ABSTRACT
Human Rights (HR) concern certain freedoms of every human being vis-a-vis society. Such freedoms allow a sphere of self-determination. HR, and Personal Autonomy (PA) are premised upon anthropocentrism, while Jewish faith and law is based on the theocentric system of the Torah. The idea of purposive divine creation and of human beings as God’s servants gives each human being a certain status. The concept of the covenant explains the violations of the HR of secularists by religious fundamentalists. Jewish democracy is balanced both by a spiritual aristocracy and by the commitment of the people as well as every individual towards God. Modern legal systems follow I. Kant’s ethical theory by ascribing to human beings the capacity of self-government as a necessary condition for moral responsibility. Judaism can incorporate the concept of HR and of PA by a reformulation of covenant theology. At present the covenant is perceived as an obligation imposed willy-nilly on all ethnic Jews.
