Like A Set Table

A master speaker was leading a discussion at an NCSY Shabbaton. The pedagogue was looking for an answer to his question - "What differentiates Judaism from other religions". People suggested many ideas until someone said that the Oral Law - Torah SheBeAl Peh - separates Judaism from other religions. The leader agreed and developed the point, explaining that all religions have a bible, but the in depth orally transmitted tradition we possess makes Jews unique.

The difference between not only Jews and other religions, but also between how different Jews live is pivoted on people's approach to Torah SheBeAl Peh. When I was seventeen and I spent the summer in Aish HaTorah in Yerushalayim, it was my first experience with Jews who had returned to their faith. Meeting me was a new experience for them, as the yeshiva was comprised of a homogeneous group of students sharing the commonality of an assimilated background.

One day I was talking to Greg (today - Rabbi Gedalia). He was had recently committed to traditional Judaism, having been convinced by rational arguments of the existence of G-d and the truth of Torah. Greg was surprised by my sociological history, having only been recently exposed to Torah true Judaism. The phenomenon of modern orthodoxy was something he was unfamiliar with. He asked me about the Shuls and schools of centrist Orthodoxy. After hearing about some breaches in halachic practices, Greg asked if “these people” believed in Torah. Greg answered the question himself, saying: "They don't believe in Torah SheBeAl Peh" - it being as clear to him as day.

Today, saying that someone doesn't believe in Torah SheBeAl Peh based on his or her lifestyle seems to me to be harsh, but not without its charm. However, the role that belief in Torah SheBeAl Peh plays in our religious life is a crucial issue to explore. Yet it is not given the attention it deserves in Shuls, schools, or homes. This parsha relates to the validity and centrality in Judaism of Torah SheBeAl Peh and can serve as a catalyst for discussion regarding this crucial matter.

"To the unprejudiced mind, nothing can show so strikingly the truth of the traditional oral-law as the first two paragraphs with which this 'Mosaic Lawgiving' starts." - Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch

The details of how to live in a humane and just way as a newly freed nation are being laid out before us. The first thing we would expect to be told about is the laws and rights of human freedom. Instead we are told the rules governing slavery of men and women of our own people.

Rav Hirsch explains that the opening paragraphs of our parsha can only make sense if the general laws were already laid down. The laws laid down here are explained in our oral tradition, with the general points being led to and flowing out of the specific cases presented in the text. When you study the tradition, you discover that "he who acquires a slave acquires a master for himself", because the level of care that had to be given to an eved ivri was so great. The Jewish Slave is more a conception of rehabilitation than of abuse. Also, the system that allowed a father to transform his young daughter into a maidservant is the result of a dire situation requiring desperate measures to provide for the girl.

Rav Hirsch gives an example which I will update and expand on. Imagine that you and I enroll in the same course. You go to every class and take notes copiously. I cut every time and get on the line to copy your notes. However, I don’t understand the nuances of your notes – the squiggly lines and circles and stars. I ignore the explanations that you tall me go with these symbols. I fail the test. Rav Hirsch explains that the written Torah is like a Reader’s Digest version and the real Torah is the oral explanation attached to it.

Food for thought for the Shabbos table.