Q&A: Between Torah and Morality
Between Torah and Morality
Question
"There was an incident involving a certain gentile who came before Shammai and said to him: Convert me on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot. He pushed him away with the builder’s cubit that was in his hand. He came before Hillel; Hillel converted him and said to him: What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its explanation. Go and learn" (Sabbath 31a).
Seemingly, Hillel is arguing that the entire purpose of the Torah is moral. How does this fit with the Rabbi’s view that these are independent categories?
Answer
First of all, it does not fit the facts. Most of Jewish law is not related to morality or to other people in any way. Second, when one says that this is “the entire Torah,” that is a literary expression meaning that this is a fundamental basis and an important place to begin and focus. Just as there are various commandments said to be equivalent to the entire Torah (and as Rabbi Wolbe already noted, that cannot be true mathematically). And third, my claim is to distinguish between morality and Jewish law, not between morality and Torah. Morality and Jewish law together are the will of God (= Torah).