First discuss what is democracy, are you speaking of American Democracy, give a valid definition of what democracy is, pure democracy? the individuals participation in the social order? If you are alluding to the townhall concept, Jews in the middle ages kept their communities alive by self-government. How often is the townhall system of government used today? Is representative government a democracy. Does Greece get too much credit for inspiring us to democracy or was it just democracy of autocrats?
Answer 2
Judaism is egalitarian and values all individuals, both men and women. The wealthy have no privileges; and the poor are valued, treated well and their opinions listened to. (Compare this to those societies in which only mature, land-owning males had any legal status.)
Judaism applied laws, and rules of moral behavior, to all its members equally. The laws of Moses form much of Western legal background.
Quote:
"I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation ... fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations" (John Adams, 2nd President of the United States).
"Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights, but we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both Divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and of collective conscience, and social responsibility" (Paul Johnson, Christian historian, author of A History of the Jews and A History of Christianity).
By introducing concepts such as morality and universal rule of law.
Answer:
Judaism is egalitarian and values all individuals, both men and women. There is no hierarchy and the poor are valued, treated well and their opinions listened to.
Judaism applied laws, and rules of moral behavior, to all its members equally. The laws of Moses form much of Western legal background.
Some of the concepts that Judaism introduced were:
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Here's a thought:
Judaism itself, simply by being, couldn't have any influence on society or
contribution to democracy. All it could be or do would be to lay there in
dusty books, for the interest and amusement of people, mainly rich ones,
who knew how to read and had the leisure time to spend doing it.
The only way Judaism, or any other philosophy, could have any effect or
contribution or influence on anything would be if there were PEOPLE who
knew about it, and wanted their lives to be like it, and felt strongly enough
about it that they tried to change things.
A:
The earliest form of democracy outside primitive tribes was developed in Greece, long before the advent of Christianity and outside the influence of Judaism. The Roman Republic and then the Roman Empire had vague stirings of democratic thought, but this never developed into anything concrete. Democracy next arose in England and the United States from the yearning of the common people for freedom, including freedom from religious oppression. The French Revolution, which led to democracy in France, was a reaction against the king, who claimed a divine right to rule. In none of this do we see the hand of Judaism.
Looking more closely at Judaism, we see that Judah was a monarchy until the Babylonian Exile, then a theocracy. After this Judah came under the rule of foreign empires until modern times. There was no democracy movement, either in Judah or in Judaism, although there was a particularly strong nationalistic movement. The Jewish people did not mind being ruled by autocratic kings or priests, as long as they were not ruled by others.
In Roman times, the Jews of the diaspora rose up in Egypt, Cyprus and elsewhere, attempting to overthrow established rule and create Jewish states. Had they suceeded, this would have been antithetical to democracy, as the native peoples of those lands would have been subject to Jewish rule.
In summary, Judaism was a bystander in the history of democracy, contributing little to development of democracy nor to the progress of democratic movements.
In terms of democracy as a philosophy as opposed to the pragmatic functioning of democracy, Judaism does not add anything. Democracy is based on Hellenistic understanding of humans and their relations to one another. The idea of consensus is antithetical to Orthodox Judaism except in certain very specific cases where two scholarly opinions are debated and both are accepted as viable by the people, a vote may choose which decision is adhered to. The idea of everyone having the free rights to determine his or her own destiny is again antithetical to Judaism because Judaism provides an exacting roadmap as to how to live your life.
However, the ideas of functional legal structures and jurisprudence, equality of the citizenry, and education for the citizens are contributions that Judaism has made to the pragmatic functioning of democracy.
Judaism is egalitarian and values all individuals, both men and women. The wealthy have no privileges; and the poor are valued, treated well and their opinions listened to. (Compare this to those societies in which only mature, land-owning males had any legal status.)
Judaism applied laws, and rules of moral behavior, to all its members equally. The laws of Moses form much of Western legal background.
Quote:
"I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation ... fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations" (John Adams, 2nd President of the United States).
"Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights, but we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both Divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and of collective conscience, and social responsibility" (Paul Johnson, Christian historian, author of A History of the Jews and A History of Christianity).
It was a democratic republic that was responsible for the Reign of Terror in post-revolution France. It was a democratic election that brought the Third Reich to power in Germany, as well as the terrorist Hamas regime in Gaza. Democracy sometimes leads to the worst forms of dictatorship.
It was this that led John Stuart Mill to insist on safeguards against the "tyranny of the majority." Even democracy needs a leash. The problem is: who will determine what those safeguards should be, if not the majority? Whose authority could be recognized as to lie beyond even the will of the people?
The authors of the American Declaration of Independence had a clear answer. The Declaration states that these "inalienable rights" are endowed upon men by their Creator. Who else could determine that "all men are created equal" other than the One who made them? Democracy could work when it remained bridled by the law of God.
Who introduced human rights to the world? Did the Romans, the Greeks, the Sumerians or the people of ancient India or China teach that "all men are created equal" and that all have a right to justice before the law? The concept of a nation with a covenant of duties, freedoms and rights was a unique and radical phenomenon of ancient Israel, not to be emulated by any other nation until 1776.
An example:
Ahab is often considered ancient Israel's most notoriously wicked king. Yet read what happens when he finds himself pitted against a citizen's divine rights:
…Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab, the king of Samaria. Ahab wanted it, offering to pay. Naboth declined. Jezebel, Ahab's non-Jewish wife, couldn't understand the problem. Her husband is a king and he cannot get whatever he desires? To please her husband, she hired false witnesses against Naboth, thereby criminally seizing the vineyard for Ahab.
Yet the point remains: Even to the most immoral of Israelite kings, a citizen's property rights were inalienable. Ahab could not even imagine abrogating those rights.
Now let's deal directly with your question:
We don't really know how democracy evolved. In 8th century (BCE) Greece, it appears that a legislator named Solon introduced greater power to a larger number of citizens in the determination of political powers. Nevertheless, most of the time, most Greek states were governed by other means. At any rate, it was not until democracy was married to the idea of human rights, initially in Britain and in America, that it really became a viable proposition for large societies.
The Torah sets forth a constitutional monarchy. Even before that was implemented, there were the leaders of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands (Exodus ch.18), and the court of Elders (Sanhedrin), who were Torah-scholars that provided Torah-rulings, teaching, guidance and leadership.
In the time of exile, it was common for Jewish communities to hold elections for a community council. But above all, it was the value of education for every child and the love of learning that preserved the Jewish beliefs, commands and ideals.
Democracy is certainly compatible with Jewish values. Is it the messiah for humankind? It may be part of the package. But without the prelude of a constitution protecting the rights of every individual, a democracy can easily decide to burn down synagogues and churches, persecute minorities, imprison political opponents, and make futile, disastrous wars.
A stable and sustainable world in which every individual has equality before the law is only possible when we accept the voice of the Higher Authority, the One who cares for the world that He made. That is the idea which the Torah introduces to the world.
Judaism is egalitarian and values all individuals, both men and women. The wealthy have no privileges; and the poor are valued, treated well and their opinions listened to. (Compare this to those societies in which only mature, land-owning males had any legal status.)
Judaism applies laws, and rules of moral behavior, to all its members equally.The laws of Moses form much of Western legal background.
Some of the concepts that Judaism introduced were:
Judaism is egalitarian and values all individuals, both men and women. The wealthy have no privileges; and the poor are valued, treated well and their opinions listened to. (Compare this to those societies in which only mature, land-owning males had any legal status.)
Judaism applies laws, and rules of moral behavior, to all its members equally.The laws of Moses form much of Western legal background.
Some of the concepts that Judaism introduced were:
One key concept that appears to have originated from Judaism is that all people are equal under the law, even the king is bound by the law, and the law applies equally to rich and poor and to master and slave. Earlier codes, such as the code of Hammurabi, had elaborate hierarchies, where the penalty for one person doing something to another depended on the social rank of the victim and the perpetrator.
Law and democracy.
Check out the related link for information on Aristotle's great influence on democracy.
she contributed to democracy by being on the five dollar note
gfk
Yes gracie...
bum and poo is the answer.
The primary contribution in this regard is democracy.
i dont know thats why i asked
Yes
He was in the government and government = laws
Promoted the ideas of individualism.
There is one Answer here. It is the re-phrased Q'n: "How does Human Life contribute to the Global Human Society?".