Parshat Mishpatim: Understanding Oral Law and Rabbinic Authority by Rabbi Yossi Goldin

warm and that you're all doing well today we're going to be a little bit ambitious I decided to uh to take to take it I want to say take a chance but to try to be ambitious we're going to cover a topic that is a little bit complicated I would say it's somewhat I wouldn't say it's um I wouldn't say it's not controversial it is just a fundamental topic um in Judaism that is little that has a lot there's a lot a lot been written on there's a lot of debate regarding how to understand it but at the same time I think it's it's fundamental to our own aod and that is the issue of allu Law and rabic Authority okay one of the major questions that many people struggle with is understanding the history of the oral law how the oral law developed the nature of of rinic authority right many people there are many people who are comfortable with understanding the concept of of there being a God and of the Torah being Divine but the development of oral law and rabic Authority can be a little bit challenging so we're going to we're going to try to the reason why I wanted to do this this week is obviously we're now dealing with the weeks of the last week was when the Torah was given this week we have par MIM where the Torah pivots from the from the from the huge event of M of mad to the nitty-gritty details of the of the in um and already if you look at source number one on your sheets the T Rashi right away already references one of the major questions and that is well what exactly was given to Moshe at Hari how much was given to Moshe Hari what is the what is the written law what is the oral law Rashi in Source number one the very beginning of this week's para the the Torah begins says rash in Source number one says Rashi anytime the Torah introduces a section with the word a these These are the words these are that means that the Torah if it's just a the Torah is basically starting something new and not necessarily connecting to the previous story if you have the word v and these says Rashi the Torah is very deliberately trying to connect the ensuing story with the story that had just that was just that was just prior and says Rashi what's the connection between MIM and the the par right before just like everything in was given at says Rashi so too all the Nitty Gritty details of par MIM about being in EV and about my Ox gring your ox and all the details all the mitv in were also given in so already we see Rashi is trying is calling the midash why would the midash think this is necessary because obviously we all know The Ten Commandments many of us know that there were certain things that were given at ARC there's the written Torah but the question becomes well when was any of it given and what is the relationship between between the written Torah and between the oral law and as well the question becomes is how exactly does Rabin Authority develop over time it's a huge topic and as I said it's it's a bit of an ambitious topic we're not going to cover everything there is a lot of debate and a lot written on this subject what we're going to hopefully do today is share with you one perspective that that I think you know as as we say in Israel oer it does a little bit of seder helps kind of give us a little bit of basic understanding to how things to how things worked and and before we begin I want to actually start with a uh with a story this has not happened to me this actually happened to my father my father was a before he was the rabbi in Englewood he was the rabbi in pic Maryland which is actually where I was born I was born in pic Maryland I was one one one year old when we when we moved from from Maryland my father explained that one of the things that he was successful at doing inic was was was was the creation of an A and he and and any any of us who have ever been involved or familiar with an AR an AR basically involves the idea that in order for us to be able to carry on Shabbat in AR it's less of an issue because we have the raban that generally deals with these kinds of things but in order to be able to carry on Shabbat you need to establish different um wires and walls to create one unit to create what's called basically One Big R which enables us to now be able to carry from one place to the next and this involves a lot of tedious work setting up wires and poles it's a very very very complicated complex and um and has a lot of minute details to it and very often setting it every Friday it needs to get checked but setting it up again is very very complicated my father and one of his congregants would go had to go one time had to go fix the AR of and they had to they had to figure out in order again without getting into all of the the nitt details but they had to basically line up a pole with a wire that was on top in order to create what's called a p which is you know the image of of an opening of sunlight and and you have to make sure that it's exact and my father and and and this congregate were spending a really long time trying to line this this this poll up with the line and it was just it took a long time and and my father eventually they got it and then the congregant turns to my father and says Rabbi I didn't want to bother you in when you were in the middle but I but I really have a question for you said does God care does God really care whether or not this pole is lined up exactly on this string in order to we're supposed to create so I'm going to I'm not going to give you the answer yet I'm not going to give you what my father responded but I want you to think about that question because I think it really really sets the tone for what what we're going to be talking about today which is how do we understand so much of what we understand today to be our day-to-day Judaism how where does it come from what kind of authority does it come from and how exactly did we get to where we at today and that's what we're going to try to excuse me I'm just going to take off the sweater now this is going to be a yeah right okay exactly exactly so we're going to uh so that that's what I want that's what I want to do so the first thing we need to understand is a little bit of of a history a little bit of a history okay so we we know that that who gave the Jews The Ten Commandments at har and according to the tradition what was handed was the lot and Torah as again there's the debate exactly what how much of Torah was written at this time but at some point because again much of it was going to be developed over over some time at some point God gave mosha what's called Tora which means the the the the written Torah which includes in it the written law whether that was all given to Moshe right now at har or it was only really fully given at the end of saim is a big is a big debate but what's clear is God gave Moshe something called what we know as the five books of Moshe the five books of Moses they are what's known as the Tora the written law in addition we know according to our tradition that there's something else that was given which is known as Torah shab known as known as the Ora now the or we know the reason why it's called the or is because it was not written down it was given from Moshe to yahushua and to the zakum and it was passed down orally for many many many generations and therefore you had two parts to the Torah you had the written Torah which was immutable which was which was written cannot be changed and was given as a text to the Jewish people and passed down from generation to generation and right next to that or together with that you had the oral law which was passed down from teacher to student um if necessary parent to child and pass down from from generation to generation at certain point in time as many of us are familiar with the all also needed to undergo a transformation rabi um realized that there was a concern that that that the all R was going to be lost and therefore he wrote what's known as the mishna okay again in terms of years this is generally understood to be around 200 in the Common Era that process continues with not just the M doesn't just not just with the mishna but it also continues with the gamar by the way if anybody has had the has had the opportunity to learn mishna one thing you might notice about mishna is that it's written very very shorthand very hard to understand not only that very often in the gamarra the gamar will establish that sometimes the m is even missing certain texts it's very hard if you're just reading the mishna to really understand the mishna why would and it seems that did this on purpose why would rasi do that on purpose why would he purposely if he's writing it down write it in such a Shand way have to go have a teacher to explain excellent excellent so it seems to me that the reason he did this was because he wanted to if he needed to write it down because was calleda he we were concerned that the Torah was going to be lost he wrote it down but he wrote it in a way that still required that oral transmission between a teacher and a student and that by the way becomes what we know as the gamar what happened was what was what is the the G are the learning studying interpreting the mishna conversations that are going on in the different B mid we have this this is happening in in B and Babylonia one time and that's also happening in y and it happens for hundreds of years until eventually that is also written down raashi and Rina they write it down and they write down that's what's known as the tud b tud b is the rinic understandings explanations interpretations of the mishna conversations that took place in b that's the Tad B and then those conversations that took place in Isel were known as the tedi obviously we're doing this quickly and there's a lot more that we could that we could that we could be discussing here but by the way if anyone has learned gamor and always wondered like why is it so confusing like why do they they almost like uh you know they're like jump it's almost as if they have OCD they're jumping from one thing to the next there's no seder to it there's no it's so you know it's not so totally totally disorganized you could be like doing three do and three blot discussing this one issue eventually be like oh no the whole the whole premise was incorrect and then then they're like well why then why is it here the answer is because the gamarra is is really just the transmission of the conversations that took place in in the Bas medish and just like when you have people having a conversation our conversations can often go from one thing to the next until five minutes later we're like how did we even get here right so the same thing happened in the bass medress the Bas Med the rabbis would one Rabbi would quote a mishna someone would say oh there's someone else that disagrees with this and they would start talking about oh by the way that reminds me of a story which reminds me of another conversation and they'll finally eventually usually they get back to what they were up to but that is exactly what gar that's the beauty of gamarra because what it's basically showing is the process of learning and understanding understanding um the Torah so that's just a basic a basic background now fundamental question which we have to understand is why would God why would God give a two-tiered Torah not two-tiered I shouldn't say two-tier two-part Torah why didn't why what why would God give us a written Torah and an oral of Torah what's what's the reason why not just have one or the other any suggestions well what's what's the advantage to one over the other so to me I understand the oral as an understanding of the written okay well why not write it all so I guess you have certain Basics and stuff excellent okay good okay so meaning meaning the question would be if the what's the advantage to the written Torah what's the advantage to something written as opposed to oral EAS it's e it's it's easier to remember obviously right it's going to be passed down there's no there's no concern consistency consistency there's no concern that anything is going to get lost right it's it's there so if if a wanteded to ensure that the Torah was going to be remembered for generations to come what would be the easiest thing to do write everything in the Torah and then we can have it pass it down generation here's the text it' be a pretty big text okay but here it is right if we know what you know you see sh and you see everything but but there's something missing what's missing when you have a written Torah flexibility flexibility or I would call it adaptability adaptability meaning the ability to because if everything was just written and given as it was thousands of years ago then that wouldn't enable any aspect of the Torah to be able to apply or to be shifted or whatever adaptability in whatever way to to new to new times okay imagine if we were still if everything in aror was simply as it was written thousands of years ago it would look almost like we wouldn't even recognize it and soes also gave the oral La the oral LA on the one hand has the challenge that it might get lost okay the transmission there's always that rightone play telephone or broken telephone or just any kind of that you know that there's always a challenge whenever there's a transmission orally so there's that challenge on the other hand it enables a certain flexibility a certain adaptability which is required if you have an eternal law that needs to be continuously applied for generations to Generations yes but there's also interpretation could be interpreted excellent excellent so so you're correct correct there also is interpretation although the question can become well I would say this way first of all interpretation can be one of two things interpretation and I mean what you're really raising which we're going to get to is well where does this this idea of argument come from right if the or La was given from Moshe to from God to Moshe and then so why why are we ever arguing and the answer is is because number one it could be which we're going to see soon it could be that there was an issue of the transmission there was a rebi taught his students five five students and each of them heard different things right we ever been in a room and we and one person say something and's everyone hears something different there's one the other option could be we're applying it to a new law and when you apply it to a new a new reality then you might have a difference in interpretation so you're right interpretation is going to be a part of it but you could have argued well then write write the Torah and its interpretation have it all have it have it all be written down meaning I'll give you a classic classic example which we're going to use a few times the Torah says you shouldn't do any thank you very much what does mal mean nowhere in the Torah does it say what mala means there are a couple of examples one one example that's mentioned is which is I think the only the thir that's mentioned and the wants to know why but all the other that's a word does it come from so there you have the gamar now we're going to see soon how that develops but why couldn't the Torah have just written don't do Mal this is what Mal means these are all the applications of it and then the answer is because then it will be stuck in the generation of Sinai and we wouldn't be able to apply it or or or engage with it in the new generation so what a did was again in brilliant fashion created a two-part system that enables them to play off of each other on the one hand similar to what you said you have this base skeleton which is the written law that is immutable that's that's going to stay the way it is passed down from Generation generation on the other hand you have this whole Corpus of oral law which is going to enable you to a interpret and apply the written law and the base of the written law for generations to come and and that's really why who did I mean as I understand did did did did what he did the question then becomes okay so then let's get to the details though how much of this was actually given to Moshe RI meaning when when Moshe went up for 40 days and 40 nights did he actually like was he given all of the gamarra and all of the mishna and everything okay so this is a big debate yes can't be can't be why not because all the quotations you're quoting this re here and this so there's a couple of reasons why it can't be so number one number one the simple understanding of why it would be a challenge is because how could tell M what Ashi is going to say Rina is going to say and what Raa anday are going to say Generations later okay also a good question number two by the way just a technical point a practical Point meaning from a physical perspective how you know we we all know how big Garra is and how how it continues to develop an all tour so there so there are some questions and this is actually a big debate look at look at source number two Rashi this is a Rashi in parat Bahar Rashi discusses this question and again there's a couple of garas that discuss it as well Bahar says in the beginning of the topic of of of is mentioned so it says rash why are they what does it the Torah says said and then it mentions says rash why all of a sudden we're mentioning har andita what's what's the connection between har andita wasn't the only Mitzvah that was mentioned at all the Mitzvah were mentioned at just like all of its rules and details and applications were were given at so too all the mitv all of their details all of their rules and all of their applications were given to Har okay so this is a very very strong statement where it seems to be that at least the simple understanding of this medish is is that no at gave Moshe everything now you're asking how could that be okay so we the way the way we have to understand it could be knew what they were going to say and therefore he gave it to Moshe okay then you get another question of free will we're not we're not going to cover that but that that's the simple understanding and look at this gamarra the gamar in Source number three says something very very similar almost takes it even a step further the gamar says the son of says in the name of what do we mean when the Torah says and upon them all the things that hem said to you on the mountain showed Moshe all the details of the Torah and all the details of of of of the literature and any future any future new ideas that people are going to suggest we're all given to mosha that's the simple understanding of this of this gar and it's astounding and I understand your concern I think it's a fair concern it's an astounding the question is what do we how what do we make of it one more one more midash Source number four Rua these are just what says the it says just saying it says play on the words okay this this meas could not be any more vague right couldnot be any more clear it says everything mikra mishna talmud toos a and even whatever a student is going to say in front of his rebi second grade kid is going to say in front of his rebi was all told to mosha okay yes then you have I or whatever that as though okay good the question right of course although the question with that becomes how do you determine who has the authority to do that and how do you determine what we have to listen to yes but I think but I think the Practical questions exist and I think they're fair questions and I think what you're saying is yes there's something there there needs could be a a connection between what happened at ouri and what we're doing today because otherwise there would be no Authority and that everyone agrees the question is how much of a connection is there the literalist version what you call the maximalist version of this of this medish is that really everything was told to Moshe who and and generally the person who's associated with this opinion is thean thean in Source number five tan he is the maximalist he says no this is what we have to take this literally everything that was in the written law and everything that was oral was all given to Moshe all the different arguments all the different back and forth didn't just teach him all the laws even when M was going to arrive was going to was going to come Hashem told Moshe the m okay so the Ron has a very literalist interpretation of this where he basically seems to say this is what it was now how do we how could he do it how does it work out with future with future free choice all excellent excellent questions but this is what the Ron seems to understand on the other side of the coin you have the rambam now the rambam in in in one of his famous works called okay his introduction to his commentary on the mishna he goes through a long interpretation and an understanding of how oral law developed and he develops a very very different theme he basically develops the idea and this is how he understands these midin which is that everything that came the the mechanisms and the rules and the laws for how the Torah was going to be applied in future Generations all of that was given to Moshe not all of the details what was given to MOS was this is how the rabbis can use to expand upon the laws to expound upon the laws to develop the laws to understand them and to apply them so the the foundation was given to Moshe at har the actual applications the details the mlus all of that is rooted at Hari but not necessarily practically given to mosha at har and that's how he understands and that's how the would understand all these mid what does it mean when the mid says that every single thing that the rebi was going to say because the foundation for that learning the foundation for that study the foundation for applying all of the tools that the rabbis have to explain the Torah to explain T that was all given to Moshe and then it's now applied generation after Generation by the rabbis of each generation in the way that it needs to be done and so you have a process which is rooted at har but is able to apply for generations to come yes I see a couple of questions excellent the ram is by the way I just shared with you the r in two sentences we're gonna now the r goes into this in great detail and he explains different categories of how things are developed so we're we're going to see that it's an excellent question how how does m come if it's all where does it all come from okay I thought I saw our hands so now the rambam basically in his I didn't bring you the act the text of the ROM because it's a very very long piece but we're going to go through it together the ran basically outlines that there are five parts five major sections to the oral law okay and each of them play a role in the development of the oral law and they come together to create a beautiful tapestry of of of Torah that is rooted of of of oral La that is rooted at ouri but able to apply for Generations the first section that the that the ram gives is he calls it Pim this is on the sore sheet for you we're not on the S sheet now this is because again this is all outside we're going to get to a couple of important garas to expound upon this means commentaries and explanations that were given from Hashem to Moshe so these were explanations of the Tor that were given directly from Hashem to Moshe and there's no about them okay an example would be the example that the ra that that the r gives is the Mitzvah of Suka Suka Suka the Torah says you should sit for seven days doesn't say well what's a Suka what does a Suka look like what can a Suka be made of who's obligated to sit in the Suka what does it mean to sit in the Suka I have to sit there only when I sit there do I have to sleep there do I have to eat there there's so much that's not in the Torah and those explanations says the rambam those explanations were given orally from God to Moshe M they were given directly then Moshe would then pass them down and transmit them from generation to Generation Now Within These specific this specific group of laws and again how knew that this that this group of Suka was in that I don't know there's no there's no because it was clear this was given this is this is what the Torah meant when it says this not only that says says the rambam sometimes in the gamar the gamar will try to connect the back to the source the tomorrow will say oh you know what it makes sense that sitting in the Suka means eating and sleeping why because the Torah says T and says the you should sit in the way that you live meaning even though these laws were given by God directly to Moshe and there's no m still the gar will often try to find a connection a logical extension from the text to the actual law so it's almost as if they're working backwards they they have the law they know what the law is but they will want to sometimes understand it deep more deeply by connecting it back to the Pim now by the way there's lots of laws where this isn't the case but this is one section of laws says the rambam where God gave it directly and it has a logical connection to Something in the Torah and that's often explained in the gamar the gamar is basically explaining originally was told orally and then it was written down where God will where the rabbis will say oh it makes sense I understand where this where this cabala came from because it fits in with the with the XY X Y and Z I just want to go with one with one other section and I'll take any questions that's section number one section number two is similar in name but it's fun and it's similar in some in some ways but very different in another way and that is something called this many of you have probably heard of what is means a law that we can't explain it there's no the gamar will not be able to explain where it comes from okay if you have the law it's not like oh the rabis be like oh that makes sense because I can find some kind of explanation in the Torah we have no clear explanation for it but it was given from God to Moshe and on that there's no either sometimes the gamar you you'll see it the G will say well where do we know this from and where do we know that from the answer is we gave it from who said it that's that's okay one of the classic examples of this the ram gives is what we call sh measurements okay the fact that certain times the sh is you have to eat a kazas and other times the she of of a Mitzvah is eating a kab like an egg or like an olive orer it's eating a k okay there's all these different measurements and amounts that that that apply in where did that all come from so actually the gamar does try to hint to it by by quoting a but that's just a hint that's just in the end of the day it was one of the things that gave to M and is passed down directly from mosar from generation to generation okay so those are two two categories which are again not argued upon can't be argued upon because they were given from one to the next and they're both pass down set there's no now they're different because one as the ran points out can be logically applied or could have been learned from the Torah although it was given to us directly from and the other one we don't find a logical explanation in the in the puki Okay saw a couple of questions yes sleep okay good good now again the rambam doesn't say that every aspect of the Mitzvah Suka falls under this category of what we would call um there's another category in the gar and that is very very that is very that is that revolves the rabbis in a much more in much more intensive way which is the third cat which we're to get to which is derived what he calls I just want to use the actual language that he that he uses so forgive me for just uh finding it in my in my notes meaning where the rabbis will use certain tools all different tools and using those tools will interpret that will also happen in some things so you're right there is going to end up being certain parts of this that are not straight from Moshe but certain parts of it are and that's and that's true within a certain and within many many many other other okay sorry yes I think that was one of his I have heard that I have heard that I have heard that the was more committing in what he applied certain things and certain not so that's a good question so again uh it's a good question I think his interpretation of the word t will be a little bit different but again I I I I was giving the Suka as an example I don't want to speak for the I'm going clarify which part it could be that I that I that I miss meaning according to the ram certain details of the Mitzvah of Suka were given and they're and they're not and and the fact that you need to live in the Suka that's clear whether you need to sleep in the Suka or you need to eat in the Suka or when and not that was already going to be the next step which is interpreted by the rabbis in different ways and that's where sometimes you have but the basic need to to live in the Suka to do something in the Suka that's clear from the mosha but why are people so so against him on that oh that's that's just I think a cultural and uh because because it's because it's what we call I think it's because it's what we call a it's an unusual interpretation but it doesn't mean it's it's wrong I don't want to get too much too much into the specifics of that specific it is something I've heard that the B says but again I think I don't want to get too much into the into into the specifics there okay so we have those are the first two categories and those two categories are similar in that they're both not debatable both given directly from Moshe to from to Moshe and past down the third category as I said and this is going to be the most revolutionary is what the r calls and one way to to to kind of give a title to this is what we would call it's basically called rinic interpretation in this category gives the rabbis the ability to use certain tools tools that again are grounded at Hari rooted at Hari to interpret what the Torah meant in certain situations and that is and that and that's basically where the rabbis are it said rules and laws that the rabbis are going to interpret using their own logic again they're not just using their own logic just out of nowhere they're using they have to use specific tools that are given to them but using those tools and their understanding they are going to interpret what the Torah means in certain ways certain things will be just given from mosha directly many other things and this is probably a majority of the gar is understanding applying it to new situations or a greater understanding of the details of some of the things that we did get from Moshe but haven't been fully fully fleshed out and that says the rambam is where mlo will develop mlo will develop when you have the tools and you and the tools are given to the rabbis and rabbis are human right and human and and and humans have their own interpretations and understandings so you could have two rabbis who are given the same tools and looking at the same PK and say interpret what this means and they'll come out with two different interpretations why because K as it were almost took a step back and is giving the rabbis the ability to do this now why does he give the rabbis the ability to do this because if you didn't then the Torah would be static and wouldn't be able to adjust to new generations you need that ability for new interpretation and new an ability for a new application to everything as the world changes and as reality changes like a classic example would be applying the laws of chabas to electricity or if you wanted to even do business on the internet there's so much in our Ever Changing world that requires new application and requires understanding the base and then applying it to new laws and that's a majority of the gumar where they were taking the Law and they were interpreting it in their as they understood it to their times and then the later rabbis that and Theon continue to apply that law to the everchanging realities within which within which they live so now the rabbis will do this in one of two ways generally sometimes they'll use they'll do this by explaining an existing law which means they again the Torah says you can't do Mal on chabas but we don't know what mala means okay so that's the rabbis using certain tools well the the Torah it's heish the Torah the Mitzvah of shabis is next to the Mitzvah of Mishka and therefore the rabbis are going to use the tools to interpret that what the Torah says when you can't do Mal must be connected to the Mish which means you can't do the things that were used to build the Mish and that's how we get the laws of of of of chabas okay that's one type that's explaining what the Torah means and the second type is as I said before is applying the law to new realities both of these are the rabbis using there the tools given to them to interpret and apply it to to new to new generations now this is to be very very clear this isn't where this isn't an example which we're going to see soon an example of where the rabbis will will will enact a new law or a new decree that's not what we're talking about we're talking about where the rabbis will take the Torah and explain it or apply it to New realities while still maintaining the the main law now let me ask you a question when the rabbis do that what is the status of that law if let's say when the Torah says you can't do is it Rabbi or is it biblical in nature what raise your hand if you you think it's Rabbi whatever they say I raise your hand if you think it's biblical raise your hand if it's a mix raise your hand if you're confused okay okay so it's a it's this is nonclear okay and there's actually a debate regarding what the rambam understands to me and I'm just talking from my understanding of what I've seen to me I would I would I would think it's biblical because it's it's a Biblical law it's auk in the Torah we just don't know know what the Torah exactly means the Torah says don't work on chabas the law of not working on chabas is a Biblical commandment I just don't know what it means and I need the rabbis to help me understand what the Torah meant when it commanded it and not everyone agrees that this is what the ramam thinks but the the mainstream approach is the ramam believes these laws to be biblical in nature because the rabbis are simply explaining what the Torah meant when it said you shouldn't do X Y and Z they're just explaining the Torah or applying it and saying when the Torah says you can't write it also applies to electricity it also applies to a computer or again with all different types of laws now where does this Authority come from I'm sorry okay correct I'm correct you're right right good we're we're going to get we're going to get ranan in a second there are things called ranan and according to this understanding that's actually something totally different which we're going to get to in a second ra doesn't ra no of course he has ranan but he doesn't believe that that's raban here ranan is something different in a second I'll explain what it is okay now where the rabbi yes RAB I I don't mean to be rudas but it's impossible because you're a human excellent excellent questions so how can you get 100% I want you to hold that thought for a second and I want to do the next couple of sources and then we'll see okay okay where do the rabbis have this Authority it's basically what you're asking who gives them that Authority God does Source number six Source number six says the Torah this is talking about the rabbis in right you should do what they tell you the place where hasem shoots which simply means in again simple understanding this is referring to the Sanhedrin okay and you should keep and do everything they teach you based on the Torah that they teach you and on the Judgment whatever they tell you you should do whatever they tell you to do if they tell you to go left or right you have to listen to them okay so the Torah already is clearly on a Biblical level giving a certain power to the rabbis now your questions are all very fair questions wait a second so I went to I studied for four years I opened up the gamar I call myself a rabbi everyone's got to listen to everything I say of course not of course not of course not so question number one is always going to be there was a power that was given to certain rabbis and the sanedrin okay also we believe that the rabbis in the or the gar and the mishna were were of a certain stature and then in every generation there are going to be rabbis of that of a certain stature that are able to apply these these situ it's not to any Rabbi that's number one obviously okay number two number two you have to be very very careful that yes humans are humans and a who did give the development of the law to people and that's part of the system itself and I want I want to take it a step a step further so first of all we see that again that that the Torah itself gave gave the rabbi those authorities only certain rabbis now part of our argument nowadays is be which rabbis have the authority to do that okay so that's a fair question again who are these what we call the the rabbis of the m and every community may have their own and it could be that that's part of the gulish that we live in that we don't agree on who those rabbis are but there's a no question that it needs to to be some rabbis who have the ability to do this and be able to bridge the Torah and bring the Torah to today's world but here's the question and this is this is really the next uh the next question is we mentioned M so what happens if there's a m you have and and they are interpreting or applying the law in different ways one says it's m and one says it's assur so who's right what do I do majority follow your you follow okay so look at the look at look at look at the F fascinating gamor which I imagine many of you are familiar with and this is going to confuse us all but I think as it confuses us it's going to make things a little bit more clear Source number seven Source number seven again I told you guys we were going to be ambicious today this is a this is a heavy topic a heavy topic okay Source number seven Amar re abaar reab says in the name of you might have heard this idea before for three years arguing about something they were saying is like me these people were saying is like me Heaven from from sh came and said both of these are the words of like okay okay now one second says the says the if if if both of them are the words of God so then why was the one who that we should follow them in a practical sense answers the because whenever would share the m to other people they would always quote's opinion first right how many of us in an argument with our friends about x y and z are always trying to make sure that everyone hears our opinion so be we're gracious enough to recognize we can have but I'm going to stare their opinion first and therefore we like them oh sorry they quoted their words andam and they always put bami first okay so now if you think about if we took at first glance this should confuse us all wait a second okay says M says comes the Torah and says both are the words of God what what does that even mean either it's m or it's AER either it's t or it's that's question number one number two if it's then what does it mean that we follow so I think we have to in order this isn't directly in the Ramba but this seems to be the the the understanding that I would share with you this is this this is the understand that I would share with you when gave or created this world called or this category called what basically said was rabbis here are the tools I'm giving you the base it's rooted at ouri and your job is now to apply it explain it expound upon the Torah and explain it and any Rabbi who stays true to the process and does that to the best of his ability whatever conclusion he comes up with is correct which means that beel and B shamai could be both be looking at the same source and have the same tools at their disposal and come out with opposite conclusions but as long as it's done with being staying true to the process it no longer matter you're going to say wait a second well what does God say is it right or is it wrong is it m or is it user the answer is it no longer Matters from an objective level because once the process has been given to certain and certain in our case we're using the gamarra as an example whatever conclusion they come to is correct if it's done using the process if it's if there's a loyalty to the process and done in a in in in a way that is appropriate and therefore both bitten out now obviously from a practical level we need to choose right we have the situation in front of us it's m or it's us so the answer says the gamar from from a from a from a conceptual perspective both B Shai and B are correct Hally they both stayed true to the process whatever conclusion they came to is correct practically we need to pick one so practically the Min is we're going to follow because of what he did and how he treated be Etc so practically we're going to pick one because as long as you stay true to the process then then then then you have the ability to uh to to to whatever conclusion these rabbis come to now I apologize I I want to make sure I always tend to go very close to Rabbi think they want to make sure that we finish but I'm happy to take question at the end now with this now with this we can by the way it's just two two very very something very very similar to what I just suggested is seen in mste in Source number eight mste in Moshe say regarding this issue regarding and its application and how and how it applies there's a famous line that the that is not in heaven we're GNA see that in one second as the as long as he does the proper research analyzes the topic looks in the looks in the looks at all that's being written as long as he does it with the proper and the Resolute is seriousness and we call you do it and you're loyal to the [Applause] process and he comes to a certain conclusion that this is correct and he believes that that's what we're supposed to teach even if objectively up in heaven they realize that he made some kind of mistake and really he made a mistake nevertheless says the that's also because if he did the proper research and he approached it with the proper mentality and the proper understanding what he calls Co Ro seriousness then his conclusion is correct From perspective and he's going to getar and he's doing the right thing by teaching the even if up in heaven he's gonna at some point it might be found out that he made that he made a mistake because Hal set up a system where loyalty to the process is is is what is what is K and with this we can understand the very very famous we won't see it all inside but the famous of the was the famous where there was a whether a certain a certain oven was t or and you had rabz against all the rest of the rabbis and remember who said what one of them they said was was T and one of them said it was tahor and Rabbi said you're wrong said you know if I'm right then I want this this tree to to shoot up in the in the heaven and it shut up hundreds of meters and then he says if I wanted if I'm right then I want then the water's going to show and the water with the river was was streaming this way he started streaming the other way in the opposite direction and then he said if I'm right then the walls of this base Med to shake and the walls of the Bas Med started shaking and the rabbi still didn't listen to him and then they said if I'm right a BOS from shamayim should come and say RAB elzar is right and a BOS from sh came and said rabar is right why are you arguing with him turn the rabbis to to to RAB elzar and they say the following thing the decision in this question is not up in heaven now we can understand what that means what does it mean the answer is the development and the way has been given is that it is interpreted here by humans who are subject sometimes to mistakes bias again bias impli the only my my only my only issue with bias is it implies something something sinister and and again I'm I'm not going to deny that there are certain just like with everything there are rabbis who may have that but what I would I would prefer to use rabbis who have certain not certain inclinations or certain understandings or certain perspectives and that's where yes but that's what akhu did he created a system where if you have the proper rabis who use the proper system and they and and they're loyal to the process their interpretation is more important on some level than the interpretation and how does the gamar end the gamar ends with the following the gamar says the following it says that after this story found Eli ran into elvi do you have ever ran have you ever run to elvi on the street ran to on the street and he said to him what's hasem doing now what was hasem doing during this entire this entire story this is just the end of sour and the end of the same in and he's saying my children have defeated me my children have defeated me now again what does that doesn't this isn't a contest but whates is showing is that this is is that is that in the end of the day once Hala has been developed it is now developed down here on Earth okay now we only have a couple of minutes I want to just finish complete the picture here okay we've done a lot and as I said we were ambitious today the r we've only done three categories of the rambam there are two more categories of H that the rambam understands there to exist within the world of oral law and that is not Rabbi interpretation but what we would call Rabbi legislation what does rabic legis legislation mean there are certain instances and this was given to the rabbis there are certain instances where the rabbis will need to enact a new law due to certain realities or changing realities on the ground okay so this is what one of them is called I'm talking a little bit f just to make just to I want to give you guys a couple minute break before Rabbi finlin one is called giz what we would call decrees and that's where the rabbis will realize that due to factors on the ground there's a need to enact a new law usually done to protect a Biblical law okay a classic example of a is oh 18 18 minut is something else but yes 18ab a classic one would be M right many of us are famili with Mah right there's a lot of misunderstanding exactly what m is M basically means there are certain things you're not supposed to move it's not always about touching it's very often about moving you're not supposed to move a pencil you're not supposed to touch or move you can't move a carard there are certain things you're not supposed to move on shabis because they are M now what was the need for M the rabbis realized that many people were having trouble keeping the biblical commandment not to write and therefore they were afraid that if they now they said in order to make sure that you don't write don't pick up the pencil in order to make sure that you don't break a tree don't climb a tree on chabas there are certain things you shouldn't do within H shabas there's a lot of what we would call decrees denate that were established in order to protect the biblical law now these are all fully biblic rabic sorry these are all rabic rabic legislation decrees to help us keep the the last category is not is not Rabin Gaz but we would call Rabin takote a Tak was something very very different it wasn't established to protect the biblical law it was established due to certain cultural realities on the ground that that we need that the rabis recognized was a need to shift okay a classic there's what we call okay a classic one is a man cannot have more than one wife okay right it used to be that biblically a man was allowed to marry from the Torah a man can marry more than one woman and then at some point realize this is not going to work for many many different reasons and they establish this Tak that a man cannot marry more than one wife another takana is that a man can't divorce his wife without her agreement okay I want to get into this I know this is also very a very you know big Topic in terms of divorce and auna and things like that but Hally a man is allowed to from the Torah divorce his wife against her will at some point Raam established no that's not the way it should be done and now Hally a man cannot divorce a woman against her will she has to accept he still has to initiate the get but she has to accept the get in order for divorce proceeding to apply okay so these are examples of where two other examples of where the rabbis through this entire world of oral law were given the ability to enact certain legislation in order to deal with different issues another one would be pral those of you familiar with pral right pisal was established in order to make sure that because people weren't giving giving loans and therefore they established this way to help that certain loans W wouldn't be erased after schita in order to encourage people to continue to to give loans okay those are different those are called Tak what I want to just just end with was that was that final gar that you mentioned in the very very beginning the gamar tells us we're not going to see it inside now but the gamar tells us that mosenu when When what when went up he saw this is this is the gamar he saw Kosh tying the letters and the crowns of the different letters of the Torah and mosha said do we really need all of that and mosha said oh yeah there's going to be someone in later generations his name is Reb aiva and he's going to expound and explain what every crown on every letter means in the significance of it m says Whoa really can you take me to see him I want to meet this R so the gamar says the gar says that took MOS took took Moshe and put him in the classroom of RAB AA R AA was in the middle of teaching gar his students and mosha got upset he didn't understand a word of what they were saying it seemed totally foreign to him it made no what exactly are they talking about and then at some point a a student asked a question and Anda says Ah that that's and when mosha heard that he was comforted now what's the message here again this is a mish we don't know exactly what the idea is but perhaps the idea is as follows m recognized in the beginning he just it seemed so far into him mosha recognized what that in order to have an or law that is vibrant and that can continue for generations and generations it needs to be rooted at Hari it needs to have its base in the times of M but in order to apply for generations and generations it needs to have a certain adaptability and ability to apply and and therefore K who created this Corpus of oral law which is complex hard to understand but did it in such an amazing way that enables us to still have everything rooted in our history and in our tradition but yet relevant enough to apply to an everchanging world and that is something that is obviously only something only AES could create and as I said there's a lot more to talk about on this a lot of debate I only shared with you one perspective but I hope that it was a meaningful I'm just going to mention uh that this should be the the the yard site she Wasa uh whose yard site is is Ava whose yard is today okay wishing everybody a wonderful day