As we celebrate Simchat Torah, which marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, how much do you really know about these ancient Jewish texts?
Bravo! Laid out like a seder zo it makes sense (an' indeed most of us did NOT git this in Sunday Skool)--
Mah fave-o-rite part as I've argued this with ZO many peepull who don't understand "jooish:"
THIS!:
"Not once are Jews told to believe in God."
plus yer additions:
"Instead, we are told to know, to remember, to love, to do, to obey, to listen, to choose. Judaism isn’t a religion of belief; it’s a religion of covenant and responsibility. You don’t believe in fire; you respect it, you engage with it, you use it wisely. The Torah takes the same approach to God."
I lead a Torah class, that has delved deeper into rabbinic commentary and midrash - some new to some participants. What a terrific layout of commentary to aid the effort. May I share this with the class?
Cut through all of this: The Torah is a covenant--a record of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. As with any covenant, it has at least two "sides". Input, therefore, comes from both God and Israel. Sometimes the Israelite writer successfully put God's eternal and universal truths into the Torah and sometimes the human input was just that--Israel's (limited, patriotic, human) point of view. Thus not every sentence in the Torah is "God's truth."
As for the "authority" of Torah commentators and interpreters, this is a controversy among rabbis. Orthodox rabbis would agree with the writer, that the further the interpreter is fro Sinai, the less authority they have to know what was meant. But liberal rabbis disagree: the more knowledge we accumulate over the ages (from the study of linguistics, history, sociology, etc.) the BETTER we can understand and interpret the Torah. That is why modern Jewish learning is still called torah, "teaching". Oral, or "rabbinic" torah is a record of the ONGOING relationship between God and the Jewish people. Like all living relationships, this one, too, evolves.
Joshua, this is a masterpiece of explanation. To be read and digested, a number of times. As I am now of a certain age, it becomes more difficult to remember such in depth topics.
Thank you so much! I'm not yet Jewish, but I'm in conversion. While I've encountered some of these ideas in my studies, much of this is new to me. All of this is deeply appreciated.
Before Moses disappeared to die he warned the Israelites six times to uphold the covenant and drive the idol worshippers from the land once they conquered it. In his last peroration he told them if they failed to do so once again God would send a no-people to lay waste to their inheritance. The Israelites did not listen and when they turn into Jews they wandered the earth for 2000 years. But now that they have returned to their ancestral homeland they still do not listen, still do not throw the idol worshippers out of the land. But then the hot shots who run Israel do not for the most part read the Torah and if they do they do not pay attention tho this literary masterpiece replete with irony and Jewish humour that runs from Abraham to Sholem Aleichem's Tevia. Sinai was Jewish trauma and it still has not been dealt with, so Jews keep repeating the mistakes of their forefathers who turned on Moses so many times in the desert one has to reread the four last books to take the accurate count. And now that western civilization is well on the road to collapse, what will the Israelites of our age choose? Sovereignty or temporizing once again? The blessing or the curse? How will we write the coda to Deuteronomy that will be different from the disaster of the Tanach that followed Deuteronomy?
What a beautiful article, so full of insights and inspiration. One for the ages, to reread , remember and pass onto younger minds. One thought at a time, with whatever pretext, as our grandchildren's generation has not been raised as we have.
Bravo! Laid out like a seder zo it makes sense (an' indeed most of us did NOT git this in Sunday Skool)--
Mah fave-o-rite part as I've argued this with ZO many peepull who don't understand "jooish:"
THIS!:
"Not once are Jews told to believe in God."
plus yer additions:
"Instead, we are told to know, to remember, to love, to do, to obey, to listen, to choose. Judaism isn’t a religion of belief; it’s a religion of covenant and responsibility. You don’t believe in fire; you respect it, you engage with it, you use it wisely. The Torah takes the same approach to God."
Yes, yessiree, yeah!
This was an amazing read, thank you so much for sharing and engaging with your readers about our Torah. I would love more. Shanna Tova to all.
As a Gentile, with a close relationship to the Messiah, this is a wonderful, satisfying, and filling read. It explains so much. Thank you.
Thank you for this! It was fascinating
I lead a Torah class, that has delved deeper into rabbinic commentary and midrash - some new to some participants. What a terrific layout of commentary to aid the effort. May I share this with the class?
Of course!
Cut through all of this: The Torah is a covenant--a record of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. As with any covenant, it has at least two "sides". Input, therefore, comes from both God and Israel. Sometimes the Israelite writer successfully put God's eternal and universal truths into the Torah and sometimes the human input was just that--Israel's (limited, patriotic, human) point of view. Thus not every sentence in the Torah is "God's truth."
As for the "authority" of Torah commentators and interpreters, this is a controversy among rabbis. Orthodox rabbis would agree with the writer, that the further the interpreter is fro Sinai, the less authority they have to know what was meant. But liberal rabbis disagree: the more knowledge we accumulate over the ages (from the study of linguistics, history, sociology, etc.) the BETTER we can understand and interpret the Torah. That is why modern Jewish learning is still called torah, "teaching". Oral, or "rabbinic" torah is a record of the ONGOING relationship between God and the Jewish people. Like all living relationships, this one, too, evolves.
Joshua, this is a masterpiece of explanation. To be read and digested, a number of times. As I am now of a certain age, it becomes more difficult to remember such in depth topics.
Thank you for sharing such knowledge.
Shema!! This was so good.
Thank you so much! I'm not yet Jewish, but I'm in conversion. While I've encountered some of these ideas in my studies, much of this is new to me. All of this is deeply appreciated.
This Christian chaplain is so glad I read this!
Beautiful, clear and deep, this will stay with me.
I absolutely loved this.
Before Moses disappeared to die he warned the Israelites six times to uphold the covenant and drive the idol worshippers from the land once they conquered it. In his last peroration he told them if they failed to do so once again God would send a no-people to lay waste to their inheritance. The Israelites did not listen and when they turn into Jews they wandered the earth for 2000 years. But now that they have returned to their ancestral homeland they still do not listen, still do not throw the idol worshippers out of the land. But then the hot shots who run Israel do not for the most part read the Torah and if they do they do not pay attention tho this literary masterpiece replete with irony and Jewish humour that runs from Abraham to Sholem Aleichem's Tevia. Sinai was Jewish trauma and it still has not been dealt with, so Jews keep repeating the mistakes of their forefathers who turned on Moses so many times in the desert one has to reread the four last books to take the accurate count. And now that western civilization is well on the road to collapse, what will the Israelites of our age choose? Sovereignty or temporizing once again? The blessing or the curse? How will we write the coda to Deuteronomy that will be different from the disaster of the Tanach that followed Deuteronomy?
Loved it. Todah
🩷🙏
What a beautiful article, so full of insights and inspiration. One for the ages, to reread , remember and pass onto younger minds. One thought at a time, with whatever pretext, as our grandchildren's generation has not been raised as we have.
AMAZING! BEAUTIFUL! TODA RABBA!
חג שמח