IT WAS with mixed emotions that I visited Humboldt University in Berlin a few weeks ago , to deliver the annual Hildesheimer lecture on Jewish law . Humboldt is Berlin ’ s oldest university . Marx and Engels studied there and Albert Einstein lectured there . On the other hand , the first Nazi book burning took place just outside the gates of the university . On the road just outside the university is a plaque in memory of the Jewish students who were deported from the university during the Nazi era . It is a stark reminder of the darkness of the past . And now that same university hosts an annual lecture on the relevance of Torah law in the world today .
CHIEF RABBI GOLDSTEIN
THE TRIUMPH OF MORALITY AND GOODNESS
TORAH VALUES HAVE REMAINED RELEVANT TO JEWISH SURVIVAL EVERY STEP OF THE WAY .
CHIEF RABBI DR WARREN GOLDSTEIN
IT WAS with mixed emotions that I visited Humboldt University in Berlin a few weeks ago , to deliver the annual Hildesheimer lecture on Jewish law . Humboldt is Berlin ’ s oldest university . Marx and Engels studied there and Albert Einstein lectured there . On the other hand , the first Nazi book burning took place just outside the gates of the university . On the road just outside the university is a plaque in memory of the Jewish students who were deported from the university during the Nazi era . It is a stark reminder of the darkness of the past . And now that same university hosts an annual lecture on the relevance of Torah law in the world today .
Standing in the heart of the university , in one of its large lecture halls , speaking to a gathering from across the Jewish community of Berlin , as well as the senior faculty of the university and specifically its department of law , I was struck by the remarkable story of Jewish tenacity and survival despite all odds . A university which once reflected the worst of the Nazi horrors has now become an open platform for the teaching of Jewish law , and for partnership with the Jewish community .
This was , of course , merely one brief incident in the dramatic journey of Jewish history , replete with tenacity and courage , combined with miracles of Divine intervention and guidance . One of the most powerful and breathtaking emblems of this journey of Jewish history is the miracle of the re-establishment of Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel only three years after the Holocaust , and the subsequent dazzling development of the State of Israel in all spheres of human endeavour .
But , that is only part of the story . There is another very important part , and that is the remarkable eternal vibrancy not only of the Jews , but of Judaism . The values and principles of the Torah that G-d gave us more than 3 300 years ago have guided and remained relevant to our survival every step of the way . And so speaking at the Humboldt University and sharing the relevance of Jewish law for today ’ s times brought home to me this other crucial dimension of the Jewish story .
In my lecture , I dealt with four areas of human rights : political power ; a married woman ’ s rights ; the rights of a criminal accused ; and poverty alleviation . In each one of these areas , Jewish law took morally visionary positions which Western law only came around to thousands of years later . I also demonstrated how the Torah often takes an approach which is more subtle and sophisticated in understanding the concept of vulnerability , in terms of which sometimes it is the individual and sometimes society that is considered to be the more vulnerable party .
Furthermore , I pointed out that many of the moral foun-
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