Timeless Torah

Without a doubt, the Urim V’Tumim, was the most mysterious item that made up the priestly garments. Handwritten by Moses and never duplicated, it contained G-d’s Explicit Name. This ‘oracle’ while secreted in the High Priest’s Breastplate functioned as a communicator of Divine messages. Thus the Breastplate (Choshen in Hebrew), served an invaluable role. If the Jewish nation was faced with a critical issue affecting their national welfare, such as going to war, the answer would come straight from Heaven via the Choshen.
I remember thinking as a child, “If only I had my own Urim V’Tumim, I wouldn’t have to study for any tests.” But of course, the Urim V’Tumim was not used for frivolous matters, only for issues of utmost importance.
So how did it convey the word of G-d? The term Urim means ‘lights’ and whenever the Kohen Gadol needed to receive an answer, the letters that were inscribed on the twelve stones of the Breastplate would illuminate. That was the Urim part. The letters however would be scrambled, so that it was not as simple as reading out: G-O T-O W-A-R. One needed to break the code, rearrange the letters and decipher their meaning. This decoding ability was the function of the Tumim (secondary names of G-d written on the folded parchment secreted within the Chosen). Thus the Tumim gave the High Priest the ability to interpret the lights of the Urim.

Indeed there were times when the Kohen could not figure out what the letters were saying. A famous anecdote has the High Priest Eli misreading the letters regarding Chana, the mother of the prophet, Samuel. Instead of placing the letters to read Kof, Shin, Reish, Hay, which would have spelled out KeSheiRaH, meaning the ‘worthy one’, Eli imagined the order of the letters to be Shin, Kof, Reish, Hay, which now translates as ShiKoRaH, the drunken one. In other words, Eli saw the Urim, but lacked the discerning power of the Tumim.

We are living in an era of many Rabbis. Some of them have even been blessed with the power of the Urim. Their knowledge of Torah is immense and is matched by their dedication to scholarship. But not everyone who studies Torah has the power of the Tumim. Those individuals are truly rare in that they understand the message of Torah that is relevant for their generation.
A profound example of this is when the Samuel directs King Shaul to eradicate Amalek. The prophet is graphically explicit. No mercy is to be shown. Every man, woman, child, and even the animals are to be killed!

Saul wages his war but spares the King of Amalek and many of the animals. An angry G-d orders Samuel to the king’s camp with the message that the monarchy would be stripped from Saul for his disobedience. But instead of being contrite, King Saul’s first words are, “I have fulfilled the word of HaShem.”
How is this possible? Anyone with knowledge of this story is fully aware of what really occurred. The Jewish king could not bring himself to kill them all. He felt bad. His first words should have been, “Samuel, I am sorry. I had a soft heart. Forgive me.” What does Saul do instead? He brags about fulfilling the law!
The explanation is that Saul actually believed that he had followed the Will of G-d. By saving the enemy king and parading him around, he would be lauding G-d’s victory. Similarly, by allowing the animals to live and eventually sacrificing them to G-d, Saul felt that this would be a greater sanctification of HaShem’s Name. This is a classic example of having the conviction of the Urim but not the insight of the Tumim. A person can sometimes be blinded for personal motives, even for ostensibly ‘holy’ reasons.
The power of the Tumim is reserved for the select few. That is why world Jewry requires a leader, and why (on a smaller scale) a community need a Rav. For as much as we learn the Urim, we still need unbiased guidance in mastering the Tumim.

The end of the book of Judges contains one of the most sordid incidents in Jewish history, that of the Concubine in Givah. The aftermath of that incident was that most of the nation tried to annihilate the tribe of Benjamin. Their cause seemed just and they were justifiably outraged.
Ultimately, they realized that they had gone too far. They repented, offered sacrifices, and tried to make amends to preserve the youngest tribe of Israel. But the question that is often raised is this, “If their intentions were so noble, how did it happen that they became so carried away with their actions?” The last verse of the book of Judges provides the answer. “In those days there was no king in Israel, every man did as he saw fit in his own eyes.”
That is the bottom line. One can have noble intentions. He can prove that, “This is what it says to do in the Torah.” But if he does not have the Tumim, he will err. He will not know how far to go, when to stop and when to go.

When do such things happen? When there is no ‘king’ in Israel. Unless we have a bona fide leader, the worst of things can happen. May G-d have mercy and send us true leaders. May He also guide to accept those individuals who possess both the Urim and the Tumim.