Q&A: What Is Meant by Torah-level and Rabbinic?
What Is Meant by Torah-level and Rabbinic?
Question
Hello,
The rabbis expound the Torah using various interpretive methods, and in theory they could derive verses in countless ways.
So why are some things considered “Torah-level” when in practice Torah-level = the rabbis’ interpretation of certain verses?
For example, they could have expounded “You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwellings” as follows: why does it specifically say “in any of your dwellings”? Precisely in a place of dwelling, but in a place that is not inhabited it would be permitted to kindle. But they chose not to make that derivation, and lighting a fire is forbidden everywhere. (And there are countless other potential ways to expound this verse. Why “kindle” and also “fire”? Why is “kindle” in the plural? Why “in any” etc. etc.? Every derivation would yield a different prohibition, perhaps even a completely different one.)
So why are some things considered Torah-level if in the end nobody follows the Torah itself (except the Karaites), and in practice everyone follows the rabbis’ interpretation of the Torah?
Answer
The difference between Torah-level and rabbinic is not the question of who created the law, but by what process it was created. The sages function in two different roles: legislators and interpreters. When they legislate a new law, that is a rabbinic law. When they interpret a verse, that is a Torah-level law, because they are only explaining what the verse says.
You are assuming that interpretation and exposition are an arbitrary decision based on their own view, but that is not so. In their understanding, this is the meaning of the verse itself (with reasoning, of course, being one interpretive tool among others). The verse “You shall not turn aside” says that their interpretation is the binding one.
Regarding Maimonides’ approach, I showed in my article on the second root and in my book The Spirit of the Law that the term “Torah-level” is indeed to be understood literally: from the Torah. Similar to what you wrote. Therefore, according to his view, laws generated by methods of exposition are in fact laws of rabbinic origin. See there at length.
Discussion on Answer
You don’t rely on them because they’re right, but because they have authority and they are the ones who decide (even if they were mistaken).
Hello,
Thank you for the answer.
But I still don’t understand. In various places you write that the sages made different mistakes… so how can one “rely” on their opinion (you wrote in the answer: “in their understanding,” “their interpretation”), especially in critical matters that shape one’s whole way of life (like the laws of Sabbath observance and the like).