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On what social issues were the rabbis (Chazal and rishonim) ahead of their times? That is, which social/political matters subject to wide agreement today were shared by Chazal before these views became widely held by non-Jewish populations?

For example, marital rape is absolutely forbidden by Chazal and strongly condemned by rishonim as well. See some sources here: http://www.jsafe.org/pdfs/pdf_032206_2.pdf

In contrast, marital rape was not illegal in Western countries until the 20th century, and is still legal in numerous non-Western countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marital_rape.

What are other examples? Knowing about such examples is important because it provides evidence against the notion -- often found among apostates from traditional Judaism, from the 19th century to the present -- that modern values and norms are superior to those of traditional Judaism.

Kordovero
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    hasagas gevul and unfair competition? – rosends Oct 07 '14 at 13:42
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    Not quite duplicate since you are specifically asking about social issues. – Mike Oct 08 '14 at 01:54
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    Do you have reason to think there are other examples? – Double AA Oct 08 '14 at 08:26
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    Please provide clear rules for determining what is considered socially acceptable at a given time. Must everyone believe it? Some percentage of the population? Is being enshrined in secular legal codes relevant? – Double AA Oct 08 '14 at 08:27
  • Yes, I have reason to think there are other examples -- people commonly claim that basic nearly universal notions today, such as the sanctity and dignity of individual human life, originally arose in Judaism. – Kordovero Oct 08 '14 at 14:05
  • I don't understand why they would be evidence of that. Are you saying they indicate the values are equivalent to traditional Judaism but not superior? How would some traditional Jewish values matching some current values indicate which is superior? – Double AA Oct 08 '14 at 15:24
  • If traditional Judaism (rather than some contemporary secular philosophy) originated many of the values and beliefs they hold dear, this may indicate that traditional Judaism is superior to secular philosophy. It may also convince some people that is genuinely divine, rather than socially constructed, if it was ahead of its time. – Kordovero Oct 08 '14 at 17:11
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    That's not to say Judaism has to match modern values to be legitimate. But if there are certain things (restricting the death penalty, banning marital rape, stopping human sacrifice, recognizing the dignity of each individual, outlawing corruption) that Judaism did far before anyone else, this will legitimize Judaism in the minds of many people. – Kordovero Oct 08 '14 at 17:13
  • @Kordovero That is only useful if you show the secular world accepted it because of the Jewish world. If both came to it independantly then I don't see the relevance. Perhaps then you should include such a requirement in your question (Please also remember to ping me @DoubleAA when you comment to me.) – Double AA Oct 08 '14 at 17:13
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    @DoubleAA I don't agree. If they came to it independently but much earlier this would raise the prestige of Judaism in many people's minds, and also make some people more inclined to believe that divine inspiration was genuinely involved. – Kordovero Oct 08 '14 at 17:20

4 Answers4

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In Mishnah Makkot 1:10 there is a famous passage where, after discussing the laws of witnesses, the Rabbis debate how often the Sanhedrin should order the capital punishment.

A Sanhedrin that would execute somebody once every seven years would be considered a violent Beit Din. Rabbi Elazar Ben Azariah says: "Once every 70 years." Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva said: "If we were on the Sanhedrin we would never have killed anyone!" Rabban Shim'on Ben Gamliel said: "They would have increased violence in Israel."

As you can see, there was disagreement on how often the death penalty should be imposed with some of the Rabbis pushing for little to no use and one dissenting voice warning that that such a "dovish" interpretation would increase violence rather than reduce it. This debate occurred about 1900 years ago and is similar to debates we have today. This website lists what years various countries outlawed or de-facto abolished the death penalty. You can see that countries that outlawed it usually did so in the last 100 years.

I think that it is safe to say that no other civilization 1900 years ago was putting severe limits on capital punishment and so the Rabbis were clearly ahead of their times on this social issue. If anyone can supply another example of a civilization limiting capital punishment at such an early date, I would be interested to hear of it.

Mike
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  • Good point! So true...compared to say, the Romans, who would execute people for almost any ridiculous reason at all..carrying a coin w/Augustus' image into a public privy, etc. – Gary Oct 08 '14 at 05:50
  • Excellent point. Halacha's precise requirements for witnesses seem to be parallel to, and exceed, the detailed procedural protections provided by American law (which only came about in the last few decades). – Kordovero Oct 08 '14 at 13:59
  • I see nothing in your quotation of Makos that recommends less capital punishment, only statement of what happened or would have. – msh210 Oct 13 '14 at 02:45
  • why is it safe to say? – michael Jan 01 '18 at 12:16
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R Ken Spiro has a wonderful book on this topic: Worldperfect, the Jewish impact on civilization (a similar book by a non-Jewish author is The gifts of the Jews: how a tribe of desert nomads changed the way everyone thinks and feels by Thomas Cahill).

In Worldperfect, R Spiro brings dozens of examples or counter-examples of how the Jews were significantly ahead of their times in advancing social issues:

  • Respect for human life: laws against infanticide (widely practiced in Rome and Greece), human sacrifices and slaves (with full right of life and death over them)
  • Peace and harmony: offensive wars and grabbing as much territory from neighbors killing and raping as you go, burning those who disagree with you
  • Justice and equality: women protection laws (e.g., protection in case of rape or divorce), not withholding wages, loving strangers

  • Education: education for all kids incl. girls

  • Social responsibility: taking care of the poor and those unable to provide for themselves

Glorfindel
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mbloch
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Chazal set up a publicly funded school system around the first century of the common era (Bava Basra 21:1). They strongly condemned any city that did not fund a school for its children (Eicha Rabba Petichta 2). Publicly funded schools were not set up in any major culture till the eighteenth century. Many countries did not have public education through the start of the twentieth century.

LN6595
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The Torah forbids parents from killing their children. Parental infanticide was widely practiced in ancient times.

Source: Wikipedia Infanticide

LN6595
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  • Where does the Torah prohibit infanticide? – mevaqesh Jan 01 '18 at 04:22
  • Numbers (31:17): וְעַתָּ֕ה הִרְג֥וּ כָל־זָכָ֖ר בַּטָּ֑ף . I Samuel (15:3): וְלֹ֥א תַחְמֹ֖ל עָלָ֑יו וְהֵמַתָּ֞ה מֵאִ֣ישׁ עַד־אִשָּׁ֗ה מֵֽעֹלֵל֙ וְעַד־יוֹנֵ֔ק – mevaqesh Jan 03 '18 at 02:50
  • @mevaqesh You’re out of context. But I’ll edit for clarity anyways. – LN6595 Jan 03 '18 at 15:52
  • So murdering babies is only sometimes okay. This doesn't seem like a very good example of being progressive. Even if others were even more murderous. Also, consider editing in a source for the Torah prohibiting parents killing children. Also consider demonstrating that at the time when someone thought it was bad, that no one else did. That some people were regressive doesn't show that anyone was ahead of the times – mevaqesh Jan 03 '18 at 16:17
  • It should be noted that the Didache a first or second century Christian text bans abortion. – mevaqesh Jan 03 '18 at 23:29