Information AboutEthical Will |
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An Ethical will ( Hebrew "Zevaoth") is a species of ethical tract which was historically peculiar to Jewish moralists. Rabbis and Jewish laypeople have continued to write ethical wills during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (Reimer) The practice has been recommended to the general public in ''BusinessWeek'' magazine and in an American Bar Association electronic newsletter as an aid to estate planning. (Murphy; Friedman) OVERVIEW Medieval ethical wills contain the express directions of fathers to their children or of aged teachers to their disciples. They were for the most part written calmly in old age, but not immediately before the writers’ death. Some of them were very carefully composed, and amount to formal ethical treatises. But in the main they employ unaffected writing style. Many were intended for the absolutely private use of children and relatives, or of some beloved pupil who held the dearest place in his master’s regard. They were not designed for publication, and thus, as the writer had no reason to expect that his words would pass beyond a limited circle, the ethical will is in many cases a clear revelation of the writer's innermost feelings and ideals. Israel Abrahams , while editor of the ''Jewish Quarterly Review'', judged that many of these ethical wills are intellectually poor, but that morally, the general level is very high. Addresses of parents to their children occur in the is an unaffected eulogy of humility. Asher, the son of Yechiel (fourteenth century), called his will “Ways of Life,” and it includes 132 maxims, which are often printed in the prayer-book. “Do not obey the Law for reward, nor avoid sin from fear of punishment, but serve God from love. Sleep not over-much, but rise with the birds. Be not over-hasty to reply to offensive remarks; raise not thy hand against another, even if he curse thy father or mother in thy presence.” Some of these wills, like that of the son of the last mentioned, are written in retain sole possession of the treasures that he stole from Solomon ?” The belief that Aristotle had visited Jerusalem with Alexander The Great , and there obtained possession of Solomon’s wisdom, was one of the most curious myths of the Middle Ages . The will of Eleazar the Levite of Mainz (1357) is a simple document, without literary merit, but containing a clear exposition of duty. “Judge every man charitably, and use your best efforts to find a kindly explanation of conduct, however suspicious.... Give in charity an exact tithe of your property. Never turn a poor man away empty-handed. Talk no more than is necessary, and thus avoid slander. Be not as dumb cattle that utter no word of gratitude, but thank God for his bounties at the time at which they occur, and in your prayers let the memory of these personal favors warm your hearts, and prompt you to special fervor during the utterance of the communal thanks for communal well-being. When words of thanks occur in the liturgy, pause and silently reflect on the goodness of God to you that day.” In striking contrast to the simplicity of the foregoing is the elaborate "Letter of Advice” by Solomon Alami (beginning of the fifteenth century). It is composed in beautiful rhymed prose, and is an important historical record. For the author shared the sufferings of the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula in 1391, and this gives pathetic point to his counsel: “Flee without hesitation when exile is the only means of securing religious freedom; have no regard to your worldly career or your property, but go at once.” The ethical wills of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries are closely similar to the foregoing, but they tend to become more learned and less simple. REFERENCES |
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