Key Idea: Jewish ethics is obligation under a covenant. Its principles come from the Torah — love of God, Deuteronomy 6: 4, love of neighbour, Leviticus 19: 18, and the Golden Rule — and both loves are commandments. All mitzvot are either ritual or ethical, and all ethical mitzvot are binding in all traditions.
Tested as
- The basis of Jewish ethics; law against conscience
- How Jewish law answers a modern question
- Marriage, divorce, war, shechitah and Zionism
Watch for
- Omitting the agreement about the ethical mitzvot
- Asserting a single Jewish position on abortion
- Supplying a political verdict on Zionism
Use
- Halakhah, responsa, teshuvah, agunah, shechitah
- "Thou shalt not commit murder"
- Tikkun olam; the sabbatical year for the land
| Issue | What the guide says |
|---|---|
| Sources | Central ethical principles derived from the Torah: love of God and of neighbour; the Golden Rule |
| The division | All mitzvot are ritual or ethical, mixed in the Ten Commandments; all ethical mitzvot bind in all traditions |
| Marriage | Importance of Jewish marriage and keeping a Jewish home; Orthodoxy intolerant of marrying out; need for Jewish children |
| The agunah | A wife anchored if her husband will not grant a get; Reform and Liberal find a way round it |
| War | Regarded as legitimate — the commandment is "Thou shalt not commit murder" |
| Shechitah | Vital for kashrut; argued to promote rather than violate animal rights |
Important: The guide's entry is one sentence: Zionism — Jews who support the Jewish homeland in Israel. Variations both there and in the worldwide Jewish community about how best to be faithful to Judaism and yet promote peace and justice for all. So the examinable content is the range of Jewish views and the sources they argue from. The wider political conflict is not what the syllabus asks about, and there is no neutral framing available for it — report the range and supply no verdict.
Examine the limit Jewish teaching places on divine forgiveness.
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Evaluate the Jewish argument that shechitah promotes animal rights.
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
What do all Jewish movements agree on? That all ethical mitzvot are binding in all traditions. The dispute concerns the ritual mitzvot, and only where they no longer serve their original purpose.
What limit does the guide place on forgiveness? On Jewish teaching God is forgiving but cannot forgive a person on behalf of another who has not tried to make amends — so amends come before atonement.
Why is war regarded as legitimate? Because the commandment is "Thou shalt not commit murder" rather than kill — so the ethical question becomes which killing counts as murder.
What is the syllabus content on Zionism? That Zionists are Jews who support the Jewish homeland in Israel, and that there are variations among Jews about how best to be faithful to Judaism and yet promote peace and justice for all.
Exam tips
- Open on the agreement: all ethical mitzvot bind in all traditions.
- Both loves are commandments. That changes what love means in this tradition.
- The forgiveness limit is the best detail in Jewish ethics. Learn the sentence.
- On Zionism, report the range and the reasoning. A verdict answers a question nobody set.