How we live and what we become depends on what or who we worship. Other civilizations in the ancient world built monuments of stone. Israel - our ancestors - were summoned to a quite different task: to build a society out of holy lives and generous deeds. Ethics, along with kedushah, sanctity, stands at the very core of Jewish values. To worship G-d is, for us, not an escape from the world and its challenges but an engagement with the world and its challenges. To honour G-d is to honour His image, mankind.

It is often said that you don't have to be religious to be good. That is true. There were people who, without any particular faith, rescued Jews during the holocaust, fought for justice in South Africa, or dedicated their lives to curing disease, relieving poverty, and giving shelter to the homeless. Implanted within us (part of what makes us G-d's image) are strong instincts of justice and compassion. Without them, homo sapiens would not have survived.

But in the long run, without a non-negotiable code whose authority transcends all earthly powers, societies have a tendency to lose their way. The moral sense becomes confused. People begin to think less of society than of self, less of duty than desire, more of rights than responsibilities.

Tolstoy gave a powerful analogy: "The instructions of a secular morality that is not based on religious doctrines are exactly what a person ignorant of music might do if he were made a conductor and started to wave his hands in front of musicians well-rehearsed in what they are performing. By virtue of its own momentum, and from what previous conductors had taught the musicians, the music might continue for a while, but obviously the gesticulations made with a stick by a person who knows nothing about music would be useless and eventually confuse the musicians and throw the orchestra off course."

That is why, seven times in its first chapter, the Torah repeatedly uses the word "good." Virtually every other account of creation, mythological or scientific, emphasises power and process, the "how" but not the "why." The Torah is remarkably uninterested in the "how." Its entire account of the emergence of the universe takes a mere 34 verses. Its interest is in the "why." Goodness, for Judaism, is the purpose of creation. Morality is not something we invent. It is written into the structure of life itself.

Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Mecklenburg offered a fascinating interpretation of the phrase, ki tov. Normally we translate this as "[And G-d saw] that it was good." He translated it as "because He is good." Creation was a moral act on the part of God. He made the universe because He is good, in order to bestow blessing on His creations. And whenever we bestow blessings on others, we become "G-d's partners in the work of creation."

© Copyright Office of the Chief Rabbi 2001 - all rights reserved. Reproduction of this Web site, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from the Office of the Chief Rabbi is prohibited.