Stories as Teachers of Morality

In our previous posts we have explored the moral value of stories as complement to the law. While the law may tell you how to act in a given situation, a story will instruct what situation you should place yourself. Thus, for example, the law may not have required the Maccabees to rebel against the Seleucids. Rather, they could have just followed the laws prescribed when one is forced to violate the Torah's prohibitions: for which prohibitions one must give up their life rather than violate and for which ones not. However, the Maccabees did rebel, spurred on by stories of Abraham, for example, who rescued his kinsman from the four kings despite the law not requiring him to do so. 

Another lesson one may learn from stories is what to do when the law does not cover a given situation. Now, of course, there are plenty of situations where the law, ethics, and morality do not play a role. But there are also a myriad number of scenarios in which there is a moral or ethical stake but are not covered by the law. The Torah addresses this in two ways: using catch-all type laws and telling stories. 

The Torah has several catch-all laws such as, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), and "You should do what is straight and good" (Deuteronomy 6:18). The challenge with these types of laws is that they are by definition not exact and instead teach ethics and values that undergird the law. What does one do when these values clash? 

And so we turn to stories. The biblical stories and accompanying aggadic works, the Narnian stories, and the host of fables, legends, myths, and fairytales employed by every culture teach the values of that culture. Of course, Jewish stories respect the law, but they go further and teach us the values to apply when the law does not. 

Let's look at an example we mentioned above. Abraham's nephew, Lot, was captured and held hostage by the armies of four kings from the east. Abraham has to make a choice, to fight for the release of his kinsman or to leave him be. If he chooses the first option, it is highly likely he will have to kill numerous enemies, and also sustain losses of his own people. If he chooses the second, Lot is likely to become a slave or perhaps he will be killed. It would have been easier to Abraham to just forget about his nephew and live in peace. After all, he and his nephew parted not on such great terms. However, Abraham places the moral value of protecting ones family even higher. He girds his men and is miraculously victorious. 

History repeats itself and such stories of great men and women continue to guide us to this day.   

Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash