freedom is to be gained, kept and strengthened. The Law goes even further. It lays down a social order and structure to enable the people to be governed by and for the people, with safeguards designed to prevent the few from grasping power so as to oppress the many.

The Torah using religious language lays down a way of behaviour and community organisation which is essential for the survival and strengthening of human dignity, values and freedom. The Jewish people undertook the obligation to follow this way of behaviour as a way of life and as a matter of law.

In Jewish law people are important and matter. The law is a guide which directs people into behaviour which gives increasing trust and co-operation, which gives increasing strength. Its prohibitions enable society to protect itself. On the one hand ability, effort and work for the community are rewarded while on the other hand differentials are limited. Those who experience difficulties are treated with respect and helped to achieve a good life. Those who behave according to the law know that their behaviour will not hurt or harm other people.

The Jewish religion emphasises social responsibility, emphasises that man is responsible for man. It emphasises accountability for inhuman behaviour and thus emphasises justice. It emphasises family ties. The consequences of behaving in accordance with the law, or of breaking it, while spelt out in the Torah in religious terms are fully paralleled by historical facts and backed by present-day statistics.

Judaism provides for people a way of life which is good and just, satisfying and rewarding, in which people help and support each other. Judaism is a way of life, its teachings are laws which need to be adhered to as they protect the community, as they ensure its survival, and as behaviour in accordance with these laws underlies all individual and social freedom.

The law is intended to be applied to help and protect people in a good and just way. When it is applied as intended then the law and those who interpret it and apply it are respected by the people.

BIBLICAL LAW UNDERLIES ALL FREEDOM

Jewish law and the family give strength to resist. Jewish law teaches that people are more important than the inhuman or antisocial dictates of an oppressive management or of an oppressive state machine, that people must not be forced into obedience through exploiting their needs for example by threat of hardship through dismissal.

People are more important than money and power. This means that patronage, money and wealth must not be used to oppress and exploit. Jewish law maintains that everyone has a right to work and should be helped to work at the highest level he is capable of reaching and that he should be rewarded accordingly.

Outstanding is that Jews have been attacked and persecuted for such beliefs ever since the patriarchs gained the knowledge that there was only one God, who cared for people and who expected them to behave kindly towards each other. The Torah, the five books of Moses, has been handed down generation by generation in unaltered form. It is a comprehensive blueprint for a just and fair society and government, aimed at giving people the good and satisfying life they have a right to expect. Behaviour according to Jewish law underlies all freedom and because of this Jewish law survived every attempt to destroy it.

The point has been put rather beautifully {1} in a rabbinical saying:

When at the end of time Almighty God sends complete redemption, he will turn to the persecuted people and say "My children, I am astonished to see how you have been able to support so much waiting for this day". They will reply "Lord, if it had not been for your Torah, we would have perished among nations a long time ago".

TODAY'S BATTLE FOR FREEDOM

Jewish history shows that in the past the Jewish people have been betrayed again and again, by non-observant leaderships no matter whether right or left and by orthodox leaderships who weakened the application of Jewish law so as to be able to oppress the people in order to exploit them. It was those who did not follow the law who in the past grasped power and then weakened and defeated Judaism and the hope for achieving freedom and a good life for the Jewish people and thus in due course for the rest of humanity.

It is equally certain that the same battle is being fought today and it is just as certain that on the one hand is the opportunity to gain freedom while on the other hand our defeat can only result in mankind rapidly destroying itself.

BIBLICAL LAW

TEN COMMANDMENTS

The Ten Commandments are so important and are so well known because it is behaviour in accordance with these laws which is the basis for people trusting each other and so for people co-operating and working well with each other. They are listed both in biblical language and in plain English in Appendix 5.

When Moses brought the tables of the law he brought 'freedom upon the tables'. It is the Ten Commandments as a whole which underlie freedom, independence and strength to oppose and resist oppression. Wherever there is any spiritual and material freedom today it exists because people followed these laws (rules) of behaviour and it exists to the extent to which they do so. In other words, following the provisions of the law results in freedom and ensures it, ensures strength and security.

The statement that there is one God and one God alone who delivered us from slavery in Egypt means that only these laws, only this code of behaviour, enables you to gain freedom and stay free.

If you follow advice given by those who want you to behave differently then you are in fact praying to another god, no matter whether this so-called 'god' attempts to influence you through the attitudes and opinions of your external enemies or through opinions and practices being spread internally.

The rules of behaviour of the Ten Commandments are based on a knowledge of what goes on in peoples' minds, of the inner workings of communities and societies, and of democratic and authoritarian organisation. To free ourselves from mental conditioning and brainwashing we have to follow the Ten Commandments and apply the social laws and the social system of the Torah.

TO EVERY FAMILY ITS HOME, LAND AND INCOME

God promised the Hebrews the land of Canaan (Erez Israel), the Torah clearly laying down its borders {1}.

Having counted the people of Israel of age twenty upward by their fathers' houses (by family) {2}, the land was divided among them accordingly, each family receiving land in proportion to the size of the family {3}. Some tribes had already received their allocated lands and were thus excluded from this distribution {4}. The land was shared out by drawing lots {3}.

All the land was to be allocated to Hebrews. With the exception of the Levites {5} every family had its own plot of land, the land having been shared out fairly. The means of production and of creating wealth had been shared out fairly among the population with each family independently controlling its own share. Each family had its own home and land, its own independent source of income.

Each family has the right to work the land and to its produce as long as a number of specific requirements are met. This right is hereditary and passes to one's heirs {6}, but laws prevent the division of land from becoming unfair, prevent the accumulation of land in the hands of a few, prevent land passing from tribe to tribe.

Land for example does not pass from tribe to tribe on marriage. While daughters inherit land from their father when there are no sons, they then have to marry into their father's tribe {7}. The widow of a childless marriage is protected, the laws of levirate marriage also having the effect of preventing land leaving the tribe and of preventing land accumulating in the hands of one branch of the family.

As time passes some people gain wealth and power, others fall into poverty and need, and one has to restore the equal, fair and appropriate distribution of basic productive wealth. This is done in a number of different ways. Jews may not oppress or enslave Jews. Those falling on hard times are supported and helped to regain their independence. One may not treat an employee harshly and every seventh day is to be Sabbath, a day of rest for those who are employed as well as for those who employ.

Every seventh year is a year of rest in which all the produce of the land is freely shared out among all at no cost.

In every fiftieth year servants are released from their labours and return to their hereditary properties as free men, returning to their land and means of livelihood as free people free of all debt. In this way land is not allowed to accumulate in the hands of a few who could use it to oppress and exploit others.

Again and again in the course of history has property been concentrated in the hands of a few and the mass of the people been prevented from enjoying the benefits of productive property such as land, prevented from sharing the benefits of property and a good life. As a consequence the greatest states fell to pieces internally and were destroyed because they found no way of preventing this internal decay and resultant destruction {8}, because they found no way of limiting the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, of ensuring that the mass of the people could benefit from the productive wealth and income of the community.

The Torah battles against unfairness, injustice and oppression and has the answer to this problem of the concentration of ownership in the hands of a few. Its laws are just and it warns against preferring the rich or favouring the poor. It legislates against the concentration of ownership and corrupting power in the hands of a few by three main laws, namely the laws of Sabbath (rest), Shemittah (release), and of Yovel (freedom).

When ignored, the resulting and increasing oppression of the people was twice followed by the destruction of the temple and exile. The importance of these laws is stressed in the Torah again and again. They are so important that they appear to determine to a considerable extent the strength of the people and stay in the country.

To see and understand the importance of these laws one needs to be aware of the social system of the Torah and the sections which follow discuss ownership of land, forms of service and conditions of employment, the laws of rest (sabbath), release (shemittah) and freedom (yovel).

OWNERSHIP OF LAND, OF THE MEANS FOR INDEPENDENCE

The productive capital (land) was shared out among the Hebrew tribes and then among the people, family by family, in proportion to numbers. Only Hebrews can own land and land is a hereditary possession. The owner may 'sell' the land to another Hebrew or to a non-Hebrew, but is only transferring {9} the use of the land for a limited period, which cannot be longer than to the next Year of Freedom (yovel year) since the original owner or his heirs return to their land every Yovel year.

Selling land in this way amounts to leasing it to a tenant, the lease terminating at the Year of Freedom. The land itself cannot be transferred permanently, cannot be sold.

That only the use of the land is transferred and not ownership is underlined {10} by the owner's right of 'redemption': He and his relatives for him have the duty and right at any time to terminate the lease by paying back to the tenant an amount corresponding to the unexpired part of the lease.

This section of the Torah then clearly states that land cannot be sold permanently, defines leasehold giving the maximum length of the lease and defines the owner's right of terminating the lease to regain possession while protecting the tenant from financial loss.

Only when the hereditary owner is in severe need should he lease his land to someone else.

The laws relating to the ownership of land deal with the means for generating wealth and are detailed. They are important because it is through accumulated wealth that power accumulates to exploit others, and to oppress so as to exploit others.

This is what Hirsch {11} says:

'... striking is the effect which the automatic reversion in the Yovel (year of freedom) of all landed property to the original owners or their heirs, must have in the prevention of complete permanent poverty of some families by the side of overpowering accumulation of property in the hands of a few.

... every fiftieth year the whole land reverts to its original division, and the richest goes back to the original acres of his heritage, and the poorest is given back the acres of his.

The cheaper the buyer of a property has bought it the less can he be sure of being able to keep it, the easier will it be for the seller to afford the sum necessary for its redemption, or for his relative to decide to redeem it. If a rich man really would like to have the field for as long as possible, he would have to be careful not to bargain for the very lowest price, as it is only a high price which would render redemption difficult.'

The basis for any system of ownership is the law of the land. In some countries state ownership of means of production is the law and individuals may not own private productive property while in other countries private ownership of productive property is the legal norm.

State ownership and control of the means of production leads to direct control, oppression and exploitation of the people. In the USSR all land and capital were owned by the state. A revolution which results in state ownership merely replaces one set of oppressors by another.

In countries in which the means of production are owned privately, their accumulation in the hands of a few leads to the oppression and exploitation of the working people. In Britain, for example, the laws of leasehold perpetuate and favour the concentration of ownership of land in the hands of a privileged few.

The Torah states that the land belongs to God, that the Hebrew who 'owns' the land is God's tenant {12}. Hence he may continue to use the land as long as he keeps the conditions of the agreement. So the Torah clearly states that the Hebrews who dwell in the country may treat the land as their property only as long as the law is followed, as long as they observe God's laws. This corresponds precisely to how ownership is defined in other countries.

Land was the means of production which provided independent income and security. Jewish law (that is God's laws) lays down how the land, the means of production, is to be shared out among and owned by the population and how ownership is to be controlled so that productive wealth cannot accumulate in the hands of a few. Jewish laws of leasehold maintain a fair distribution of wealth among the population.

FORMS OF SERVICE AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Masters, Slaves and Servants

Slavery is utter degradation and oppression, denying to the enslaved the consideration due to them as fellow human beings, denying to the enslaved their basic human rights. At the time of the liberation from slavery in Egypt about 3,300 years ago the enslavement of one human being by another was common practice.

The master in effect owns and controls the slave's body through what he can force the slave to do by means of the law of the land and by force of economic necessity. The children of slaves belong to the master who can use them as he wishes.

Human beings were enslaved by force of circumstances beyond their control, by the need to survive, their masters entitled to treat them like unfeeling property. Slaves were without hope for release for themselves, for their children or for future generations.

Jewish law laid down 3,300 years ago that no Jew may enslave another and severely limited the extent to which a person could be oppressed in employment.

There are really only three forms of service between Hebrews, namely 'Hired' servant, 'Bond' servant, and 'Lifebond' servant. This is illustrated by Figure 1. The hired servant is hired as and when required, the bond servant serves for up to but not more than six years while the lifebond servant serves his master for life. Forms of service between Hebrews and strangers are discussed in Appendix 1.

Hired Servant

A hired servant (sochir) was hired {13} as and when required.

One must not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he be Hebrew or stranger {14}. He had to be paid promptly, one could not delay paying him {15}, and when hired by the day and when poor and needy he has to be paid the same day.

He hired himself out and served until the Year of Freedom (yovel) when he and his children return to his hereditary possession, once again becoming independent farmers {16}.

In similar position would appear to be a present-day farm labourer, factory worker and office employee, anyone who is hired by an employer by the day, week or month, anyone who is being paid according to time spent or work done.

Figure 1

FORMS OF SERVICE AMONG HEBREWS (2)

Bond Servant

The bond servant (eved) works {17} for a period of up to six years and is freed in the seventh {18}. He is also freed in the Year of Freedom (yovel year) if this occurs before the six years are up.

The text {18} indicates that a bond servant is a Hebrew who hired himself out against payment in advance. He was not to be pressed into such service as a consequence of his poverty and need {19}. However, a thief when unable to make restitution could be hired out by a court {20}.

The Torah states {21} that he has served 'to the double of the hire of a hired servant' for 'six years' and there is considerable doubt about the meaning of this sentence.

However, restitution for theft meant paying double the value of that which had been stolen and the thief may have been hired out into service for a period corresponding to this.

'Double of the hire of a hired servant' could also mean that the bond servant serves that much longer to allow for accommodation, food and presumably clothing which may have been provided by the master during the period of service, and for the capital given to the bond servant at the end of his service period.

It was not permitted to rule one's servants ruthlessly nor to illtreat them (see also Appendix 1). It would appear that he received no wages for his work while employed but was a member of his master's household and enjoyed the day of rest (the sabbath) and other Jewish holidays.

The bond servant could not be redeemed, could not free himself from his contract of service. He is freed in the seventh year without having to pay anything to his master {22}. On the contrary, he must be well provided for when he leaves {23}, being provided by his master with the means for earning an independent living so that he can have a fresh start.

Very similar would be a present-day contract of employment for a specific number of years which provides also for the payment of a lump sum to the employee at the end of the period of service.

Lifebond Servant

A lifebond servant (eved olam) {24} is a bond servant who decides to serve for life.

A bond servant was allowed at the end of his period of service to choose bond service for life by clearly stating that he wished to serve 'for ever'. The procedure involved (see also Appendix 1) seems to indicate clearly that freedom was much to be preferred.

Protection by the Law

Hebrews were freed by God and must not be enslaved {25}. Freedom is so utterly important that the death penalty was imposed on him who steals another and on the Hebrew who steals any Hebrew to enslave him {26, 27}. Hebrews must not be sold as slaves {25}.

Hebrews must not be treated harshly no matter what the form of service {28}. Indeed a bond servant who has run away from his master must not be turned over to his master but is to live in a place he shall choose and which he likes best and must not be wronged {29}.

Slaves and slavery are replaced by servants and service. Hebrews must not exploit or be exploited, must treat each other with consideration. Those falling on harsh times are protected by the law while serving others and are helped back to independence and freedom.

We now see a social system in which the productive land is shared out among the people who are in this way provided with the means for independence and a good life. Independence is protected by the laws of ownership relating to land and those working for others are protected by laws which uphold independence and counter oppression.

In the following sections on Sabbath (weekly day of rest), Shemittah (year of release) and Yovel (year of freedom) we will see how the law further improves the life of the people, provides even greater protection. The weekly day of rest, the Sabbath, has spread and benefits almost all the civilised world. The Year of Release (shemittah) and the Year of Freedom (yovel) provide for the kind of good life and protection not yet achieved in the democratic countries.

WEEKLY DAY OF REST (SABBATH)

Every seventh day is a day of rest for all. It is called the Sabbath and the basic law 'You shall not labour on the Sabbath' is repeated {30, 31} several times in the Torah. The Jewish people have spread the idea of the Sabbath throughout the world. Almost all of mankind now benefits from a weekly day of rest.

Work stops on the Sabbath in order to let those who labour have a regular day of rest. On this day the servant is as free as the master, the worker is as free as the employer. All are equal on this day.

The law is so important that it is clearly stated in the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) {31} being the only holy day singled out in this way. Here its importance is further underlined by the clear statement that Israel is to keep the Sabbath so that those who work can rest because this is the command of God who liberated Israel from Egyptian bondage. The prophets stressed again and again the importance of keeping these laws, the dire consequences of disregarding them.

This is what Dayan Grunfeld says {32} about the Sabbath:

Sabbath lays the foundation for the brotherhood of man. It is 'a weekly-recurring divine protest against slavery and oppression. Lifting up his kiddush-cup on Friday night, the Jew links the creation of the world with man's freedom, so declaring slavery and oppression deadly sins against the very foundation of the universe. Can one be surprised that tyrants of all times would not permit Israel to celebrate the Sabbath?'

Or that those who wish to oppress their people using modern means of persuasion attempt to brainwash Jews into relaxing sabbath observance.

The Sabbath {32} is a unique experience. There is the happy companionship of family and friends and the enjoyment of good food. There are table-songs in praise of God and the Sabbath, and there is the study of the Torah. All combine to refresh the body, to relax nervous tension and to refresh the mind, to bring one closer to the essence of all being and life and to equip one better for the task of living.

YEAR OF RELEASE (SHEMITTAH)

Every seventh year is a Year of Release (shemittah year). The name comes from Shanath haShemittah (year of the release). There are three main provisions:

Release from work. One is not allowed to cultivate the land or trade its produce. People are released from work. Available food is shared, is freely available at no cost.

Release from debt. Unpaid debts are cancelled at the end of the year.

Learning the law. The Torah was read to the people at Succoth so that they could learn the law so as to observe it.

Observance of the Year of Release (shemittah) laws is so fundamental and important that scripture as well as the Jewish sages have described their neglect as one of the causes of Israel's loss of Erez Israel and of Israel's dispersion among the nations.

Release from Work

The Year of Release is a year of rest {33}. Working the land is prohibited. The land must rest and is left fallow. By 'land' is meant fields, vineyards and oliveyards. Ploughing, sowing and pruning are not permitted.

No one works the land and people live from what grows by itself. This belongs to those who need it who take only what they need.

The individual farmer may in the Year of Release only reap as much as he needs for his own household, in small quantities covering the needs of three meals. Produce is not harvested and what has been reaped must not be stored away. The reason is that the produce of the Year of Release must be common property and available to all for the common good, so that the poor can eat.

Cassuto {34} considers that every Hebrew is intended to work for only six consecutive years, and that after this period he shall be freed in the seventh year from the yoke of hard toil. The whole year is to be observed as a year of rest agriculturally and Rashi comments {35} that others have an equal right to its produce with the owner. The produce are to be ownerless and available to all, so that the poor may eat and what the poor leave is to be left for animals.

The owner may eat his own produce but only as long as some of the produce he is eating still remains in the field for the animals. That is as long as some of the produce is also available to all, is also available to the poor.

As soon as each kind of produce ceases to be available in the open for animals, no one may store that kind of produce in his house. This means that stored produce has to be shared with all.

Dayan Grunfeld {36} points out that observance is a considerable financial sacrifice for farmers.

Release from Debt

The needy borrower has fallen into a state of social dependence on the lender {37} and the Year of Release (shemittah) was intended to prevent this. The word 'shemit' means 'to escape from your hand'. The lender 'held the borrower in his hand', had power over him. After the Year of Release the lender may no longer demand the debt and has allowed the borrower to escape from his hand.

Unpaid debts are cancelled {38} at the end of the Year of Release {39}. This does not apply to unpaid wages or credit for day by day purchases but means that a lender is legally prevented from collecting {8} all debts which have not been repaid by the end of the Year of Release. The effect of the cancellation on post-dated loans and on pledges is discussed in Appendix 2.

In any case one may not press for payment {40} and no creditor would seem to have the right to press for payment of a debt during the seventh year.

Hirsch {41} says that if the borrower insists on repaying then the lender may accept it since it is not the tendency of the Torah to release those who can pay from paying and this means that those who can pay should pay.

Only money lent to Hebrews is released during the Year of Release. Rashi {42} considers that it is a positive command to ensure repayment of debts by non-Hebrews, presumably because they themselves do not release debts and do not adhere to other benevolent Jewish laws such as those which forbid charging interest on loans and enforcing repayment.

One needs to release all debts without quibble or question or precondition or doubt or difficulty, without trying to dodge or avoid or modify the release of those whom one has in one's power because of their indebtedness.

Release from Ignorance (learning the law)

It is laid down that at the end of every Year of Release during Succoth (Tabernacles) the law written by Moses is to be read {43} before all Israel.

This is to be done so that all hear, learn, respect and observe all the words of the law, so that knowledge and observance are passed on to future generations as long as Jewish people live in the land of Erez Israel.

Release from Want Every Seventh Year

The Year of Release applied to present-day working conditions, say a sabbatical year and release from debt every seventh year for all, could have an impact as great as the Sabbath has on the dignity of individuals and on the quality of life itself.

This is discussed in more detail in later sections.

YEAR OF FREEDOM (YOVEL)

The Year of Freedom (yovel year) is the year after seven release cycles (shemittahs) each of which is seven years long. This means that the Year of Freedom is the fiftieth year after seven times seven which is forty-nine years.

The laws of the Year of Freedom have the following effects {44}:

Freedom is restored to those who lost it, is to be restored to those who are serving others. The people are thus freed to return to their families and to their land.

Land is returned to the hereditary owners, or to their heirs. The source of wealth, the productive land, is once again shared out among the people.

Year of rest. It is a year of rest from working the land, it appears to be a year of rest from work for others. Just as in the Year of Release, farm work may not be carried out and the produce of the land is to be made freely available to all free of charge.

This is how Dr. Jacobus {8} describes the effect of the provisions of the Year of Freedom:

'At the end of the fifty years of the Yovel period some people have amassed a fortune of land, some have lost theirs, some have had to sell themselves into slavery and at the end of the period the land reverts back to its original owners, the slaves regain their freedom. Freedom and ownership revert back to the original fair distribution.'

It was the shofar sounding on Yom Kippur which restored freedom to servants and restored property.

Restoring Freedom

Jewish law clearly states that Hebrews are not to be enslaved; it lays down {45} humane forms of service and humane conditions of employment.

In addition, those who are forced by need and circumstances to hire themselves out for long periods are assured of being freed in the Year of Freedom.

Freedom is restored by the Year of Freedom to those who serve.

Returning to One's Land

We saw {46} that land was shared out fairly among the Hebrew tribes and families. However, as time passes some sink into need and lease their land to others. The livelihood of those who serve depends on being employed by the more fortunate, on whom they depend for survival. There are then those who are able to accumulate land and thus productive wealth, who in this way are able to control and exploit the lives of others.

We also saw {47} that the land could be used by the owner or his heirs on condition that it was never sold. If in need he could lease it to another but the lease had to terminate at the next Year of Freedom.

In the Year of Freedom the leases terminate, the land is returned to its hereditary owner. In this way permanent inequality is prevented and the original distribution of land restored at regular intervals.

Freedom

A freed servant who is unable to find paid work would soon be forced by need to re-enter the kind of service from which he had just been freed.

The Year of Freedom not only frees people but returns to them their hereditary share of the productive land, of the means for independence and good life.

The initial distribution of land, which was fair, is maintained. The laws of the Year of Freedom have the effect of preventing land from accumulating in the hands of a few, of preventing the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few, of preventing the few from oppressing, exploiting and economically enslaving the many.

These laws of Sabbath, Shemittah and Yovel deal with the core of inequality and oppression and needless to say many arguments have been put forward for not observing them.

Corresponding legislation under present conditions would have to measure a country's population and its productive resources and wealth. It would then have to share them out fairly among the population, in a way which allowed each family full control of its share.

The national wealth and capital would have to be re-assessed and redivided at regular intervals.

Such legislation {48}, effectively applied, would indeed eliminate much if not most conflict from within the community and later sections will show that the laws are valid and relevant today and discuss their application under present conditions.

SOCIAL RELATIONS

Helping Those in Need

If a Hebrew sinks into poverty and his means fail {49} then he needs to be supported. Instead of being forced by his need into lower-grade service he is to live as 'stranger and settler'. This means (see Appendix 3 'Stranger who is a Settler') that he is to be treated like a tenant who has paid in advance for the use of the land he farms, whose lease expires at the next Year of Freedom and who works independently on his own account.

He may have had to hand the use of his own land over to someone else so as to be able to live, perhaps to support his family. It is possible that while working a piece of land as a tenant he paid an annual rent for the use of the land, perhaps paying it from its produce.

As long as he works a piece of land and farms it as a tenant he may in this way regain his financial strength and redeem his own property in due course.

In other words, he is to be helped to keep and regain his independence.

He is to be treated like a tenant but in addition he is to be supported to an even greater extent: he must not be charged interest nor may one profit from supplying him {50}.

If he continues to sink into poverty in spite of assistance and aid, becoming unable to support himself and his family, then he is forced by need to serve others.

His need must not be used to exploit him. He is to be employed {51} as a hired servant and must not be treated harshly. He returns to his hereditary possession in the Year of Freedom thus regaining his independence.

We have seen some of the ways in which the law protects and helps any Hebrew to overcome difficulties without being oppressed or enslaved, until in the end he regains his original standing and possessions. The same would seem to apply to today's independent shopkeepers, business men, accountants, garage mechanics, electricians, farmers and so on. As the same laws apply today it should be possible to make available {48} aid towards getting established as independent owner, aid towards growth and expansion, and aid towards overcoming difficult periods, in much the same way. The application of the law under present circumstances to those in need of protection and help is discussed in more detail later on. {48}

Providing and Lending Money

One may help those who need it by giving charity or by providing a loan. To assist a poor brother is not optional but obligatory {52}, one is merely doing one's duty in giving loans {53}.

While one should give as much charity as one can, an average amount is 10% of one's income.

Interest-free loans are to be provided {54} to those who need them. Hebrews must not charge each other interest nor pay interest to each other.

When lending money to those who need it one may not press for repayment, particularly so when one knows that the borrower is unable to pay.

One may charge interest when lending to a foreigner {55} and foreigners have to repay their debts, presumably because they are not Hebrews and thus do not adhere to benevolent Jewish law.

One factor which affects the application of laws such as these under present conditions is inflation.

Selling and Buying

Jewish law insists that the customer has rights in that he is protected against being sold faulty goods and against dishonesty on the side of the seller. One has to be honest in one's dealings. Faults in goods should be pointed out before sale. The law insists on fair weights and measures.

The seller is under obligation not to exploit his customers. One may not oppress by profiteering in selling. The law controls profit margins. The net profit is limited to not more than one-sixth.

The task of religion, according to Samuel and according to Rav, was to bring to the market places God's message of righteousness. Rav founded and headed the academy in Sura while Samuel was head of that in Neharde'a, both in Babylon, about 210 CE. Both condemned hoarders of food, usurers, manipulators of fraudulent weights, and profiteers. Samuel warned against selfish disregard of the common good for one's own enrichment.

The poor are to be protected from exploitation in the field of religious practice as otherwise religious observance might be affected. The aim is to protect the people from being exploited by means of excessive prices.

When merchants overcharged {39} for the perfect myrtle twigs which are required for the Succoth festival, Samuel told them to sell perfect myrtle twigs for Succoth at the normal price or else he would decide and proclaim that even broken myrtle twigs would be valid for the ceremony.

Another example from these cases is that a Jewish court of Justice is obliged to appoint inspectors to prevent profiteering, especially in foodstuffs, and to punish severely those convicted of transgression. Price-fixing committees were eventually authorised to be established in every city to curb profiteering and had the authority to punish those who acted against their rules.

Local fishmongers decided to increase their profits as they knew that Jews were anxious to buy fish for the Pesach festival even though prices were high. The local rabbi decided (about 1650) to break 'the iron ring of monopoly by declaring all fish prohibited for a period of two months' including the Pesach festival. This undoubtedly 'taught a powerful lesson to the fish interests'. The rabbi said that 'his major concern was not so much with the rich who would buy the fish no matter how expensive but with the poor who, because of high prices, would be prevented from celebrating the holiday and relaxing for its duration from the burdens and tensions of the workaday week'.

In this section on trading, and in the next on employing, we are merely scratching the surface of relevant Jewish law. It is a body of legislation which has been built up over thousands of years and which insists that the customer has rights, that employees may not be oppressed.

Employer and Employee

Jewish law places the employer under obligation not to oppress his employees. One needs to provide the highest possible standard of living for those whom one employs without in any way tying them, that is without binding them economically or in any other way.

One needs to pay good wages and pay promptly. Jewish law protects the employee by insisting on clearly defined pay preferably agreed in advance {56} and on prompt payment of wages. The employer should pay enough to keep the employee and his family and this presumably is pay earned by one member of the family for one job.

The employee also accepts certain ways of behaviour as being both just and good. For example, an employer's property is inviolate, theft and misappropriation of any kind being completely against the law.

In Jewish law the satisfying of basic needs is the responsibility of the community and this includes work and pay. Strikes are regarded as being in the public interest if the men are exploited.

Some rabbis have interpreted Jewish law in a way which maintained full employment, protecting the community against mass unemployment. For example, when a rabbi prohibited the use during passover of matzos produced by machine {39}, he insisted on his opinion being accepted by 'all living in the sphere of his influence'. The reason was that a great number of Jewish families in his district derived their livelihood from home made matzos. These would have suffered if machine production had been approved. The rabbi appreciated the benefits of the industrial revolution but as the poor Jews in his community could not have obtained other work he acted to protect the community.

GOVERNMENT

There are laws which define a system of administration but here we are looking at laws which govern the behaviour and limit the power of the top executives and of the establishment.

A ruler may not amass servants and may not oppress the people for his own benefit, neither may he amass wealth nor may he behave promiscuously.

In other words, he may not put himself above others by grasping power, may not satisfy personal desires at the expense of others.

Rulers have to be Hebrews and what any ruler or the establishment may do is clearly limited by these laws.

Positive laws tell what has to be done so as to create a strong and just society and a good way of life. But the laws discussed here are negative laws which state what must not be done and such laws protect the people from harm, weakness, oppression and exploitation.

SOCIAL CAUSE-AND-EFFECT RELATIONSHIP: FROM OPPRESSION TO FREEDOM, FROM EXPLOITATION TO GOOD LIFE

Vast power to control our environment is at our beck and call. During the short interval of only about eighty years we have learned to travel by car, to fly, explore space and land on the moon. We communicate with each other within seconds all around the planet by sound and sight, have learned to harness the power of the atom and are attempting to control the power of the sun itself. Computers help us to store and retrieve the ever increasing flood of data, enable us to carry out intricate calculations in the twinkling of an eye which previously would have taken months to do. We have made enormous progress in technology and science. A good and satisfying life for all can be ours here and now.

The same period has also seen the concentration camps of Europe, the damage done by thalidomide and that by mercury in the Bay of Minamata, what has been done to the Cambodians, the misuse of psychiatry in Russia and the misuse of power within some American corporations. Our increasing technological and scientific skills are so far unmatched by similar progress in human relations, in our knowledge about why people behave as they do, about how people should behave towards each other, about what needs to be done and can be done to help people co-operate with each other.

The increasing problems which threaten our environment are eloquent witness to our lack of progress in the field of human relationships. These problems, increasing in frequency as well as in sheer size and in number of people affected by them, are in the end caused by people, caused by the way people treat each other, by the way people co-operate with each other. We see the daily increasing cost.

Daily it is becoming more essential for people to co-operate with each other for the common good. People are becoming more and more aware of this.

Daily more and more people speak up and get together and make their opinions felt, becoming more and more aware of basic causes. They co-operate and struggle successfully towards better life and greater freedom.

The key to this is behaviour, the way in which people behave towards each other. It is only now that we are beginning to understand why people do what they do and why they behave as they do. We now know some qualitative cause-and-effect relationships between what people do and the effects of their actions on themselves and on others.

If we wish to become free and remain free then we need to know which kind of behaviour gives us strength, enables us to co-operate with each other, helps us to raise the quality of life for all, helps us to lead good and satisfying lives.

Indeed this is the reason we are looking at the Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship, illustrating this from 3,000 years of continuous Jewish history.

IN THE TORAH

It seems to me that it was not possible to describe the cause-and-effect relationship between social behaviour of individuals and of people, and the resulting freedom or oppression and conflict, three thousand years ago in a way which could have been understood by those then reading the Torah. Hence it was stated to the people in a way which could be understood so as to enable them to follow the law and thus benefit from knowledge of the effect of their behaviour, even if they did not understand at the time the basis of and the reason for the legislation.

There is no mistaking the clear knowledge of the relationship and the deep concern for people which the text indicates: it clearly states the consequences arising from opposite kinds of behaviour and lays down behaviour as a norm which strengthens and protects the individual and the community.

Relatively few scientific papers are able to report their findings in such comprehensive manner, are able to describe and illustrate a complete relationship from beginning to end, clearly stating the extent to which it applies.

Appendix 4 lists some relevant passages from the Torah in plain English as well as in the Torah's religious language. It will be seen that they clearly describe the relationship and the range over which it applies. The relationship itself is clearly illustrated by examples covering the range of effects from one end of the scale to the other.

History and recent social statistics clearly show that behaviour which is contrary to the law lowers the quality of life, increases internal stress and conflict to the point of social disruption and military weakness. Those who behave according to the law have good and satisfying lives, gain social and military strength. {1}

PREDICTIONS OF THE PROPHETS

The warnings of the prophets are discussed in 'History Speaks' {3} and their role is discussed in 'One Law for All' {4}. Here we are looking at their predictions in relation to the Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship.

The prophets foretold what would happen as a result of how people were behaving if people continued to behave as they did. They foretold that Israel would be lost if people continued to behave as they did.

A scientist predicts what would happen in the future as a result of some experiment if the experimental conditions are maintained. The prediction, if based on knowledge of proved scientific laws, will be valid.

To someone who has no knowledge or understanding of science and its laws, the scientist's prediction will appear to be a 'prophesy', a foretelling of what will happen as if by divine inspiration.

And so the predictions of the prophets were divinely inspired prophesies to those unaware of the knowledge which the prophets had.

What the prophets said were predictions based on knowledge and understanding of the Cause-and-Effect Relationship in the Torah. This is stated as a fundamental scientific law (See Appendix 4) which applies to all at all times. To understand this relationship means to understand the inevitability of events predicted by them.

The Cause-and-Effect Relationship is just as valid today as then, and it applies to all at all times, no matter where they live or what they believe in or their state of development.

Knowledge and understanding of the Cause-and-Effect Relationship and of how it operates is what the prophets had when they predicted what would happen as a result of the way people behave.

Knowledge and understanding of the Cause-and-Effect Relationship and of how it operates gives us similar understanding to that which the prophets had, of how what happens depends on how people behave, and enables us to understand today's events and what determines the pattern of events.

IN HISTORY

When talking about results of 'behaviour', what is meant is not just the behaviour of individual persons but also the behaviour of people as a whole. It includes the behaviour of the people, of their leadership, of their religious dignitaries, of their kings and rulers. 'Behaviour' then includes the crime (evil) of allowing their secular and religious leadership to corrupt them, to mislead and oppress them.

The lessons from the past are there for all to see. There is no need to keep repeating the same mistakes. The events speak for themselves.

History clearly and convincingly illustrates the working of the relationship through successive periods of exile and return to Erez Israel. History shows that behaviour determines events in the way described by the Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship.

The relationship applies to all people and not only to the Jews. However, it is the Jews who retained their belief as a way of life during periods of exile and adversity and who were thus able to survive, return to Erez Israel and regain freedom.

In the next few sections (volume 2, 'History Speaks) I will be looking at case histories drawn from Jewish history to illustrate the social relationship in operation, showing the remarkable way in which behaviour and consequences correlate with each other. We will understand how freedom gained was later lost and see what has to be done so as to move towards greater freedom and better life.

Appendix 1

FORMS OF SERVICE AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Masters, Slaves and Servants

In addition to the forms of service between Hebrews there is the Hebrew who has been bought by a stranger and there is the stranger who has been sold to a Hebrew.

The Hebrew who has been bought by a stranger has to serve for life but has the right to be freed, to be redeemed. The stranger who has been sold to a Hebrew has been bought from slave-owning slave-selling strangers.

The various relationships are illustrated by Figure 2.

Bond Servant

A slave's master owns the slave like a piece of property and also owns the slave's children. The master could give the bond servant a non-Hebrew female slave as a wife but retained ownership and was allowed to keep both the wife and any children when freeing the bond servant. But the master has no property rights over the bond servant. The bond servant is not a slave and has to be freed at the end of his period of service {1}.

Lifebond Servant

A lifebond servant who wishes to serve 'for ever' has to have his ear bored through {2}. The act of boring through his ear apparently expresses a dislike of choosing servitude {3} and serving 'for ever' has been taken {4} to mean 'until the Yovel (year of freedom)'.

Hebrew Bought by Stranger

A Hebrew could be 'bought' by a foreigner who was not a Hebrew.

The Hebrew servant (sochir) {5} who has been forced by dire need {6} to hire himself out for life to a stranger has the right to be redeemed. He can be freed by himself or by Hebrew relatives. If not redeemed then he is freed with his children in the Year of Freedom (yovel year) {7}.

Whatever has been paid to him is regarded as if it had been paid in advance for hiring him year by year, from the year of start of service to the stranger to the end of the period, the end of the period being the Year of Freedom (yovel year). Hence he is freed by repaying an amount corresponding to the unexpired years of service, corresponding to the years of service paid for in advance which will now not be worked {8}.

The stranger was not allowed to treat him harshly, he had to be treated as if he were a servant hired year by year {9}.

Stranger Sold to Hebrew

There seems to be no Hebrew word for slave, the word 'eved' meaning servant or worker. A slave is described {10} as a servant who is bought and sold (mimkeret eved).

Hebrews must not be enslaved {10} but Hebrews could buy slaves from slave-owning slave-selling strangers. The slave was bought for life and both he and his children were his master's property.

The home of a Hebrew was to them a home of freedom. There he was protected by law against mishandling {11}.

A slave owned by a Hebrew could convert to Judaism. Successful conversion and observance seem to have meant freedom after a period which could not exceed six years.

Figure 2

FORMS OF SERVICE

Appendix 2

YEAR OF RELEASE (SHEMITTAH)

Post-dated Loans

Loans which are due to be repaid on a date after the Year of Release are said by Hirsch to form an exception because the lender only becomes 'a lender' from the day he can demand repayment so that this type of loan is not released. The conclusion is drawn from this that if the date of repayment of a loan is after the Year of Release then the loan is not released by the Year of Release.

However, the lender becomes 'lender' and the borrower becomes 'borrower' the moment the money is transferred from lender to borrower. There would have been no need to stress that loans should be made even when Year of Release approaches {1} if it had been the intention to allow debts to be carried through the Year of Release by fixing a later date of repayment.

Dayan Grunfeld {2} states that the Torah attaches such importance to this law that it warns the one who refrains from lending because of a fear that the loan might not be repaid because of the Year of Release, warning him by using the particularly severe expression "an act of Beliya'al", an act of treachery, for this kind of behaviour.

Pledges

Pledges are an old institution and the Torah warns against oppressing the poor through taking as pledges the basic necessities for living {3}.

A 'pledge' is a security {5} for the 'obligation to repay a loan'. The pledge is taken only as a security {6} which means it is taken not as a payment but only to ensure payment. Presumably the pledge becomes the property of the lender if the loan is not repaid {8}.

If the lender holds a pledge in his hands for the loan then some say that the release does not apply {6, 9}.

However, when a pledge is not a payment but is kept by the lender only to ensure payment, then it clearly follows that when the debt is cancelled the pledge has to be returned to the borrower since cancelling a debt takes the place of repaying it.

Appendix 3

STRANGER WHO IS A SETTLER

We saw that Hebrews who dwell in the country may work the land and use it as long as the law is followed. While the entitlement to work and use the land is a hereditary possession which passes to one's heirs, the land cannot be sold.

What can be sold (leased) is the entitlement to work and use the land for a period not exceeding that to the next Year of Freedom when the lease must expire and when the hereditary owner returns to his land.

The land is owned only by Hebrews but can be leased to another Hebrew or to a stranger.

Strangers (ger) live in the country more or less permanently and some of these may settle and work the land. The stranger who is working the land, that is the 'stranger who is a settler' (ger toshav), cannot own land. Hence he is a tenant whose lease expires at the next Year of Freedom.

Having paid in advance for the use of the land to the end of the lease he presumably works independently on his own account.

Hebrews could lease land to other Hebrews and it was thus possible for Hebrew landowners to increase their landholding very considerably until the next Year of Freedom.

However, the Hebrew who rents land so as to use it, like the stranger who is a settler, is a tenant whose lease expires at the next Year of Freedom.

The term 'stranger who is a settler' {1} should thus be interpreted as meaning 'stranger who is a tenant whose lease expires at the next Year of Freedom'.

Appendix 4

CAUSE-AND-EFFECT RELATIONSHIP IN THE TORAH

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Appendix 5

TEN COMMANDMENTS {1}

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Struggle for Freedom

{1} The Horror of Pollution: This Water has Maimed a Generation, Sunday Times

Magazine, 1973 November 18.

{2} In the Name of Profit, R. L. Heilbronner, Doubleday, New York.

{3} Silent Spring, Rachel Carson, 1962.

{4} If You Want a Future, Read On ..., David Baram

{5} Louise W. Eickoff, Consultant Psychiatrist, Guardian, 1970 September 12

{6} Style of Management and Leadership.

Manfred Davidmann
https://www.solhaam.org/

{7} The Will to Work: What People Struggle to Achieve.

Manfred Davidmann
https://www.solhaam.org/

{8} 'Social Responsibility, Profits and Social Accountability.

Manfred Davidmann
https://www.solhaam.org/

Jewish Religion

{1} Manoscritti Biblici Ebraici, Roberto Bonfil, Adei-Wizo, Milano, 1966

Biblical Law

{1} Bamidbar 34, 1-12

{2} Ibid 26, 1-63

{3} Ibid 26, 52-56; 33, 53-54

{4} Ibid 34, 13-15

{5} Of the tribe of Levi

{6} Bamidbar 34, 2, 13; 36, 2

{7} Ibid 36, 1-13

{8} Der Gottesstaat, Dr Abraham Jacobus, Berlin 1923 and 1927

{9} Lev 25, 13-16

{10} Lev 25, 23-28

{11} The Pentateuch, Translation and Commentary by S. R. Hirsch. Translated by Dr

Isaac Levy, 2nd Edtn, 1971, Judaica Press. (Lev (Vol 2) p.763-)

{12} Lev 25, 23

{13} Lev 25, 40-43

{14} Deut 24, 14

{15} Deut 24, 15; Lev 19, 13

{16} Lev 25, 40-41

{17} Exod 21, 2; Deut 15, 12-15, 18

{18} Exod 21, 2; Deut 15, 12

{19} Lev 25, 39, 42

{20} Exod 22, 2

{21} Deut 15, 18

{22} Exod 21, 2; Deut 15, 12

{23} Deut 15, 13-15

{24} Exod 21, 5-6; Deut 15, 16-17

{25} Lev 25, 42

{26} Exod 21, 16

{27} Deut 24, 7

{28} Lev 25, 43

{29} Deut 23, 16-17

{30} Exod 23, 12; 34, 21

{31} Exod 20, 8-11; Deut 5, 12-15

{32} The Sabbath, Dr I. Grunfeld, Feldheim, 1972

{33} Exod 23, 10-11; Lev 25, 1-7

{34} A Commentary on the Book of Exodus, V. Cassuto (Translated by I. Abrahams),

Magnes Press, 1974 (1951)

{35} The Pentateuch and Rashi's Commentary, R. Abraham b. Isaiah and R. Benjamin

Sharfman, S. S. & R. Publishing Co. Inc., 1950

{36} The Jewish Dietary Laws, Dr I. Grunfeld, Soncino Press, 1972

{37} The Pentateuch, Translation and Commentary by S.R. Hirsch. 2nd Edtn, 1971,

Judaica Press

{38} Deut 15, 1-11

{39} Human Relations in Jewish Law, Leo Jung, Jewish Education Press, Board of Jewish

Education Inc, 1967

{40} Exod 22, 24

{41} Hirsch {11} quoting Gittin 37b

{42} Rashi {35} on Deut 15, 3

{43} Deut 31, 10-13

{44} Lev 25, 8-13, 20-22, 39-42, 47, 54-55

{45} See 'Masters, Slaves and Servants' (p.14)

{46} See 'To Every Family its Home, Land and Income' (p.11)

{47} See 'Ownership of Land, of the Means for Independence (p.12)

{48} Policies for a Better Future

Manfred Davidmann
https://www.solhaam.org/

{49} Lev 25, 35

{50} Lev 25, 36-37

{51} Lev 25, 39-43

{52} Exod 22, 24. Rashi {35}

{53} Exod 22, 24. Hirsch {37}

{54} Exod 22, 24-26; Lev 25, 36-37; Deut 23, 20-21

{55} Deut 23, 21

{56} Ahavath Chesed (Kindness as Required by God), Chafetz Chaim, Feldheim, 1967

Social Cause-and-Effect Relationship

{1} 'If You Want a Future, Read On ...', David Baram

{2} See Appendix 4

{3} History Speaks: Monarchy, Exile and Maccabees

Manfred Davidmann
https://www.solhaam.org/
See MONARCHY FOLLOWED BY TWO KINGDOMS - Warnings of the Prophets

{4} One Law for All: Freedom Now, Freedom for Ever

Manfred Davidmann
https://www.solhaam.org/
See TELL THE PEOPLE - Role of the Prophets

Appendix 1

{1} Exod 21, 4

{2} Exod 21, 6; Deut 15, 17

{3} Rashi on Exod 21, 6

{4} Rashi on Exod 21, 6; Deut 15, 17

{5} Lev 25, 47-55

{6} Lev 25, 47

{7} Lev 25, 54

{8} Lev 25, 48-52

{9} Lev 25, 53

{10} Lev 25, 42

{11} Exod 12, 44; Commentary by S.R. Hirsch

Appendix 2

{1} Deut 15, 9

{2} The Jewish Dietary Laws, Dr I. Grunfeld, Soncino, 1972

{3} Exod 22, 25-26; Deut 24, 6, 10-13, 17

{4} The Pentateuch, Translation and Commentary by S. R. Hirsch. 2nd Edtn, 1971,

Judaica Press

{5} Hirsch {4} on Deut 15, 6

{6} Hirsch {4} on Exod 22, 26

{7} The Pentateuch and Rashi's Commentary, R. Abraham b. Isaiah and R. Benjamin

Sharfman, S. S. & R. Publishing Co. Inc., 1950

{8} Rashi {7} on Exod 22, 25

{9} Hirsch {4} on Deut 15, 3 quoting Baba Metzia 48b

Appendix 3

{1} Lev 25, 23, 35, 47

Appendix 4

{1} Exod 20, 2

{2} Exod 32, 16

{3} Exod 20, 3

{4} Deut 29, 28

{5} Deut 30, 19

{6} 'I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day ...'.

Witnesses in Jewish law are directly concerned with punishing the culprit. Heaven and earth will enforce the relationship both ways which is equivalent to saying that we have here a direct cause-and-effect relationship, that the consequences of given types of behaviour will be as stated.

{7} Deut 30, 15

{8} Deut 30, 19

{9} Deut 30, 17-19

{10} Deut 29, 9-10

{11} Deut 29, 14

{12} Deut 30, 11-14

{13} Deut 28, 3

{14} Ibid, 16

{15} Ibid, 4

{16} Ibid, 18

{17} Ibid, 7

{18} Ibid, 25

{19} Ibid, 11

{20} Ibid, 33

{21} Ibid, 36

{22} Ibid, 12

{23} Ibid, 13

{24} Ibid, 43

{25} Ibid, 44

{26} Ibid, 49

{27} Ibid, 51

{28} Ibid, 52

{29} Ibid, 63

{30} Deut 28, 64

{31} Ibid, 66

{32} Deut 30, 1

{33} Ibid, 2

{34} Ibid, 5

{35} Ibid, 7

{36} Ibid, 9

{37} Ibid, 10

Appendix 5

{1} Deut 5, 6-18; Exod 20, 2-14

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