RBIS March 9, 1999: The Meaning of "Torah" and "Law"

Most of my background in understanding the meaning of Torah, or Law, originally came from an evangelical Christian perspective where often the principal meaning and usage is that of regulation. Perhaps the translation for the word from Hebrew to Greek to English hasn't helped, but it seems that there is quite a scope to the meaning of "Law" (in English) and probably even greater scope to Torah (in Hebrew). Some aspects that come to mind are the sense of protection and granting of rights, the sense of objective description (i.e. physical laws of nature, rather than arbitrary legislation), and lastly, the definition of relationship. How one understands the significance of Torah study is obviously derived from what Torah means.

I would welcome your comments or thoughts about Torah and Law

YEHOSHUA FRIEDMAN ANSWERS:

There is confusion about the understanding of the word "Torah" and all the baggage which comes with it. This is as opposed to the concept of Law in Western Christian and secular thought. This definitely needs clarification.

The word Torah, which means teaching, is related to "moreh", teacher, "hora'ah", guidance and "horeh", parent. It is law in the sense of G-d's fatherly authority teaching us for our own good. It was translated into Greek and "nomos", which has the connotation of convention, something accepted by human beings for utilitarian reasons, as opposed to "physis", nature, that which is intrinsically true.

When we say law in English, we mean something that can be debated and changed.

Another difficulty in understanding the perspective of Torah lies in the realm of rights and responsibilities. Western political thought takes as axiomatic the "rights of man". Jewish teaching focuses the source of man's dignity on the fact of his being created in the image of G-d and thus commanded.

A person's status as Ben Noah or Jewish female or male, Israelite/Levite/Kohen is determined by which mitzvot pertain to him or her. The Hebrew word "mitzvah" does not merely mean commandment. It is also related to "tzevet", company or working-group.

The cognate Aramaic "tzavta" means companionship. G-d does not merely command us, thrust authority upon us like a military commander. He gives them as a sign of sharing His presence with us.

The Talmud says that one who does something out of being commanded is greater than one who is not commanded and does the same thing. In the Western, Greek- and NT-influenced world, we prize autonomous free will.

The Western world thinks it is better to do good without having to be commanded or forced to do it. The Jewish perspective is that man has a "yetzer ha-tov", good inclination and a "yetzer ha-ra", evil inclination. The action done without commandment does not challenge the evil inclination to oppose it. The mitzvah does.

The negative human character trait fights the divine presence. A successful performance of a mitzvah strengthens the positive aspect of one's character in a deeper way. We are familiar with the resistance to authority which occurs when one is told to do something. A child or sometimes an adult who would have otherwise done something without a fuss gets his "back up" when told by a parent, teacher, boss or commanding officer to do it.

When the commander is the Almighty, there is a double significance to the commanding. It is not only designed to get the job done, but it also is aimed at metaphysical improvement of the soul of the one commanded. The Sefer HaChinuch, a medieval discussion of the 613 commandments in their order of appearance in the Torah, states that man is affected by his actions. Mitzvot train us in many ways. It follows from this that if we do something with the intent of improving our lives and ourselves, we must pay great attention to this aspect of commandedness and give priority in our religious development to that which is a mitzvah for us over that which is not.

Shalom,

Yehoshua Friedman
Kochav HaShachar, Liberated Samaria