>>2376648
Indeed, The double standard identified here in relation to usury permeates much of the Judaic legal code. This is why "Jewish morality" is an oxymoron. Because Jewish law doesn't satisfy the requirement of universalizability that is generally seen as a key characteristic of true ethical thinking. As Israel Shahak exposed in his very important work "Jewish History, Jewish Religion: Teh Weight of Three Thousand years", there are many things that Jews are allowed to do to non-Jews that they are not permitted to do to each other. In the end, it seems to me that the core of Jewish "moral" thinking is can be reduced to one question: Is it good for the Jews? Thus they developed a tribal way of thinking that permits them to lie, cheat, exploit and kill non-Jews without moral qualms. This is precisely what Jesus was trying to warn against when he talked of how the pharisees were teaching one to love one's neighbour (i.e. fellow tribesperson) and hate the enemy (i.e. the non-Jew). He was calling out the pharisees for the abhorrent discrimination between Jews and non-Jews that those Babylonian-influenced ("Jews who are not Jews"?) vipers were promoting. That was partly why they strove so hard to have him killed.