There
is a phrase that is often misused that says:
You
can’t legislate morality. Many people will try to use this phrase to mean that we can’t focus
on morality when it comes to the law. Nothing
can be further from the truth. That
is what law is all about.
Laws
define our morality as a society. The true meaning of the phrase, “you can’t legislate morality,”
is: even though you make something legal you are not necessarily making it
right or moral. A good example
of this is abortion.
The
morality of abortion does not change whether or not it is legal.
Understanding
the morality of the law is to understand the law’s spirit. The spirit of the law is not negated through loopholes and
technicalities. The letter of
the law, however, can, at times, focus so narrowly on these factors that the
law’s intentions are lost.
Spirit of the Law
Let’s
explore the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the
law. In Jewish terms
following the letter of the law would be keeping the law WITHOUT mitzvah.
In
Putting God on the Guest List,
a book concerning the Bar Mitzvah,
Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin writes:
Mitzvot teach
us to sanctify life. They foster altruism and self-esteem, so critical to
the life of a young Jew. They can bring Jewish families closer to
the Jewish people, to all people, and to God. ...So powerful is gemilut
chasadim that performing acts of loving kindness is the closest that
humans can come to a genuine imitation of God [pp.65,67]
Yeshua points out the “letter of the law” attitude that many had during his day.