Shalom everyone,
In the Talmidi and Karaite communities, Yom Truah is our Simchat Torah – Rejoicing in God’s Torah.
Whenever we come to discuss Torah, our community’s history inevitably means that we have to address the elephant in the room.
What Torah is not
Through Paullist theology, non-Jews have unfortunately been conditioned to see Torah as a heavy burden and an unnecessary imposition – a pointless set of rules and regulations you need to be freed from. They have been falsely taught that we Jews believe that only by becoming Jewish and following Torah can a human being find God or ‘be saved’. They sincerely and unswervingly believe that this is especially how fundamentalist Jews think. The disciples of Paul will therefore proudly say, “Paul fought to free Gentiles from having Torah imposed on them!”
Perhaps if you believe that the Oral Law is a burden which has been added to Torah, then you might be forgiven for thinking that ‘Torah is a burden’. But the Oral Law is not God’s Torah – it’s man’s Torah (and yes, I do mean, ‘man’, i.e. male human). For the early Israelites, Torah as written and given by God was not a burden but a liberation.
The Purposes of Torah
There are a number of purposes behind Torah, and if you can understand and take to heart these purposes, then you will gain the right mindset for approaching and applying Torah:
- to teach us about the purifying Holiness and the cleansing Glory of YHVH
- to teach us the proper, non-pagan way of worshipping YHVH
- to teach us the safe way for our souls to draw near to YHVH, so that God’s Holiness and Glory do not harm us, but bring us blessing instead
- to teach us how to live a way of life which allows God’s Holiness and Glory to dwell among us (how to be a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation)
- to teach Israelite society how it is to function, so that such a society behaves as an example to the Nations for YHVH’s ethics, principles and values
- to give Israelites fundamental and inalienable rights within such a society
- to teach us the egalitarian nature of Israelite society, that the rule of law must be just and fair, and to provide legal protections for the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, and the resident foreigner
- to restrict the excesses of the rich and powerful, so that they cannot exploit the poor or the vulnerable in society
- to teach leaders (both religious and secular) that they will be judged with greater strictness before God
- to separate religious authority from civil authority, so that neither have so much power that they become corrupt
- to separate civil authority from judicial authority, so that justice is not subject to the whims of national or local politics; God’s Justice is its own authority
- to teach us that our relationship with YHVH is overseen and regulated by the stipulations of God’s Covenants
- to teach religious people that we have a responsibility not to desecrate the reputation of God by doing evil things in God’s Name
There are other purposes, but the above are the main ones. If you focus on these things, you will be able to apply Torah as it was originally intended, and so avoid abuses of it.
Torah is the inheritance of a Free People
Torah was given to us as a free people. We were slaves under a cruel regime in Egypt, so why should we have been freed by God from one form of slavery, simply to be imprisoned into another form of slavery? Why would we ever follow a God who would even do that?
Torah is a free choice – our ancient ancestors freely chose to accept Torah (Ex 24:3b). It was not imposed on us. Because Torah is a free choice, Torah is not imposed on non-Jews. Even with converts, even until the very last interview, they are asked if they still wish to take on the task of following Torah.
The Israelite religion was never envisioned as a Taliban-style fundamentalist regime. Torah is the rule-book for a holy nation and a kingdom of priests, not for Gentiles who neither wish to worship our God, nor follow our ways, nor take on our beliefs and values. Nor is it imposed on those who do not wish to belong to our people, or ally themselves to us.
I can present a golden example. In ancient times, there were foreigners – non-Jews – who prayed to and worshipped the God of Israel, practised the ethical and moral values of the God of Israel, but notably, did not follow Torah. This category of Gentiles are nowadays often called Noachides. Jews do not impose Torah on others – especially on those who do not want it. Forcing Torah upon someone actually invalidates its obligations.
Torah is for Israel as a free people. Torah ensures that we have the resources to be a free people forever. It introduces certain ways of thinking that ensure we do not backslide into ways of thought and modes of behaviour that imprison us.
Torah teaches us a way out of pagan superstition
Through Torah’s ideals and principles, we are freed from superstitious ways of thinking. Torah makes superstitious beliefs impossible to follow.
Torah gives us a God who is without form – we do not need idols, and no human being can claim godhood; Torah gives us a God who is supreme Sovereign over everything, so we do not need to fear devils or demons. Torah gives us a God who is able to forgive when we repent, and purify, cleanse and renew us by the fire of God’s Glory, without blood or death.
In those earliest times, it was believed that sickness, plague and ill-fortune were caused by evil spirits and demons. So in order to appease these demons, offerings were made in the desert to them. Torah forbids this – see Lev 17:7; and we are forbidden to consult mediums or conjure up spirits or the dead (Num 19:26b, 19:31).
If you know nothing about sacrificial offerings in the Israelite religion, you might think that the purpose of sacrifices was to make ‘atonement’ for sin. However, the rigorous laws around sacrifices were not to tell us how to make expiation, but rather to restrict sacrifices – to make sure they were only offered in one place, that they were only offered to YHVH, and that they only had Yahwist symbolism and meaning attached to them.
Depending on which religion or culture you belonged to, the ancient pagans variously understood good and evil as a battle between good gods and bad gods, or between Good (controlled by the chief of their gods), and Evil (controlled by demons or devils).
Yahwism swept this way of looking at things aside. There is no heavenly battle between good and evil – there are no demons or evil spirits. Everything is under the dominion of YHVH, and YHVH alone. In heaven, no being can ever possibly disobey YHVH, or rebel against YHVH. This way of thinking (that there is a war in heaven between good and evil) is a pagan way of thinking, because there is only YHVH, and YHVH is the supreme Sovereign over all.
A Torah of Justice and Fairness for the Poor
In most ancient societies, the poor were used and abused as a country’s leaders saw fit. Their lives were not their own; their fates were under the control of their kings.
Torah is a liberation for the poor. In ancient times, most of the wealthy cared little for Torah, because it put a brake on their excesses, and demanded honesty in business. In contrast, the prophets spoke up on behalf of the poor, exhorting the people to remember the laws which God gave to support and free the poor, and make sure that they would not fall into abject poverty.
Torah gives us a God of Justice and fairness. Pagan gods could be bribed (supposedly) to favour one side or another. Misfortune was sometimes the result of gods being spiteful, testy, or having hissy fits. Torah taught us that this was not how our God behaved.
Torah is therefore a liberation for those who believe in civil justice and social justice – “Justice, and justice alone shall you pursue’ (Dt 16:20). Torah enshrines various principles of justice and jurisprudence to ensure that judges are the instruments of God, and not the instruments of those who have enough money to pay for an outcome in their favour (Dt 16:19).
The Torah of an Equal Society
Torah was meant to produce an egalitarian society – and if you look at Israel and Jewish society as a whole, it has succeeded. There are no institutionalised social classes – there is no caste system, no nobility, and no ‘untouchables’. Your job or social status does not make you a better or worse person than anyone else, nor are you to be accorded greater or lesser respect than anyone else – not even a king or president is beyond being reprimanded by the ordinary man or woman in the street.
In very ancient times, workers were often worked until they dropped, but Torah gives us the right to rest one day out of every seven. Shabbat was meant to be a right and a gift, not a burden; the Sabbath should never be made into a burden, but rather a delight.
Torah gives us our proper place among the Nations
Torah guides our people – the people whose God is YHVH alone – along a certain path with regard to how we relate to other nations. We are forbidden to have a world empire; we have only been given Canaan to have dominion over, and nowhere else. We cannot therefore go to someone’s else’s country, take it over, exploit it, strip it of its resources, and leave its native people destitute – and then use our religion to justify or make excuses for the wrong we have done. We cannot go to another people, take them over, force our ways and laws onto them, or forcibly convert them to our faith – and then threaten them with death if they leave. We cannot start wars for no reason, we cannot forcibly conscript people into an army, we cannot tolerate dictators in our midst, and we are not to tolerate unjust laws – because injustice in and of itself is a direct sin against God; to actually enshrine injustice in law, is to become an abomination (cf. Dt 25:16).
Torah preserves us as a People forever
Torah preserves us as a people – it ensures that the Jewish people survive forever. No matter where we are scattered to, Torah is what binds us together in our identity. If we survive forever, it is proof that YHVH is forever. Anyone who tries to wipe us out – either by Holocaust, or by conversion to other religions – is doomed to fail, because they are fighting a battle against God.
If you include the principles contained in Torah, which are expounded by the prophets, and not just the commandments, you will also understand that we are meant to apply Torah wisely and with common sense, with compassion and mercy. Torah is therefore also the freedom to think rationally and logically, not behave like the Fool in the Book of Proverbs, who typifies and glorifies religious stupidity. Where religion is concerned, wilful stupidity abuses YHVH, who is the God of all Wisdom and Knowledge.
If you approach Torah in the way it was originally intended, without adding anything and without taking anything away, and you approach it with the right mind and a compassionate heart, then you will understand why Torah is freedom and a liberation, and enables God’s chosen ambassadors to be who God intended us to be – a Light to the Nations, a Kingdom of Priests, and a holy nation.
I hope you enjoy a happy Yom Truah!
Blessings in the Name of YHVH our only Sovereign, and our only Majesty,
Shmuliq