Q&A: Jewish Law
Jewish Law
Question
https://www.srugim.co.il/502053-%d7%a1%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%9b%d7%94-%d7%a4%d7%99%d7%95%d7%98%d7%a8%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%91%d7%a1%d7%a7%d7%99-%d7%9c%d7%90%d7%9f-%d7%a0%d7%a2%d7%9c%d7%9e%d7%95-%d7%94%d7%a8%d7%91%d7%a0%d7%99
1. What do you think about this article?
2. You say there is no connection between Torah and morality. Doesn’t it bother you if God is chauvinistic or racist?
Answer
If there is a specific question for discussion, please raise it explicitly here.
Discussion on Answer
1. In principle, it is possible to interpret the Torah if we knew how to do it. I invested quite a few years trying to understand the methods of interpretation, and in most of the material I did not reach an understanding that would let me make practical use of them. It’s easy to talk about interpreting the Torah, but hard to actually do it. If people want to reach results they find desirable, they can wave around “interpreting the Torah” as a slogan. Anyone who wants to interpret the Torah is welcome to make the effort to decipher the methods for doing so. Otherwise, what they really mean is to do whatever they want and afterward present a “derashah”—yeah, right—to justify it.
2. It definitely bothers me. But as long as I do not understand the basis of these laws and the methods of interpretation, I do not always have a way to deal with it. I discussed this at length in the third book of the trilogy (where, unlike all those who merely make declarations, I tried to conduct a comprehensive examination of the possibilities and the ways of doing this).
1. He argues that rabbis should try to interpret the Torah the way the Amoraim did in order to issue halakhic rulings. Do you agree with that?
2. An example of racism: it’s forbidden to marry non-Jews. An example of chauvinism: daughters do not inherit when there are sons. (And anyone who gives inheritance to daughters is basically just bypassing the Torah’s original law.) Don’t these laws bother you?