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עמוד:VI
in order to save another , using force to prevent harm to a third party , abortion , organ donations , and more . In all these cases , the halakhic discourse is based , explicitly or implicitly , on the fundamental principle of human life : “ Whoever sheds the blood of man , by man shall his blood be shed . " The universal dimension of the Torah is found in the book of Genesis , which contains ethics that were given to all human beings descended from Adam and Noah . This constitutes the ground floor , the basic values of the Torah and Judaism , parallel to the modern system of human rights and hardly different from it in any essential way . The next level , designated “ a kingdom of priests and a holy nation " ) Ex . 19 : 6 ( , represents the dimension of the selection of Israel to bear a special divine mission . Of Abraham we read , “ For I have singled him out , that he may instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right" ) Gen . 18 : 19 ( . His reward was honor and blessing : “ All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants" ) Gen . 28 : 14 ( . Before the Israelites received the Torah at Sinai , we learn that the purpose of this gift was to make them into “ a kingdom of priests and a holy nation . ” The concept of a “ kingdom of priests and a holy nation” obligates the Jewish people to observe an additional and much broader set of precepts than the basic and universal code constituted by the “ Seven Noahide Commandments” ; even though this code actually encompasses much more than seven precepts , the Torah imposes on the Jewish people an extremely comprehensive canon of statutes that are not incumbent on other nations . The notion of the added sanctity of the Jewish people , which accompanies the supplementary precepts , rights , and obligations that apply only to them , undermines the principle of equality–not only by creating a
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