The Hebrew Gardener (The effects of Hebraic culture on western civilization)

The ideals of Hebrew civilization have been a careful gardener of the wild development of western civilization. Ideas such as absolute justice and universal community have cut down dangerous outgrowths and nurtured buds of societal enlightenment. The touch of this gardener to other ideas has transformed them to servants of a higher purpose. Its purifying influence has and will continue to shape the world. This paper will first describe core Hebrew beliefs and then show how these beliefs have impacted the development of western civilization. The Hellenic worldview will also be compared in significance.
A belief in the single universal God, above all things, is the hallmark of Hebrew faith. It is this one God that defines absolute justice for all men. In the portion of God’s law, commonly known as the Ten Commandments, God tells his people, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3, English Standard Version). The law continues on to explain how God is a jealous God and will bring judgment to those who hate Him and show love on those who love and obey Him. (Exodus 20:4-6). The nature of this belief is significant because it lends to the durability and portability of the Hebrew civilization. Their civilization is not one of physical borders but one universal community under the universal God (WNET Episode #2).
This universal God has an absolute standard placed upon all His people. Again in Exodus 20, verses 13-16, it states, “You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” These laws are stated for all to obey. There is no distinction given between rich and poor; influential or inconsequential. All are equal before this law given by God.
A call to a righteous way of living also plays a significant role in the endurance and impact of this culture. “What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). This righteousness not only involves obeying the God above, but to live right with fellow man, even keeping the poor in mind as one harvests their fields (Leviticus 19:10). This justice also is one of rooting out wickedness. This virtuous way of life uniquely impacts civilization later in history.
The concepts of a universal God, universal community, equality under the law, and virtuous lifestyle all have and continue to play their part in the maturation of western civilization. Developments include the rise of world religions, present day political strategies, revolutions, and abolition movements.
Three of today’s major world religions have their root in Hebrew tradition. First of course is the source, Judaism, which itself has evolved over the years through Talmudic tradition and into the present-day Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements. Second, Christianity, a sprout out of Judaism at the “fullness of times”, as described by the Paul the apostle (Galatians 4:4). Third, Islam, an Arabic conglomeration of monotheistic thought combined with Jewish and Christian traditions.
Christianity transformed Europe near the end of the Roman Empire and in the centuries to follow the western hemisphere. Ehrich Kahler describes this historical importance, as Jesus became “the symbol and nucleus of human history” (Kahler, p. 144). In the name of Jesus, kingdoms were made, sustained and others destroyed. As a moral agent in society the name of Jesus has been invoked to battle a variety of social ills.
Islam too had its effects on the western world. “Islam was not just a set of religious beliefs but a way of life as well.” (SpielVogel, p 207). This way of life united nomadic tribes and created an empire that brought great change to the face of the post-Roman world. This religious nation acted as a bridge to that helped fuse Oriental culture and ideas with that of the West. Islamic nations continue to be a major political and religious force in the world.
The idea of universal community from Hebraic thought has and is presently shaping western culture. As the faith survives, so does its community. As the Jews were conquered, dispersed, resettled and re-conquered Judaism kept together. The perseverance of Judaism helped in the creation of the modern state of Israel. It was a universal movement of a geographically disparate but religiously similar people. The hope of a renewed homeland brought a gradual then explosive exodus of the Jewish people to Palestine (Heritage #9). This Zionist movement roused American to Russian Jews alike, renewing a western awareness on developments in the Middle East. The modern Israeli state is active in world affairs and often at the center of discussion.
An offshoot of this enduring faith community can be seen in American worldview and practice. Rabbi Daniel Lapin, in his book America’s Real War echoes this ideal as he shares the need for Americans to share the same moral vision for a true democratic society and to combat the philosophy of secular humanism that leads to communism, socialism and atheism (Lapin, p. 355). The universal faith in democracy has replaced the Hebrew God, but the ideal still unifies a world-wide community. American actions following this ideal include wars in Korea , Vietnam and the current liberations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Equality under the law has also had significant impact on western culture. Through its progression in western thought, equality under the law led to all men being equal. And the thinking then continued from all men being equal to that of all men having certain natural rights given by God. These natural rights for all people given by a greater Sovereign gave excuse to new nations to declare their independence from their sovereigns. The American Declaration of 1776 states this idea, “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” as does the French declaration of the rights of man in 1789, “Under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and citizen” (Reader, pp. 194, 200
The virtuous lifestyle promoted by the Hebraic worldview is both a practical individual pursuit and a tool of societal transformation. Consider the efforts of reformers throughout the centuries that have evolved from the virtue of considering others and rooting our wickedness. The abolition movement in Great Britain is an example of this. It was a moral imperative to William Wilburforce to end the slave trade in his country. In a speech to the House of Commons in 1787 he said, “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [Slave] Trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for Abolition” (Guinness, p. 82). This individual drive of justice and mercy, combined with the efforts similar minds, brought a transformation in western culture.
These have been but a few examples of the influence of Hebraic thought on western civilization. Some may think that Hellenic thought has had much greater influence. Honestly, on the surface it may seem that it did. Credit goes to Hellenic Greeks for a plethora of new ideas, analysis of thought and ways of learning that still operate in the world today. Yet, such ideals left unchecked by universal ethics would have led us into a much different perhaps, darker world.
To say that the Hebrews didn’t pursue correct thinking or philosophy would be a fallacy. This can be seen in the development of the Talmud. The Talmud is an extensive history of Jewish philosophy with an anchor in their central beliefs in the Torah. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz writes in The Essential Talmud, “True knowledge can only be attained through spiritual communion, and the student must participate intellectually and emotionally in the Talmudic debate.” He also notes that it is, perhaps the only sacred book in all the world that permits and encourages the student to question it. (Steinsaltz, p. 9) The generalizations put on a culture’s potential impact are themselves an interpretation of history.
If Hellenic thought progressed without the fusion of Hebraic thought this world would be foreign place. Considering human nature, the pursuit of happiness without an absolute moral law or universal God to confront it, would run wild in ebbs and flows of power grabbing, pleasure seeking and exploration of the world and ideas. This may not sound too different on the surface, but what has held back at critical times the excess of this pursuit of happiness by dangerous societies and individuals? It has been the ideals of morally responsible individuals who hold themselves accountable to a Higher Power. The combined efforts of these individuals in societies have turned the world upside down, even when they were in the minority.
The core values of Hebraic thought have provided one of the most significant impacts on western civilization. It has been that gardener that trims the excess evils of society, waters new growth in the blood and sweat of the virtuous, and sets the trellises of truth for humanity to follow as it can.

The Hebrew Gardener Works Cited
Brinton, Crane, ed. The Principles of 1776 and 1789. The Portable Age of Reason Reader. New York, NY: The Viking P, 1956.
Gross, David C. 1,301 Questions and Answers about Judaism. New York, NY: Hippocrene Books, Incorporated, 1998.
Guinness, Os, Ginger Koloszyc, and Karen Lee-Thorp. Entrepreneurs of Life : Faith and the Venture of Purposeful Living. New York, NY: NavPress Group, 2004.
Kahler, Erich. Man the Measure: A New Approach to History. Bouldor, CO: Westview Press, 1986.
Lapin, Daniel. America's Real War. Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1998.
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Steinsaltz, Adin. The Essential Talmud. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield, Inc., 2004.
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