How do we make decisions and what makes for a Jewish decision? In Deuteronomy we read “Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord…” How does one figure out “what is right and good in the sight of the Lord?”
Is following halacha (Jewish Law) the definition of this? Is halacha enough? What about subjective human elements such as reason, emotion and intuition? Do they play a role? How do these interact or what is the interplay between them and halacha?
If one does not use halacha, but rather uses Jewish values such as brit (covenant), respect for human dignity, tikkun olam to guide in making a decision, does that make it a Jewish decision?
When faced with making a decision, a person will consider various factors and values which might be taken into consideration. As Jews, one of those values is Judaism. The difference between secular ethics and Jewish ethics is that secular ethics bases itself solely on individual subjective human criteria. Jewish ethics incorporates cumulative wisdom and experience of Jewish texts, traditions, values and customs. How we as individual Jews may use this cumulative wisdom may differ, but just using it makes our decisions Jewish.