From this principle we derive the following general maxims with regard to our neighbour’s (1) life and health, (2) property, (3) honour, and (4) well-being:—

1. Life and Health of our Fellow-man.—Life is a precious treasure which the Almighty has given us; if it is once taken from us, no man is able to restore it. Among the first lessons revealed to man in Scripture is the value of the life of a human being, created by God in His own likeness, and when the first murder had been committed, God said to the murderer, “What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood is heard that crieth unto me from the [[293]]ground” (Gen, iv. 10). The first commandment in the second section of the Decalogue is directed against this crime: “Thou shalt not murder.” The significance of these words, the general lessons implied in this commandment, and the extent to which a person, though not an actual murderer, may become guilty of having broken this commandment, have already been explained in the chapter on the Ten Commandments (p. 261). It has been shown how the sixth commandment forbade—

2. The Property of our Neighbour.—The eighth commandment in its wider sense comprehends all our relations to our neighbour’s property. It prohibits, as has been shown above (p. 263), the appropriation of anything that belongs to our neighbour—

Our Sages teach: “Let the property of thy fellow-man be as dear to thee as thine own” (Aboth ii. 12); i.e., you do not like to see your own property damaged, diminished, or destroyed; so it would be wrong if you were to cause loss and ruin to your fellow-man, whether you did it directly or indirectly.[8] Let every [[294]]one enjoy the labour of his hands; partake of the gifts of the earth and the Divine blessings as much as his physical and mental powers enable him to do in a righteous manner.

It is not only direct illegal appropriation of our neighbour’s goods that is condemned as theft or robbery; it is equally wicked to buy things which one knows to have been stolen by others.[9] He who does it is worse than the thief; for, whilst the latter injures only the person whom he robs, the former encourages and corrupts the thief, hardens his heart, helps to silence the voice of his conscience, and thus obstructs the way to repentance and improvement.

There are transactions which are legal and do not involve any breach of the law, and which are yet condemned by the principles of morality as base and disgraceful. Such are all transactions in which a person takes advantage of the ignorance or embarrassment of his neighbour for the purpose of increasing his own property. Usurers frequently belong to this low and heartless class of society. The worst thing, however, they do is, that they plan the ruin of others; in many cases they bring about disaster by inducing young and inexperienced persons to borrow money and to spend it in luxuries, or increase the embarrassment of the distressed by charging exorbitant interest and imposing cruel conditions, which make it impossible for those who have once fallen into the hands of usurers to free themselves from their bondage. [[295]]

It makes no difference whatever whether the victim be a Jew or a non-Jew; the transaction is equally condemnable, and the usurer equally wicked. This statement would be superfluous, were it not for the misunderstanding that exists both among some of our co-religionists and among non-Jews with regard to the principle it involves. Great stress is laid in the Pentateuch on the prohibition of taking interest for advances of money or articles of food. “And if thy brother be waxen poor and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with thee. Take thou no interest of him, or increase: but fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. I am the Lord your God,” &c. (Lev. xxv. 35–38; comp. Exod. xxii. 24).—It is one of the characteristics of the pious who is worthy to “abide in the tabernacle of God,” that “he putteth not out his money to usury” (Ps. xv. 5).

The strict prohibition to take interest on advances of money or goods served a twofold purpose. In the first place, the surplus money of the wealthy was to be employed in disinterested charity. Secondly, labour and activity, both physical and mental, were to be the sources of income and wealth for the individual as well as for the whole nation; money without labour was not to bear any fruit or produce any increase.