Torah Portion

Beliefs, Understanding
And The Word Of God

At this point, Rabbi Joshua stands
up and announces, "Lo bashamayim
he," and this ends the argument in
his favor. Rabbi Meir explains that
since the Torah is no longer in heav-
en and was given to humanity to
interpret, and since in that Torah the
principle of majority rule is accept-
ed, thus humanity no longer listens
to a bat kol in questions of Halacha.
It is later reported that upon
hearing
this, God laughed and said,
his week's Torah portion,
"My
children
have defeated me."
Nitzavim, summarizes the
What
does
it mean that God has
covenant between God and
been
defeated? Where did
Israel, emphasizing
the
rabbis
get the chutzpa
the need for absolute obedi-
to
reject
a
direct divine
ence and faithfulness.
command?
And what does
as
God
pre-
Vayelech,
In
this
story
tell
us about the
dicts Israel's infidelity, we
relation
of
modern
readers
find the Torah's explanation
mitzvah
to
Torah
and
of human suffering: "Then
(commandments)?
my anger will burn against
Without
the continuance
them on that day, and I will
of
prophecy,
we can never
forsake them, and I will
be
sure
if
what
we do has
hide my face from them,
ADAM
divine sanction or even if
and they shall be devoured,
CHALOM
there is a divine to sanc-
and many evils and troubles
Special
to
the
tion what we do.
shall befall them; so that
Jewish
News
We must take for our-
they will say on that day,
selves
the mantle of
`Are not these evils come
authority
and have the
upon us because our God is
courage
to
accept
responsibility
for
not among us?'" (Deuteronomy
our
own
lives
and
beliefs.
This
also
31:17)
means that we must not simply
After a century in which millions
accept the written Torah and the
asked for divine deliverance and
Torah of the rabbis — we must
received a hidden face in return, this
make a Torah of our own, one that
verse echoes hauntingly of evil fore-
reflects what we believe.
seen and not prevented and of suf-
Modern Torah readers may find
fering inexplicable.
themselves
in disagreement with the
Near the end of Moses' admoni-
text,
with
the
resulting three
tions for Israel to follow its
options: They may change their
covenant, we are told that fulfilling
beliefs to fit the text; they may
the covenant is within our grasp —
change their understanding of the
"It is not in heaven, that you should
text to fit their beliefs, or they may
say, 'who shall go up for us to heav-
admit the dissonance.
en, and bring it to us, that we may
When we read an ethic we reject,
hear it and do it?"' (Deuteronomy
like
genocide of the Canaanites or
30:12).
even
the claim that those who suffer
The phrase "It is not in heaven"
are to blame for their own tragedy,
to bashamayim he, instantly trans-
we must have the courage to say "lo
ports us to a famous Talmudic story
bashamayim he" and add our own
in Bava Metzia.
voice
to the discussion. El
During an argument over the
purity status of an oven, one rabbi
resists the opinion of the majority of
the Sanhedrin (rabbinic court), and
he even brings miracles to support
his argument. The other rabbis are
How can we respond to passages
unmoved, so finally Rabbi Eliezer
in Torah that strike us as objec-
tionable? Does celebrating the
calls for a bat kol, a heavenly voice,
which announces that he is correct
Torah mean that its truths auto-
and the majority is wrong.
matically trump our own? If we
can foresee and prevent evil, are
we always obligated to do so?
Adam Chalom is assistant rabbi at the

Shat;bat Nitzavim-
Vayelech:
Deuteronomy
29:9-31:30;
Isaiah 61:10-63:9.

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