Q&A: Reform Jews and Jewish Law
Reform Jews and Jewish Law
Question
Rabbi Michael, 1. How do we know that the Reform are not the true continuers of the path of the Sages?
2. And even if we say they are not, who decided that specifically rabbis x, y, z, etc. are the rabbis who truly continued the halakhic tradition?
Answer
By that logic, you could ask the same thing about Christians or even Buddhists. Examine it and see for yourself who the true continuation is.
By the way, you’re looking for the true continuation of the Sages. But who told you that the Sages are the true continuers of the Torah that was transmitted from Moses?
Discussion on Answer
The accepted assumption is that the Oral Torah was received together with the Written Torah (without getting into the question of what exactly it included). As for its content, we have nothing except what we received from previous generations. Anyone who accepts the Oral Torah is among the true continuers, and therefore any debate within that framework is legitimate. One who does not accept this (Christians, Reform Jews) cannot be considered a continuer. I’ve already written several times that commitment to Jewish law does not depend on its authenticity in the sense of whether this is in fact what was transmitted to Moses at Sinai. If this is what emerged for us from what we received in the tradition, then this is Jewish law. Therefore all kinds of sects that disappeared, and other shades of Judaism that once existed and no longer do, are not relevant to the discussion.
“But who told you that the Sages are the true continuers of the Torah that was transmitted from Moses?”
The questioner is invited to answer that.