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2012 | 3 | 215-239

Article title

Przymierze biblijne w żydowskiej tradycji politycznej

Content

Title variants

EN
Covenant in the Jewish Political Tradition

Languages of publication

PL EN

Abstracts

PL
Artykuł jest poświęcony biblijnemu pojęciu przymierza, które w żydowskiej tradycji, w tym także tradycji politycznej, zajmuje miejsce szczególne. O ile przymierze z Noem ustanowiło prawo naturalne, obowiązujące wszystko stworzenie, o tyle przymierze na Górze Synaj było bezpośrednią relacją pomiędzy Bogiem a Izraelitami i dało początek ich istnieniu jako społeczności politycznej. Mówiąc o przymierzu w tradycji żydowskiej, mamy więc na myśli przede wszystkim przymierze Mojżeszowe, zwane także Wielkim Przymierzem. Wraz z nim zaczyna się historia Żydów, ono określa żydowski sposób życia i myślenia, także w odniesieniu do sfery politycznej. Należy podkreślić, że akceptowane dziś powszechnie w świecie zachodnim polityczne pojęcia suwerenności ludu, republikanizmu, federalizmu, podziału władzy są świeckim pokłosiem biblijnej idei przymierza, która zakorzeniła się w filozofii politycznej Zachodu za sprawą tradycji żydowskiej. Polityczny wymiar tradycji żydowskiej znalazł należne jej miejsce w literaturze naukowej głównie za sprawą Daniela Judah Elazara (1934 – 1999), wybitnego znawcy federalizmu i tradycji żydowskiej.
EN
This article describes the biblical notion of covenant (berith). The term covenant in the Jewish tradition has a strong theological, as well as a political dimension. The covenant motif is central to the biblical world view, the basis of all relationships, the mechanism for defining and allocating authority, and the foundation of the biblical political teaching. Sinai Covenant has been the basis for all legitimate Jewish political organization from antiquity to the present. Jewish political institutions and behavior reflect this covenantal base in the way that they give expression to the political relationship as a partnership based upon a morally grounded pact and, like all partnerships, oriented toward decision and policy-making through negotiation and bargaining. Wherever the possibility has existed, Jews have organized their political institutions on a federal basis (berith - Latin: foedus from federal). A covenanted community is republican in the original sense of res publica, a public thing, rather than the private preserve of any person or institution. In the Bible, the Jewish republic is referred to as the edah, from the term for assembly - in other words, a body politically based on the general assembly of its citizens for decision -making purposes. The covenant idea has within it the seeds of modern constitutionalism, in which it emphasizes the mutually accepted limitations on the power of all parties to it, a limitation not inherent in nature but involving willed concession. This idea of limiting power is of the first importance in the biblical worldview and for humanity as a whole since it helps explain why an omnipotent God does not exercise His omnipotence in the affairs of humans. The political compacts of the philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth century have been inspired by the biblical covenant, except that it was secular in character. The political dimension of the Jewish tradition has found its rightful place in the scientific literature thanks to Daniel Judah Elazar (1934 – 1999), eminent expert on federalism and the Jewish tradition.

Keywords

Year

Issue

3

Pages

215-239

Physical description

Contributors

  • Uniwersytet Łódzki, Wydział Studiów Międzynarodowych i Politologicznych, ul. Składowa 43, 90-127

References

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  • Talmud
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Document Type

Publication order reference

Identifiers

YADDA identifier

bwmeta1.element.desklight-3239f7c3-25f8-4ce7-a1ff-5cac124289a7
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