Nearly 30 years ago, when I first encountered Orthodox Judaism as a serious life style choice that threatened to seriously undermine my complacency with my Jewish identity, I approached the anticipated debacle with the many extremely cogent arguments for my point of view based on the Torah itself. I confidently met with the rabbi and was ready to do battle. Then I discovered the תורה שבעל פה/The Oral Torah. That was the first blow to my world view, but I was not out of the fight yet. Then I learned of the Rabbinic injunctions and the מסורה/the careful and meticulous transmission of the entire Torah -- Written with Oral, packaged in Rabbinic wisdom. Sigh... that was the knock out punch and here I am today.
In he Maharal's essay on Chanuka, נר מצוה, he explains the necessity and function of Rabbinic injunctions. More than that, the Maharal addresses one of (for me) the most difficult facets of Rabbinic injunctions; חמורים דברי סופרים יותר מדברי תורה/Chazal were often more jealously zealous in protecting and enforcing said Rabbinic injunctions more than the Torah prohibitions themselves.
As a preface, I note that in graduate school I worked in a radiation lab. Radiation in low doses is harmless, but in higher doses can be harmful and even fatal. Moreover, the effects are cumulative. Now here's the thing: you can't feel radiation. You can't feel it, you can't smell it, you can't taste it. The only way to protect yourself is to know where it is; maximize your distance when you can and minimize the exposure (that is, minimize contact time) when you can't. I wasn't playing around there; I was helping to produce and deliver radioisotopes for cancer diagnosis and heart treatments. We had many processes and procedures on place to ensure that we were safe, while still delivering these very important products. We obviously took those practices very seriously. If we hired a new lab assistant and he did not take them seriously, we very quickly moved him out of our lab. A person like that is dangerous to not only himself, but to the entire staff. If he would, for example, cause a spill and not report it properly, we could have all been exposed to deadly doses of radiation and never known until it was too late; even years or decades later.
Of course one function of Rabbinic injunctions is to protect us from transgressing Torah prohibitions. The problem is, you can feel/smell/taste/physically detect those prohibitions. Rabbinic injunctions are not "extra credit" like a guard rail around the Grand Canyon. Rabbinic injunctions are the only hope for the spiritually blind to to avoid falling without warning into a spiritually mortal danger. Darn right חמורים דברי סופרים יותר מדברי תורה! You do not want to get lax with those safeguards that protect us from threats to our entire eternal existence.
But there is another dimension. As a preface to that, I note that I have attended both marriage and parenting classes. I have discussed many times with rabbanim and "domain experts" how to correctly respond to more detailed and personal situations. Why? Because it's not good enough to be an acceptable husband and father. I strive to be an exceptional husband, father, and now grandfather. I am very distant from that goal, to be sure; but I strive despite my failures and false starts. Why? Because I love my wife, my children, and my grandchildren.
The Torah gives us guidelines to becoming perfect. Chazal crystallized those guidelines into actionable procedures. Why? Because our relationship with our Creator is not master/slave. The Creator cannot help -- so to speak -- loving His creations, and so He gave us His Torah. We are not simply appreciative of this great gift of eternal life, but we love our Creator for allowing us to come close to Him. But what can we possibly express that love in a real and meaningful way? That is the function of the Rabbinic injunctions. It is we -- Klal Yisrael -- who insist חמורים דברי סופרים יותר מדברי תורה, for that is how we express our love to the Creator.
In he Maharal's essay on Chanuka, נר מצוה, he explains the necessity and function of Rabbinic injunctions. More than that, the Maharal addresses one of (for me) the most difficult facets of Rabbinic injunctions; חמורים דברי סופרים יותר מדברי תורה/Chazal were often more jealously zealous in protecting and enforcing said Rabbinic injunctions more than the Torah prohibitions themselves.
As a preface, I note that in graduate school I worked in a radiation lab. Radiation in low doses is harmless, but in higher doses can be harmful and even fatal. Moreover, the effects are cumulative. Now here's the thing: you can't feel radiation. You can't feel it, you can't smell it, you can't taste it. The only way to protect yourself is to know where it is; maximize your distance when you can and minimize the exposure (that is, minimize contact time) when you can't. I wasn't playing around there; I was helping to produce and deliver radioisotopes for cancer diagnosis and heart treatments. We had many processes and procedures on place to ensure that we were safe, while still delivering these very important products. We obviously took those practices very seriously. If we hired a new lab assistant and he did not take them seriously, we very quickly moved him out of our lab. A person like that is dangerous to not only himself, but to the entire staff. If he would, for example, cause a spill and not report it properly, we could have all been exposed to deadly doses of radiation and never known until it was too late; even years or decades later.
Of course one function of Rabbinic injunctions is to protect us from transgressing Torah prohibitions. The problem is, you can feel/smell/taste/physically detect those prohibitions. Rabbinic injunctions are not "extra credit" like a guard rail around the Grand Canyon. Rabbinic injunctions are the only hope for the spiritually blind to to avoid falling without warning into a spiritually mortal danger. Darn right חמורים דברי סופרים יותר מדברי תורה! You do not want to get lax with those safeguards that protect us from threats to our entire eternal existence.
But there is another dimension. As a preface to that, I note that I have attended both marriage and parenting classes. I have discussed many times with rabbanim and "domain experts" how to correctly respond to more detailed and personal situations. Why? Because it's not good enough to be an acceptable husband and father. I strive to be an exceptional husband, father, and now grandfather. I am very distant from that goal, to be sure; but I strive despite my failures and false starts. Why? Because I love my wife, my children, and my grandchildren.
The Torah gives us guidelines to becoming perfect. Chazal crystallized those guidelines into actionable procedures. Why? Because our relationship with our Creator is not master/slave. The Creator cannot help -- so to speak -- loving His creations, and so He gave us His Torah. We are not simply appreciative of this great gift of eternal life, but we love our Creator for allowing us to come close to Him. But what can we possibly express that love in a real and meaningful way? That is the function of the Rabbinic injunctions. It is we -- Klal Yisrael -- who insist חמורים דברי סופרים יותר מדברי תורה, for that is how we express our love to the Creator.
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