An Introduction to Jewish Theology: Biblical and Rabbinic Concepts on God, the Torah, Life After Death, and More by Juan Marcos Bejarano Gutierrez

Author:Juan Marcos Bejarano Gutierrez [Bejarano Gutierrez, Juan Marcos]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw
Publisher: Yaron Publishing
Published: 2019-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

The Torah as Understood in Classical Judaism

For the Orthodox, the basis on which Jewish life should be based requires little elaboration. The Talmud states:

“From the day of the destruction of the Temple, the Holy One Blessed be He, has naught but four cubits of Halachah in this world.”[138]

David Hartman argues that for Maimonides the meaning of this statement goes beyond its superficial meaning that Judaism is exclusively concerned with the knowledge of the law and that such knowledge is sufficient for man’s perfection. This external meaning has value for those unable to travel the road of the Hasid. It trains the people of the community to live by Halachah. This view according to Hartman’s own interpretation of Maimonides is incomplete. Halachah, to the Hasid, encompasses more than law.[139]

While the statement certainly has potentially many levels of meaning, the simple reality is that Halachah is understood to reveal the Divine Will. The Torah revealed by Moses in both its written and oral forms is the guidepost by which Jewish life is understood and practiced. Furthermore, from this perspective, the following can be derived:

“As God is the source of truth, and the Torah is the repository of truth, its commandments must be objectively true and unchanging. As truth is objective and monolithic, so must the commandments be monolithic. There can be but one Halachic option.”[140]

The idea that Jewish life can be understood or defined in an intelligible fashion independent of the concept of Divine revelation is then a ridiculous assertion for those adhering to a fundamentalist Orthodox position. It can be argued then that Halachah is the only way to God.[141] Jewish culture is understood solely as the outgrowth of those practices derived from the framework of Halachah. Attempting to separate Jewish culture from its theological foundation is an attack on a Torah governed life. As Jacob Katz states:

“Man’s total commitment to the service of God, according to Judaism, extends over all areas of life. For example, R. Yose stated that all our actions should be performed for the sake of God (Avot 2:12)”[142]

Hence as Jacobs notes regarding the traditional approach to Jewish life:

“In the traditional scheme, the mitzvoth are eternally binding upon the Jew because God has so commanded.”[143]

For Orthodoxy, the underlying fundamental view that a Jewish life as prescribed by the Torah and understood and interpreted by the Sages is critical to their view of Jewish life. Advances in historical research, scientific advancements, as well as changing notions of egalitarianism and sexuality are inconsequential (at least as might be admitted) to the binding nature of Jewish law as articulated in the various legal codes, i.e., Mishneh Torah, Shulchan Aruch, Mishnah Berurah, etc.

Hence the mechanics and ingredients of Jewish life as articulated in the observance of the holidays, the dietary laws, the various lifecycle ceremonies, attachment to the Land of Israel and the whole panoply of the Jewish experience, are reflective of the fact that the Torah provides the Jewish community with a historical memory of a living God who selected the Jewish people from among the nations through whom which He would be sanctified in history.

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