Q&A: The Jewish Religion
The Jewish Religion
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Following my reading of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks's book (Radical Then, Radical Now), in which he raises the question of the author of the Akeidah: what is it that obligates each of us to remain faithful to the Torah given at Sinai, after all, we were not there, etc.,
I wanted to ask the Rabbi's opinion on an answer to this question: what binds us to the covenant, if it was not made with our consent and in our presence? (Needless to say, the usual argument about the souls that were present there means nothing to me.)
And also, what is the Rabbi's opinion of Rabbi Sacks's ideas? (In general.)
Answer
I am not familiar enough with his writings to express an opinion about them.
As for the question, the description as though all the souls stood there is of course a metaphor. The point is that the Torah was given to the collective, and therefore it obligates the collective, not only the collection of individuals who stood there. And the collective includes all the individuals who are in it and who will be in it (see Tosafot, Me'ilah 9b, end of the second side, and elsewhere). Just as a law enacted in the Knesset today will obligate the citizens of the state even a hundred years from now (as long as it has not been changed).