Who really wrote the Torah?

Ki Tissa

Ex. 30:11-34:35

Précis: The parasha begins with a census of the people, accomplished by the collection of a half shekel. We then return to a description of Tabernacle items, including the basin, anointing oil, and incense. The holy work of building the Tabernacle is to be interrupted by Shabbat. Then we return to narrative. Moses is given the two tablets and he descends from Mount Sinai. There he sees the people worshipping the Golden Calf. The tablets are smashed and the evil doers are punished. Moses returns up the mountain, and we next have the articulation of the 13 Attributes of God. Moses carves a new set of tablets, and returns to the People, his face radiant.

  

Ex. 32:15–16: “Moses … descended the mountain, with two tablets of the covenant in his hand … The tablets were God’s work; the writing was God’s writing, inscribed into the tablets.”

Ex. 34:1 “The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.”

Ex. 34:28 “So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”

            Dr. Benjamin Sommer has discussed (Torah from JTS, 2/26/16) an issue my midrasha students always ask about: Where does our Torah come from? Is it really from God? If so, humans can never change it. Or is the Torah the result of what Sommer calls a “human-divine collaboration”? If so, then there is perhaps room for change.

            Sommer notes that modern Jewish thinkers (Heschel, Rosenzweig, Jacobs) endorse the idea of collaboration. In effect, what we see in Torah is the human reaction to God’s commands. While the first verse cited here show that the Torah was entirely God’s work, the second cited verse leaves room for doubt. But even more telling is the third cited verse (Ex. 34:28), which tells us that both the tablets and the writing are the work of Moses.

            We might conclude that the text wants us to understand that human beings participated in the creation of the Torah. But the text also wants us to entertain a certain ambiguity about the extent of participation. The authority behind the text is Divine, and is therefore binding upon us. But each generation must participate in its own form of Revelation, reading and understanding the text in light of its own circumstances. Or, as Sommer suggests, “It is in the tension between these two views of tradition and change that the most authentic and ancient form of Judaism dwells.” This is the question with which my student wrestle.

The Importance of Ritual

Tetzaveh

Ex. 27:20-30:10

Précis: The parasha continues with a description of ritual items in the Tabernacle, including oil for the lamp, priestly clothing, the ephod, breastplate, robes, plate, and miter. Aaron and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eliezer and Ithamar are designated as Priests and are consecrated with sacrifices and ceremony. The parasha concludes with a description of the daily sacrifices and incense to be offered at the Tabernacle.

Exodus 29:39. “One lamb shall you offer in the morning, and the second lamb you shall offer in the afternoon.”

            Lord  Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has noted (Mosaic 2/19/16), that the Sages of the Talmud offer four different opinions on which verses are the most important in Torah. Three are of little surprise: “Love your neighbor,” “Hear O Israel the Lord is our God,” and “Man is made in the likeness of God.”  The fourth is this verse! Sacks suggests that it represents the Jewish ideal of regular ritual.

            To many outsiders, and to many Jews, the Jewish obsession with ritual seems strange, a relic of antiquity, and devoid of any religious meaning. This is certainly so during the readings about Temple rituals which have not been observed for almost 2,000 years. A common complaint heard from younger generations is that much of what they see of Judaism is rote ritual which, to them, has lost any emotional context.        

            Modern human beings, regardless of their particular faith, have adopted what we might call an “extraordinary” view of religious experiences. We feel it when something unusual overwhelms us. It is usually something outside of the normal, be it the birth of a child, the view from a mountaintop, a forest vista, or being part of a cheering crowd. Most of us have had such transcendent experiences.

            Sacks reminds us that theses are, in fact, merely experiences. They may remain imprinted in our memory, but they are not part of everyday life. What makes life “real” are those daily rituals in which we engage. Jewish tradition has developed what Sacks calls a “choreography of holiness” to be performed every day. While most of us ignore those elements of ritual which do not engage our spirits, we should not forget the important contribution which Judaism has made to the world: living our lives, interacting with others, caring for the stranger, engaging in ethical business practises, all based on rituals inspired by a sense of holiness.