Jewish Press of Tampa

The Torah as Divine Compromise



 

 

Can you imagine if the Torah were written today? What laws do you think would be included?

• Thou shalt not try to pass a traffic jam by driving in the exit only lane if thou art not exiting.

• When sitting in a window or aisle seat on an airplane, thou shalt leave the armrest for thy fellow sitting in the middle.

• When leaving a comment on the internet, thou shalt act as if thy picture and thy phone number were attached – thou shalt not troll.

Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopez Cardozo is an Orthodox trained rabbi who challenges us to ask this question. Cardozo believes the Torah is written min ha-shamayim, 100 percent by God, but he calls our sacred text and the revelation of which we celebrate on Shavuot (May 25-27), a “Divine Compromise.” Afterall, how could a divine text include laws that allow for slavery, war, and animal sacrifice, often leaving us wondering how such a text could serve as our moral compass.

The Torah, Cardozo proposes, was written by God, but specifically for a people living 3,500 years ago, and that people, within their historical context, had to be able to accept the laws they were being given.

He writes:

The fact that the Torah tolerates slavery only means that it was not yet possible to completely abandon it… So the Torah introduced laws to make slavery – at least Hebrew slavery – more ethical, by creating much better conditions for slaves, helping them to overcome their slave mentality, and giving them the opportunity to free themselves and start a new life. Only at a later stage could slavery be eliminated altogether.

He continues:

The Torah is anthropocentric [people centered] while its aspirations are theocentric [God centered]. In other words: While the Divine Will may want to accomplish the ultimate, it is constrained by the limitations of human ability. The Torah, then, is really a divine compromise, filtered through the mindset and mores of its intended audience. It is therefore flawed in the sense that it must sometimes allow or introduce laws that are far from ideal but were the best possible option at the time they were revealed to the Jewish people, or like in other cases were never meant to be applied literally.

Had the Torah said, “Thou shalt not own slaves,” as we wish it did, the people wouldn’t have been ready to accept it. So instead, the Torah tried to make it a bit more humane. This is just one example of how the Torah attempted to take people from where they were and make them a little bit better.

But Cardozo goes on to challenge us, reminding us that we have to be better than our ancestors. This is why God also included the “Divine Ideal” within the Torah – laws like “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and “Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Now we can look at the laws in the Torah that challenge us, place them next to these greater values, and think, “What are the areas in our lives where we are furthest from the ideal, and how could we do a little better than we are?” Then we can move that much closer to that Divine Ideal to which God wanted us to aspire.

Were the Torah given today, it would not be the same text that God gave at Sinai. After all, over the many years people have developed a more sophisticated understanding of moral values. It is true that they have bitterly failed in living by those standards, but there is no doubt that humanity’s understanding of what morality should be is far more advanced than it was in the days of the Torah. The unconditional equality of all men, the dignity of all women, Jews and non-Jews are but a few examples.

So, as we celebrate the revelation of our ancestors, we have the opportunity to engage in our own revelation. As we celebrate Shavuot, our challenge is to listen to the divine in us and write our own Torah, challenging each of us as individuals to improve in the ways we know God would want us to, and then, God willing, we can move to a place from which we can do the same in our community, our nation, and our world.

Lo alecha ha-m’lacha ligmor, v’lo atah ben chorin l’hibateil mimena

Rabbi Tarfon said, “It is not your job to complete the work, but neither are you free to refrain from it “

Pirkei Avot 2:16

To read Rabbi Dr. Cardozo’s entire article, visit www.thetorah.com/article/the-deliberately-flawed-divine-torah

Rabbinically Speaking is published as a public service by the Jewish Press in cooperation with the Tampa Rabbinical Association which assigns the column on a rotating basis. The views expressed in the column are those of the rabbi and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Jewish Press or the TRA.

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