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Whither the Torah She’ba’al Peh?

Rabbi Jonathan Altman

av Meir ben Baruch (c. 1215–1293), and in the exact same place. He is referring generation – challenges us all to maintain
the Maharam of Rothenburg, to the burning of the works of the Rambam. a path that is halachically valid and true to
penned Kinah 41 that we read on foundational Torah truths.
RTisha B’Av. The horror and sorrow The background to this is the translation Rav Kook, in a speech given at the opening
into Hebrew of the Rambam’s philosophical
expressed is deeply felt as the Maharam
personally witnessed unspeakable atroc- works, Moreh Nevuchim, “The Guide to the of the Hebrew University at Mount Scopus,
Perplexed”, and Sefer HaMadah, the Ram-
spoke of the fears that we all have in allow-
ities committed against the Jewish com- bam’s introductory work to his Yad HaChaz- ing change into our private domains: the
munity by Christian authorities in France akah. Much debate ensued around the legiti- fear of changing winds and the fear of
and Germany. The kinah refers specifically macy of these books; many criticized them, embracing new aspects of modernity. We
to the fateful date of June 17, 1242, when
twenty-four wagons filled with handwrit- and others went so far as to burn them. On fear because we are vulnerable. We worry
that we have not absorbed our values deeply
the burning of the Rambam’s writings and
ten Jewish manuscripts were incinerated the subsequent tragedy of the incineration enough to withstand challenges from our
in Paris.
of the Talmud, Rav Hillel writes: “Don’t ask surrounding environment. And this fear
Two years earlier, at the Disputation of who knows if those decrees happened due and vulnerability is legitimate and should
Paris, also known as the Trial of the Talmud, to the burning of the ‘Madah and Moreh.’ I not be underestimated.
Tosafists including Rav Yechiel ben Yosef will answer that there is a sign. There were
of Paris, head of the Yeshiva of Paris, and not even forty days between the burning of This fear should motivate each one of us to
strengthen our core principles, our foun-
Rabbi Moshe ben Yaakov of Coucy, were the Rambam’s writings and the [burning of
forced by Nicholas Donin, a Jewish convert the] Talmud and it took place in the same dational values and our personal commit-
ment. All this brings growth. But when our
to Christianity, to defend the Talmud from location, with the ashes of the writings of fear motivates us to destroy the “other,”
accusations that it contained blasphemous the Rambam mixing with the ashes of the
passages about Christianity. In letters sent Talmud. This was true and known by Jew we should bear in mind the lament of the
Maharam at the burning of the Talmud:
to the Bishop of Paris, Pope Gregory IX and gentile alike and soon everyone will
claimed that the Talmud contained “mat- be aware that it was decreed from Heaven. “Without the Torah She’ba’al Peh, there is no
Knesset Yisrael.”
ters so abusive and so unspeakable that it From above a fire was sent because the
arouses shame in those who mention it and Rambam’s writings were destroyed.” The Torah She’ba’al Peh is a dynamic organism
horror in those who hear it.” He also said of The catastrophe and anguish over the entrenched in the timeless Torah She’bichtav,
the Talmud: “This too is the chief factor that the Written Torah. It paradoxically requires
holds the Jews obstinate in their perfidy.” destruction of these precious Torah books both stabilization and novelty. Though nov-
cannot be underestimated. But in these
The disputation resulted in Jewish books, calamities we may find a lesson that is both elty elicits fear, being grounded in Torah
She’bichtav allows each of us from across the
specifically copies of the Talmud, being vio- contemporary and relevant. spectrum of the Torah world to accept our
lently collected from shuls and batei midrash The eventual destruction of the Rambam’s differences. Once we have done that, our
throughout France. These hundreds of vol- writings was caused by a legitimate con- engagement with the broader community
umes were then burned, a great catastrophe
for worldwide Jewry in the times before cern regarding the introduction of external of Am Yisrael will be founded upon pride,
stability and unwavering commitment.
philosophical ideas into the mainstream of
the printing press. In the Maharam’s kinah, Jewish scholarship. The debates that ensued
we sense his fear that the Torah would be in a milieu of confrontation and animosity In doing so we ensure the survival of Am
forgotten, as there might be no books from could have led to permanent extinction of Yisrael, with all its eclectic differences.
which to learn!
books that today hold an eminent place in
The Maharam equated the catastrophe of the shelves of every mainstream yeshiva and
the burning of the Talmud with the burn- beit midrash.
ing of the Beit HaMikdash. Without the Torah Perhaps if we would take to heart the con-
She’ba’al Peh, without the Oral Torah, there nection made by Rav Hillel and his teacher
is no Knesset Yisrael.
Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerondi, we would see
Sadly, the story does not end there. R’ Hillel that the greatest challenge to our existence
of Verona, a student of R’ Yona of Girondi, as Torah-based communities worldwide is
author of the Shaarei Teshuvah, wrote a a level of tolerance and acceptance of Torah Rabbi Jonathan Altman
letter to Rav Yitzchak the Doctor in which thinking that is different from our own. is a Rabbi of the Yeshiva Mizrachi
he blamed the burning of the Talmud on a Hashkafic debate and analysis – the contin- Community in South Africa.
scandal that occurred not too long before ued development of the Oral Torah in every

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