What Are the Principles of the Torah?

I’d like to share basic a one-page basic summary of what we are supposed to learn from the Torah. Everything below is interconnected and deeply illustrated in the text. And every one of them is contradistinct from a pagan worldview, as exemplified in Ancient Egypt and Canaan, as well as today’s Woke world.

Words have power.

G-d created the world with words. People similarly build or destroy with words, as intangible as they are. Much of the Torah discusses a spiritual malady (mistranslated as “leprosy”) that comes from harming others – whether physically or through the use of words (including gossip). Words can be the greatest force for good – as well as for evil. We even use words to “create” the Sabbath Day, just as G-d did. Words create our worldview.

Growth and Elevation

G-d created a world that is divided. It is the task of Jews to heal the division, to elevate the physical into the spiritual, from raw nature into holiness. We must always strive to be more than our animal selves.

Responsibility for our actions

We are not victims of our nature or our nurture: we make choices, and we are responsible for them. From Adam and Eve (who were only expelled after refusing to take responsibility) all the way through, G-d firmly rejects those who blame “fate” or otherwise refuse to grow up and own up. We are responsible for everything: from ourselves to the entire world, as G-d’s partners and emissaries. G-d has high expectations for each of us.

Respect for each person

Each person has a soul on loan from G-d. Respecting people and respecting G-d are twinned objectives.

Following from this, understand that relationships are at the core of all good things. Friendships, marriage, and connecting to G-d are all interconnected.

Relationships require empathy. It is why we had to be slaves in Egypt.

Gratitude is core. Jews are named after the first words of gratitude in the Torah.

Hearing instead of seeing

Judaism is about thinking and grappling with issues. We reject following our eyes, of living for hedonistic narcissism. Instead, the active verb is shomea, to hear/consider/internalize.  None of the commandments are meant to be followed purely as a Rain Dance; we should always seek to understand and internalize the purpose(s) for everything we are commanded to do. Similarly, Jews are about the power of ideas, not the power of coercion. Power shared is halved. Ideas shared are doubled.

Might does not make right.

We do not defer to, or respect, power for its own sake.

Holiness

We are commanded to be holy. Holiness is encapsulated in the tabernacle: Incense (reminder of our creation and connection with G-d; realizing the importance of the insubstantial), Menorah (light/knowledge/influence), Altar (elevation of the physical), Table/showbread (partnership with G-d), Ark (relationships).

Process, not Product

There is always room to improve, to better internalize, to keep growing. This is what commandments and learning Torah are for.

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Every commandment in the Torah is connected to at least one of the above.

This is a living draft, and I welcome feedback of all kinds! I can source all of the above, with great specificity, in the text of the Torah itself.