Timeless Torah

How often have you heard the sentiment, “I may not be religious, but I am a good, decent person.” Somehow over the course of time, a notion has taken root in many minds that Divine dogma only addresses the ancient rituals practiced in the halls of study and prayer. However for the vast multitude of activities that occur in the street or in the boardroom - the prosaic, everyday labors, we call life - those are not to be guided by Heavenly wisdom but by the hustlers of contemporary fashion and finance.

It is truly sad, that so many people feel this way. Worse, this mindset is hardly new. Indeed, the very first generation of Jews who received the Torah at Sinai was already then infected with this type of thinking. And it was no less a personage than Moses who had already observed this distinction between religious ritual and rat race, between sanctified servitude and secular, societal living.

“And when the father-in-law of Moses…said, ‘What is this thing which you (Moses) do with the people? Why do you sit alone, with all of the nation surrounding you from morning to evening?’ And Moses said to his father-in-law, ‘Because the nation comes to me to inquire of G-d. Because when they have an argument they come to me, and I judge between a man and his friend, and I teach them the statutes of G-d and His laws.’” (Exodus, Chap. 18)

The Drash V’Haiyun, a homiletical commentary on the Bible, notes that there seems to be an apparent redundancy in the phrase, “Comes to me” used by Moses, as in the above-quoted verse: “The nation comes to me to inquire of G-d..” and “When they have an argument they come to me…” The Rabbi interprets this double-dipping of words to mean, that when Yisro (Moses’ father-in-law) asks why there are so many judgments that compel the courts to be in session the entire day, Moses responds that there are, generally speaking, two reasons why people come to a judicial tribunal.

First, when it comes to matters between man and G-d, they don’t hesitate to ask questions: “Because the nation comes to me to inquire of G-d.” Second, when it is a matter between two individuals: unfortunately, then they wait until, “They have an argument,” and only after it has broken out do “They come to me”! The unfortunate truth is all too many people are very careful when it comes to matters of ritual, while simultaneously they are lax with interpersonal laws. They go running to the Rabbi to ask if a chicken is kosher, but they never seem to have any questions about what constitutes the rules of gossip, price-gouging, or honor to another human being. When do they take these questions to their local Rabbi? Only after a fight has broken out! Only then do they go…to haul the other party into Rabbinical Court. If everyone were as (A) careful with other people as they were with other prohibitions, and (B) they would come in advance to investigate halachic concerns that might arise in these areas, this would greatly reduce the number of Court cases and Rabbis would be freed up to educate rather than adjudicate.

A defense often offered for this double standard goes like this. The endless inquiry into ceremonial law is because these commandments are not easily given over to common-sense interpretation so that man could not fathom them on his own. Even as simple an act as lighting a Menorah on Chanukah has countless details, such as which side should we begin to light, where to add the new candles, how long must they last, etc. Interpersonal laws however like, “Do not murder” are fairly clear, comprehensible and seemingly enough, easily regulated.

Yet it is precisely because these laws are logical, that they offer a trap: we think we know the answers. We assume that we know for ourselves what we are permitted to do, and what is forbidden. In reality, there are difficult cases, and more frequently where we are unable to see even the obvious for ourselves. This is due to the fact that, “Bribery blinds the eyes of the wise”. And if this concept is true for an appointed judge who is evaluating someone else’s fortune, how can we expect to be unbiased when our own money and pride is at stake?

It is noteworthy to realize that this passage relayed by Moses concerns the “Sinai Generation”, those who experienced the parting of the Sea and constant miracles in the desert. We, who are not as lucky to see G-d’s hand in every aspect of our lives, surely require asking His opinion before we offer our own. Thus the study of Torah reminds us that we must learn to know that which we don’t know!