The chapter of Judaism Reclaimed which relates to parashat Beha’alotecha focuses on how Rambam places great emphasis on the ability of the Torah to be relevant to the entire nation, a matter of great importance given that the nation as a whole was not equipped to comprehend the Torah fully until the end of their stay in the desert. For this reason, he as Rambam explains, the Torah's style and content is carefully nuanced, enabling it to engage and guide individuals regardless of their personal ability and aptitude. This principle manifests itself in many ways.
This phrase of “the Torah speaks in the language of man” is most commonly found in its Talmudic application, where it refers to specific linguistic styles. The wider application of this principle to the Torah’s use of anthropomorphism is widely regarded as a Maimonidean innovation. Judaism Reclaimed shows however that it was invoked in this manner by a number of important prior rabbinic figures such as Hai Gaon, Yehudah Halevi and Bachya ibn Pakuda (as well as a midrashic source).
While the Torah deliberately employs anthropomorphic terminology when describing God and His actions, the Targum plays the crucial role of indicating to readers that anthropomorphic descriptions are not to be read literally. Rambam, Moreh Nevuchim 1:27, writes glowingly of how Onkelos's 'translations' subtly departed from the Torah’s literal physical descriptions of God while doing so in a way that the masses were able to comprehend. Onkelos achieved this by, for example, referring in the context of God “moving” to God's shechinah (literally “presence”) rather than God Himself, and by God 'revealing Himself' rather than directly speaking to people. The important role of Targum as an antidote to literal anthropomorphism may explain why the Gemara (Berachot 8a-b) urges the practice of “shnayim Mikra ve’echad Targum” (the practice of reading each verse of the Torah twice in the original Hebrew and once in the Aramaic of the Targum).
Rambam's position is consistent with the great importance accorded to the Targum by the Gemara in Megillah 3a, which writes that the Targum Onkelos is an explanation of the Torah's text which can be traced back to Ezra, and the commentaries tell us, was part of the oral tradition which originated from Sinai. In their commentaries to this Gemara, R' Chananel and Meiri also emphasise the role of the Targum in reducing the impact of the anthropomorphic style of the Torah's text, writing that anyone who amends the text of the Targum in favour of a more literal translation of the Torah is himself considered to be blaspheming.
In his Limits of Orthodox Theology, Marc Shapiro expressed shock at Rambam’s position on anthropomorphism; specifically the notion that the Torah initially encourages heretical views as a necessary stepping stone to achieving true beliefs. A broader perspective of Rambam’s approach however allows one to appreciate that the Torah’s function is not to confront the Jewish people abruptly with a list of strict truths and demands which can be immediately implemented. Rather, it is a handbook to coax and guide the people towards correct conduct and beliefs. The tension which arises from the need to incorporate within a single religious system the moral, spiritual and intellectual ideals on the one hand, and the practical accommodations which must be made for the nation as a whole on the other, is a central theme in Rambam’s thought. In the analysis of Marvin Fox (Chapter 4, Interpreting Maimonides, University of Chicago Press, 1990), it is this tension which underlies the widely discussed phenomenon of ‘contradictions’ which Rambam discusses in his introduction to Moreh Nevuchim.
More information about Judaism Reclaimed: Philosophy and Theology in the Torah and Talmud Reclaimed: An Ancient Text in the Modern Era can be found at www.TalmudReclaimed.com
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