The Philosophy of the Bible as Foundation of Jewish Culture: Philosophy of Biblical Law

Like Spinoza in his Theological-Political Treatise, Schweid helps us grasp the potential for seeing radically new messages in this oldest of books, the Bible. The American Founding Fathers realized that the Bible offers strong support for the doctrine of popular sovereignty. Socially, it offers a message of egalitarianism, especially in the provisions of the Jubilee. It is hardly an accident that two modern political movements found mottos ready at hand from the 25th chapter of Leviticus: "Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (from the Liberty Bell), and: "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity" (motto of the Jewish National Fund). More broadly, Schweid helps us to appreciate the broader message of the narrative of creation and settlement of the land in its ecumenical and planetary dimensions. The world is God's creation whose resources are to be deployed as necessary for the sustenance and needs-fulfillment of all peoples and all creatures equally-a message very much relevant to the ecological crisis facing us all at the present time.

Eliezer Schweid is one of Israel’s most respected intellectuals and scholars. Born in Jerusalem in 1929, he grew up and was educated in the heart of the Zionist project to build the Jewish homeland. At 19, he was a soldier in the Israeli War of Independence. His spiritual crises, growing out of that experience, led him to explore the legacy of Jewish thought in all its manifestations—religious and secular, ancient, medieval and modern. As Professor of Jewish Thought at Hebrew University, educator and intellectual, and author of 40 books on Jewish thought of all periods, he has taught and mentored generations of Israelis to mine the spiritual, intellectual and moral legacy of Jewish thought for the formation of their own identities and to provide the experiential background and moral compass to guide them in the present. He is the recipient of the Israel Prize and two honorary doctorates. He lives in Jerusalem.