Page 15 - HaShofar 5709 1948

sage, "And thou shalt come unto the priests, the
Levites, and unto the judge that shall he in those
days," (Deut. 17,9) asking why need the Bible men-
tion the phrase, "In those days," for .can one come
before a fudge who is not in his days? The answer
is that the Torah wants us to heed to the judge of
our generation, regardless of how inferior he mav
be if compared to judges of previous generations.
The Rabbis further remark that Jephthah in .his
.generation was like Samuel in his. Now this is a
most remarkable comparison.. Jephthah .is de.
scribed in Judges XI as having been an outcast of
his family who craved the company of vain and
empty people. It was through military. victory that
he became a Judge of Israel. Yet this man's judg-
ments were as binding and had to he heeded .as
much as Samuel's, who was a prophet of G-d, dedi-
cated to the Temple from his very infancy. This
should give us great courage as to the potentiali-
ties of our own age.
There are some who live. under the erroneous
concept that our Torah is. static, and that any at-
tempt to adapt it to changing ·conditions is a viola-
ion of the letter and spirit of the Torah. While it
is true that the Divine principles contained in the
Torah are eternal, a:ny student of the Talmud· soon
realizes that its very greatness and its eternal qual:
ity lies in its adaptability to all times. Our great
scholars a11d sages were maste"rs at h1terpreting the
Law in the spirit of their time, always guarding
that thcc: spirit and letter of the Torah shall n,ot he nature of certain inventions in determining whether
violated. The Talmudic Tanoim and Amoraim have
done it, the Sevoraim and Geonim ~fter. them have
done likewise, the chain of great codifiers, the A.1-
fasi, the Ramha:m, the Rosh, the Ron, the Baal
Haturim, and. the Beth Yos·eph ·(author of the
"Shulchon Aruch" in the 16th century) have cast
opinions influencing the life of their times. While
each one leaned. on the work of his predecessor,
he dealt. with the problems of his days, as well. To
the average Torah-true Jew, the only guide in re-
ligion is·. the popular abridgement of the "Schul-
chan Aruch," the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch," by
Rabbi Solomon Ganzfield of the 19th .century.
While it may answer many a need, the very best
work of a. century ago, cannot possibly cover all
the situations created by .our fast moving age.
Torah interpretation niust not lag behind the. chang-
ing conditions of life, if it is to serve the dynami9,
the Divine purpose, of being our guide in life.
OCTOBER, 1948_
The reason '£or the existence oi so great a Bala-
. chic lag, can he attributed to the fact that our
· sch6lars are men of great piety,. who realize the
great moral responsibility that casting a judgment
.carries with it, and consequently abstain from giv-
.ing an opinion on timely problems that are without
Halachic precedence. In the following "Maamar"
(Talmudic dictum), this fear is clearly illustrated.
"Rabbi Samuel son of Nachmon said in the name
of Rabbi Yochanan, 'A judge should always con-
sider as if a sword lay at his side, and as if the Gehi-
nom _were open under him.' " .(Yevomoth 109h).
This is why nearly every treatise on Halachah is
prefaced by the remark that it is meant only for
the realm of polemics, but not for practical appli-
cation. It seems to me, however, that in view of
the existing chaos in Jewi.sh observance that there
is much greater fear of the Gehinom to .allow such
a condition to undermine the dignity of Jewish Law,
than to cast a . sincere opinion based on scholar-
ship and knowledge, _
I also suggest that the .governing Halachic body
should include on its. staff several men of science,
who can give fulJ information and counsel with
reference. to decisions that call for the possession
of such knowledge, as, for example, the scientific
ot not they are to be_ used on the Sabbath. Religion
and science thus worki:ng ·. hand in hand would fur-
ther enhance the confidence ·of our people of this
scientific age. in Torah. Judaism.
There is the increasing. danger that should our
Torah-true scholars continue to abstain from ren-
dering the riecesiiary. decisions, .totally unqualified
elements will. undertake to.speak for allJewry, and
:make statements and issue proclamations regard-
ing Jewish Law that are in· direct violation of the
letter qnd spirit of the Totah. Irreparable damage
may then be done to the future growth of Ortho-
doxy in America. Let Orthodoxy face the challenge
of the Eternal L_aw .to .our people, and I am con,
fident that the masses will enthusiastically respond.
They will readily vest this body with the authority
and honor it needs for universa_l recognition, should
they be shown that a· serious attempt is being made
in that ·direction. Should the body that would
emerge from American Orthodox leadership not
be equal to the Prophet Samuel, it may function
as well in our day as the judgments cast by Jeph•
thah in his day. .
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