When we assess the impact that thousands of years of exile have inflicted on our nation, our thoughts are understandably drawn to the weighty toll of human suffering and to the loss of sovereignty over our land. What we often ignore is the grave damage which has been wreaked on the Torah—the national treasure of the Jewish people.
Judaism Reclaimed cites Rabbi Meir Simchah of Dvinsk’s Meshech Chochmah commentary to the Tochecha passage of rebukes and curses that we read yesterday. Explaining the words “I will break the pride of your strength [ge’on uzchem]”, the Meshech Chochmah understands this to be a reference to the Sanhedrin – the supreme court which was empowered to interpret the Torah, and to innovate and institute decrees in order to make the Torah’s core teachings more relatable to the needs and realities of each generation. In the legal system envisaged by the Torah, the Court was empowered to maintain and update Torah law in accordance with the rules transmitted to them.
As explained by the Rambam in his introduction to the Mishnah, the Oral Law consists of two categories. The first category is a core of transmitted teachings which convey the Torah’s primary intentions, and are understood to have been transmitted intact throughout the generations from Sinai. This core, explains Rambam, lies beyond the scope of judicial interference and reinterpretation or rabbinic dispute. The second category, by contrast, is made up of finer details of the commandments and was delegated to the sages to legislate through the Beit Din HaGadol. These details of biblical law – even once legislated – could be revisited by a future court if it considered that the Torah could best be interpreted differently, or that the needs and realities of the nation had evolved.
But how are we to know which Talmudic laws belong to which category? Long intricate passages and chapters of Talmud debate numerous details of biblical laws. Surely it is crucial for us to know which of these are understood to represent God’s eternal word and which were subsequently legislated additions?
Which laws would be within the legitimate scope of a new Sanhedrin to revisit and potentially amend or repeal? This is particularly important for the modern student of Talmud for whom numerous passages seem to be entirely at odds with current social and ethical values. When are we required to accept these teachings nevertheless as the immutable word of God and when is it legitimate to suggest that, had Ravina and Rav Ashi been compiling the Talmud in the 21st century, certain chapters would have been unrecognisably different from the Tractates in front of us today? And if we are to suppose that certain passages are primarily a reflection of social reality and values from a very different society, how are we supposed to approach the task of studying them in today’s world?
Shockingly, such questions are almost entirely absent from standard Talmudic curricula today. Yet these are questions that the sages of the Mishnah and Talmud were acutely sensitive to – and occupied not only their thought but also that of earlier generations of Talmudic commentators.
My upcoming Talmud Reclaimed: An ancient text in the modern era (which goes to print in a couple of months) seeks to tackle these questions along with many others, showing how they were approached by our greatest sages.
We pray daily for a restoration of the sort of Supreme Sanhedrin Court which we possessed as a nation in ancient times. While present day politics and factional infighting makes such a vision appear distant, at the very least we can prepare the ground for a new Court by focusing our study of Talmudic law around a recognition of these two very different categories that run through its Tractates and asking ourselves what scope a duly empowered Court would have to revisit many of its conclusions.
First posted on Facebook 14 May 2023, here.
