The Evolution of the Torah

Since the moment God bequeathed the written law to Moses, the leader of the Jewish people, on top of Mount Sinai, the Torah has been the epicenter of the Jewish faith, specifying Halacha (Jewish law) and facilitating the struggles of quotidian Am Yisrael (the Jewish people). As the years went by, Torah SheBichtav (the written Torah) began to be interpreted by Am Yisrael in order to adapt to the times and the societies in which they lived—this became known as the Torah SheBaalPeh (oral Torah). Both aspects of Torah are essential to the continuation of Am Yisrael, each one enabling the other to survive, the unchanging Torah SheBichtav and the perpetually growing Torah SheBaalPeh combining to shape Jewish life into a modern, yet traditional culture.

About 1500 years after Moses was given the written Torah, Am Yisrael began to organize the Torah SheBaalPeh, which was accumulating over centuries into a collection of commentary: the Mishnah. This was a result of the vast amount of oral tradition needing to be passed down, the inability to pass it down orally, and the fear of oral law being extinguished in the case of a disaster—such as the failed Bar Kochba revolts, in which nearly all of the Jews in the area known as Judah were murdered. The result of writing down the oral Torah was that Am Yisrael came to take the commentary as Halacha, the benefits of this being the adaptation to modern society that the interpretations enabled. As time went on however, the belief in oral law became so prominent, that it began to take over authority from Torah SheBichtav, a scenario never meant to occur.

The written Torah was always supposed to take precedence over any other forms of commentary. The Mishnah was merely exposition from the rabbis on the Torah, with the real authority stemming directly from the scripture itself, given to Am Yisrael by God. The modern Reform Movement has taken Torah SheBaalPeh to a whole new level of importance, relying in most cases only on contemporary interpretations of the Torah. While beneficial in the fact that this creates a tolerance in the Jewish community, it also ignores our deep historical roots; Jews are people of the book, and the Torah contains rules that have governed Am Yisrael for millennia. For the Reform Movement to forsake these commandments now, the repercussions of such a drastic action could lead to far worse things than not following Halacha, in terms of being ostracized by the remainder of Jewry.

            It is essential as Jews to keep in our hearts Torah SheBichtav, our connection to the Israelites of the past, our forefathers. However, many aspects of the written Torah are no longer applicable in the slightest to modern day, begging the introduction of oral law into society. But cautious steps must be taken. To fully turn to Torah SheBaalPeh would mean disregarding its original basis, and as Jews we cannot resort to that. Instead we must utilize both, weave each of them into our lives so that we live in the present, but never forget our past.