Shavuos: The Fluidity and Exclusivity of the Torah Shel Baal Peh

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com so good morning so learned something very important which is relevant to the upcoming yam and that is uh the that the oral law about the prohibition of writing down the oral law and we begin with the first mishna in it says received the Tyra he gave it over to and what's very difficult with this line is that what does it mean mha gave it to yua mha didn't just give the T to yua he taught the whole T of if you look in we just had in first then he taught then he taught and then he taught all of K Isel we had the she right and then uh correct and then arau everyone then the and then the so what does it mean that gave theu he gave it over to all of and here we come to an amazing passage from the med is written by one of the G of the students of the and he writes that although the Torah was given over to all of Cl Israel but who's in charge in other words who has Mastery over the Torah so question is what does that mean who has master over it whoever learns who yeah everyone who learns now the explanation he gives is who controls the Torah who determines what the Torah would say in each situation what does that mean says the met on the second line in number two we have a judicial system that is told motion to set up and that was in place so but there in terms of interpreting the T to to have the ultimate say in terms of what does the T say in this in this situation it's dependent on one person listen to this if you always do what the Torah says what that means is if a person is always going to do yeah the Torah says this so I'm going to do this who it's a a it's a bad thing you can't just do oh what does the Torah say that is why you know why Jerusalem was destroyed because they kept the Tyra they kept the Tyra cuz they did what the T says what y was destroyed because they did what the tah says yeah if you're going to be a stickler that oh the tah says this so I have to do this and then now the T says this do that no the tah has to have listen to this it's going to sound almost heretical but we're going to see how what it means the Torah has a certain fluidity it has a certain adaptability and flexibility not for me to say what to do and not for you to say what to do but for the godar to say how the Torah should apply in certain unique situations was destroyed because yeah it says the gamar says to do this the gar says to do that no you don't always do what it what it says so to speak you have to do what the person who Hashem has given the authority of Torah to what he tells you the Torah wants you to do every every door we have a person like that it's not the same person maybe yes may we have we may we may not we may not but at least in the beginning periods of the T the Torah was given specifically to one individual for him to was destroyed 19 times 19 separate times so each time there's probably a different cause and a different reason but this is referring specifically to the to the so what does this mean let's read what he says he says there are sometimes it is fit for to act according to the needs of the times the opposite of what it's brought in the like the says when there's a time to act for God break what this means is there are certain times you need to honor to break the for instance in the writing down of the it was to write down the but in order to do for God they had to break the this is not for every regular person to do only a unique individual when the mission says says in you know what m means it was given to him to do as he wants to it like it say say making it okay I'm giv yeah if Yu been Wanted only as a not permanently but as a temper like car he allowed a certain prohibition to be violated for a specific need for a specific time it's given over to the god to do as he wants now listen to this the that appli for thousands of years no not to break the Tyra not to break the here it's saying that it was given over to an individual right says the this is what we want to get at too this is his concluding words this is one of the reasons whyem did not want the oral law to be written it was given to each to do what they wanted in other words you know why hasem said don't write the oral law because the oral law is not black on white it's not set in stone it's not rigid it had a certain fluidity it had a certain adaptability it had a certain flexibility not what I think and what you think and what this Rabbi thinks it's dependent on yahua who gave it to the zakim who gave it to H and shami to specific individuals that's the concept needed to interpret the Torah again this this is very dangerous concept this is a very challenging concept we're not saying like theim we we believe in the but the T had a certain fluidity to it and I'm going to give you a prime example seos okay a beautiful Seer Ros I'm going to give you a prime example right we know marry R returns back with nami now there are two individuals who could possibly perform to r one is PL and one is B so B quickly quickly goes to the bezden he goes to thez and he approaches the look at number three says I can't do it I'm going to destroy my inheritance you redeem says Rashi what does a mean I can't marry her because maybe I'll destroy my children Zar my children the word refers to one's children in other words what the is saying is I can't marry this woman because she's from which nation May and if I marry her my children are going to be what I'm going to be destroying my children so therefore I can't marry her ask the brisar such a beautiful Kasha you know this is a classic Kasha the Grizz the brisar but wouldn't that have implied to boas too well what we're going to learn is had justed and listen to the words of the G I can't do it you do it because was I don't want to ruin my children ask the brisar he should have said much better I can't do it cuz I can't marry her because she's a shik she's aavi what's he worried about the children he can if he's worried then aside from the fact his kids are going to be pule he's doing an a we just say that said that but this plenty of money did not obviously did not agree with Bas right but is he the that the right right fine but he's not accepting it he's not this plenty of money is not accepting that so if he's not accepting theak what's he worried about his kids he should be worried he's eating kazer he's not to marry this woman why does he say p bris he should say much better he should ask I can marry her says bris an amazing thing the tells us sha sees a boy named David and David takes up the challenge right Galia said why should the Philistines go to war against Israel right why should the Philistines go to war against Israel Oh Let's Make a Deal whoever beats me will be your slaves and if I beat you if I beat you then uh you'll be our slaves so for 40 days Galas mocked the Jewish people that know one was taking him up to the challenge until this little boy says I'm up for the challenge so sh asked who's this kid I don't know who this kid is so thear asked in number five we don't have time to read it the gar asked that sha asks a the general who is this kid soar says sha doesn't know who David is we find elsewhere sha Love David sha made him his arm arms Bearer so what's he asking who is this kid L sha is asking who's the kid's father no sha knew very well about yesi yesi was someone who wherever he went he was followed by 600,000 people says the gamar what sh wanted to know was is this kid he knew he was from D he knew he was from Yehuda is he from parat or is he from Zar if he's from paratz he could be a king parat implies parat G he could act as a king or if he's from zarak he'll just have he'll just be distinguished so what happened what happened why was D so why was Shaw so uh interested in David because he saw David put on his armor and we know Shaw was taller than everyone else and it fit of it miraculously so he knew something was special so comes along and he says before you ask if he could be a king or not you know what you should ask is he worthy to come so says what do you mean why would he not why would he be he has more in his Heritage right because he comes from comes along says no but we have says oh yeah so why don't we say the same thing m m you can't marry M but a girl who's mzas you could marry so he said no m means m a foreign impurity men and women so said no what about mitz maybe you should be able to marry MIT so to know there's a reason why we're dasing it like this because why is because they didn't come to us who usually brings the food men women don't bring the food so says what are you talking about of course we're but the men should have brought to the men and the women should have brought for the women is speechless he has nothing to say he doesn't know how to answer's ESS so so sha says you know what take it to the B medish we forgot the let's see what they say in the B medish fine so they go into the B medish and they ask what's the could you marry in could you marry in the they [Music] said they said that you're allowed to marry so says what do you mean what about M what about M and this and that nobody knew nobody know the answer until a man was the no this is hundreds of years before this is hundreds of years before by us this is in the times of right all right no no oh excuse me correct David came from Russ yes yeah yeah so Bo was the RO son to know already they have to know that that he that excellent excellent question why do they not know the about already let's see until a man by the name of who by the way was the son of AIG said he took out his sword and he says whoever doesn't listen to this will be pierced By The Sword I have the following tradition from har and the ask is he believed but that Dar something that's relevant to him and this was relevant to because am's mother was from if pasin about something if it's before the incident happened we'll accept his but if it's while the incident is happening we don't accept the says in this case we accept what he says why because we could have checked it because sh and his bin was still around okay fine so is asking very good question what's the gar saying this whole Shak between and and could you marry could you not marry already says you know what you see from here you see from here a very important concept that if azin issues a ruling based on AA then that's their personal ruling for their time and there's nothing saying that a later bz cannot come along and dar differently and have a different I the later bz is not greater they don't have to be greater when a matter when there's a matter of D when it's a matter of EX Jesus when it's a matter of the 13 hermeneutical principles right then we don't say then we say it's up to each generation to determine what's in terms of deriving from from don't have can't argue yeah they they would have to das differently but if they see that youash differently the fact that in one way good for him but has a strong is a feels that it's a wrong how could you then the same for MIT then the same for M and don't give this business with because men could bring to men and women could bring to women until amas comes along and says the following I didn't get it from ad this is not a over here this is this is a specific tradition that so in other words and the Griz brings this from the ramb that there are two types of there are two types of oral law one type of oral is what you derive through a specific methodology and that is dependent on each generation however they see fit and a later generation could come along and argue on an earlier generation and the r says that explicitly it's on your sheet in number 12 the ra says with one of the ACC to what it in their if they judge a judgment another comes along they do what they see fit ask the but it says in they need to be greater in they need to be greater in Minion no that's talking about other matters of but when it comes to derivations through every best could do what they see fit but this is only our B when we started the she we talked about a God so the God and then and then later it was given over to thez even the M pointed that out if we don't have AZ this a doesn't apply if you don't have that individual or that no we'll see no it doesn't apply anymore really it doesn't but let's let's just um elaborate further what the asked that doesn't the thez have to be greater in itations throughs very important bris beautiful this is great listen to this says brisar this gu this PL he's a smart guy he knows exactly what Pas and therefore it was 1,000% permitted for him to marry Russ but you know what he's worried about he's worried about exactly what happened yes Bas pasin but who's to say that in the Next Generation the bezin will come along and say butas pass in this way he was wrong we pass in a different way so he was not worried about his own personal AA for him it wouldn't be a sin his he was worried that his children and his grandchildren who's to say that a later won't come along and say that wasn't worried about that ah same thing would apply to so why was B not worried about that and why Tak how was able to defeat because said this is not derived this is not a matter of himself says number eight didn't agree he didn't know he didn't realize that he didn't realize that or maybe even what said to look at number eight the writes what's the of various groups says but not the so very interesting a very beautiful plenty of money was only worried about his children he wasn't worried about his own sin but what we're learning is could we make AIA that look that if if everything is under control of a and if came and came from lineage directly related to a mo then it must be no the would never come from if didn't say it was okay first at this point they didn't know was not not anointed no no no no I'm talking about you look back later on and you would say that because this lineage came froma you obviously it must be that would allow that the there is a concept like that that if you see The Offspring are good it must be things were okay but on Hal level you can't bring Hal proof from who the children are as to the permissibility of a certain act we have a lot let me let me let me cover the ground so so this is the the illustration of the idea of the that the reason why the was not allowed to be written down is it had to have a certain flexibility and fluidity which you see from the r because matters that are governed by Jos are specific are specific to the generation one generation they could see the need for this another generation they could see the need for that and I just want to point out and I don't even fully understand it the brings down in three places I found in the now there are a few just of there are few from one is his Parish on and one is his Parish R in his Parish on R in number nine he writes in the name of the Y who writes in the name of the is from also one of the like this you want to see the fluidity the he says like this is looking for a wife for have a great the daughter of light in right what's wrong with them light lights basically he's a Mammon he went off a little bit why couldn't Abraham marry off his children to the descendants of light says the sh because at that point in history they dared mayavi Beavis they were off at that point in history the same way the G was afraid that even though he was afraid of what would say later what said later was actually what the was before such things before Torah that's what the sh brings down or whatever that's what the sh brings down now this seems to be not going like the what we said that it was that it was permitted although I don't know I'm not sure how you reconcile this with that point but then he had something one second then he something further he says Not only was the that in the times of and that's why they married their descendants of the in the times of that was also the in other words it's not that they weren't sure what the was about May and they knew what the they had a tradition from and that is why and died says the look in the theum says they died because they married they married they didn't convert them yet says says not they converted them but you know why they died because they were Stiller because at that point in history the this obviously not going or possibly not going with that it so when did it change changed the how could he do that because we learned from the ra a matter of is dependent on the B of every generation they just didn't know it was they thought it was M you could say could that he knew that he's saying that M andan died because they marri them why because according to them they thought the was we had the other sh when you think something right that was the sh we had okay possibly possibly possibly you need you need Kap you need kapar okay listen to this listen to this so in until came along even time so changed the so what a p it is that that his nephews they marry this woman they drop dead he marries her he has how could such a thing be it's one thing you want to say the changed from one generation to the Next Generation but the same woman she used to be a killer she used to be you even though you know also you know that was the end of him after but not as an not as an so how could such a thing be says this woman who look at the very next day she's building that's howar but again you see number nine so you see this concept what this philosoph no so that's what that's what we're saying don't try this at home it's not for me and you to to it's only the it's only the best it keeps them they're taking it's a very challenging concept but okay good we're going get he was old he he was going to die anyway Hashem you know Hashem wanted to give him one last know that yeah he was an old man Hashem gave him one last leg to to procreate RAB so I heard it suggested it was not such a simple thing to say I have a question I'm sorry yeah you want to know hang on cuz I lots of weren't by the time weren't they pasin maybe they pasin that it was no good I mean that it is good and that's why they got married but we don't find we don't find anywhere why did they die we don't find anywhere that they Das that way we find by that he conven 10 people and heh but we don't find made that they just went ahead and did it so they were violating the the status of what the was until then okay R there is a question that we just learned from the Raam that matters of DHA that if you feel the earlier bezin was incorrect the later bezin could argue even if they're not greater so if that's the case there's a famous question of the K mishna that everybody asks and that is a look at number 13 He says if a laterz could argue on an earlier bezden then why can't Ana argue Onana we always know the will always ask you're against the M I have a against you who cares he differently a bezan even if he's not even if they're not as great in stature and in number and in wisdom they could argue on an earlier bezan we always find we ask on from and according to the r that we just learned later bezin could argue on an earlier bezin so the C of mishna is forced to be it's possible to say once the Mish was sealed and it was redacted and it was closed the Jewish people accepted and establish it's finished any once it's black on right you can't argue what about with the they did the same thing once the gar was sealed then a a the v no one could argue on what it says in the why there some interpret it they can interpret it they can interpr maybe come up with a different result they can interpret what the gamar is saying but once the mishna was sealed can't argue once the gamar was sealed a later person can argue why there was some kind of consensus of the Jewish people the also brings down a very interesting say for in the P that this idea that the writes is already found in the ra number 14 the r says the same thing second line number 14 anything in you need to follow we could force people to keep the why there's some kind of consensus that once the gar was sealed that's the final word the marus asks though he says if only would help me please show me in where it says that when rebi codified the mishna all of got together and they said to whatever it says in the mishna and then please show me in ch where it says that when raashi seal the gar there was some kind of you know a convention you know a good convention Tas convention everyone got together and they said I pledge allegiance to the sh you know when did that happen and the tries to explain this writes in a letter that it's not like we did the faor or favor and we all got together for the purpose of unity to say yeah we'll follow the mishna yeah we'll follow the gamar it wasn't just a matter of uh protocol to keep the unity or to give a certain legal binding to the mission thear say is very simple the generation after the mishna saw themselves and they saw the dramatic decline that they had compared to they saw that they were not no longer in the same ballpark they saw that it was the end of an era they recognize their complete unworthiness compared to the and it was implicit it was understood that what the said was Final it wasn't a matter of of um practical practicality a matter of unity it was a matter of they understood that they're worthless compared to sense yeah they were marish that has such a high that you can't disagree with what they're saying and then he says likewise for the gamar so I once heard possible another reason why Inay can't argue with the mishna and why the later cannot argue with the gar and that is based on what we're learning from the Met and that is that while the t is still transmitted orally it's fluid it's flexible every generation could do as they see fit but once it's black on white so then it becomes almost like it's rigid that's final so once the mission was recorded that's like a down say not fluid anymore and once okay think about that perhaps uh what we're saying from the C of mish is more but perhaps what we learned from the from the uh from the gives us a certain understanding of why once something is recorded it can no longer be uh adapted okay that is one reason that we gave why hasem did not want T pet to be written down and what is it because once it's written it's rigid in other words let's say we had in writing finished nobody then Bas would never have been able to marry Russ if it would have said in in writing right right like then never would have died and would have been able to marry these children hasem wanted T to be fluid and therefore it was never incorporated into writing until and okay now we're going to explore wanted it to be static I mean Dynamic yeah what right did the what did what right does anybody have to say that we're now at a stage which it's now static and not Dynamic clever enough not to let them know that and they but they knew that they can see it an argu once the nobody else is going to become in that generation it's one thing but another generation maybe he's going to come up and rise up again the thing we're no longer going to have anybody that's going to be able to operate on a dynamic phas recognized that he has to take this chance only because the T would have been forgotten completely and that was had it that it was able to be fluid until said I have a whole topic that need to get out in the next couple minutes one more possible reason another explanation why Hashem did not want the T to be written and that is we find often in the gamar that we have a question on a mishna for example in ba over here but it's uh there countless examples we have a mish and we ask a on the mishna and says good the m is missing words but this is what it meant to say what I mean he's a great man he knew how to write the mission was written brilliantly why would he leave words out of a mishna oh good question the mishna is missing words I mean what kind of trick is that the teacher says you got the wrong answer no what oh you want the whole answer I have on a different piece of paper the explanation from my answer on the test but we find it in countless examples yeah that's the same reason why the t is to used to interpret the T that door open to continue the same way that generation after generation after generation so you're saying to maintain a certain fluidity even even after the corre okay good we're going to explore another possibility the concept changes what the concept changes by Generation generation yeah that's what I'm saying yeah yeah sobody say the styler wants to say well you know the mishna was written very concisely and very briefly and not everything could be written down it's a little bit it's hard to understand that that answers the question fully especially you find a lot of different concepts in mnas that are hard to understand for example there's a concept of there's no order to the mishna why what kind of concept is that you have a concept of oh you want explanation oh you find it somewhere else but here we leave it out I mean we kind of explain what you mean so the he explains the concept of very interestingly and that is he says you think it's easy to remember all the mishas impossible how can anyone remember all the mnas what's the best way to remember something with a song with a song right I remember in uh my siblings was in elementary school they knew all the all the states United States with their capital and their main products how they had a niggan with the song you can remember everything says look at number they used to learn the with song why they used to learn it by heart if you have a good tune it's much easier to remember says that's you know what's the song finished it didn't fit the beat the words did not fit the the song ended the song ended and they didn't have the words not that it ended is there missing words there's a certain n there's a certain tune the words had a fit the tune and every say there had a different tune the words didn't fit the tune they had to memorize it very interesting and he says by the way even though even though there more there's a deeper answer don't make it he says keep it simple if you can't find an answer you should know this is a very good answer and it's true it's it's true to that says that it was a song I want to share with you the reasoning of rutner hutner writes from song is not easy trip R hoodner advances an amazing concept on thank Su Merling for helping me find it it's um it's uh the is in in the beginning of and he says like this there's one that says one says you have to write down the one says that these words have to be oral so what does the say you're not to say orally write down we're all familiar there was a to write down continues look at number 22 God only sealed the Cen with in other words if we were to ask we know we're connected to through through which the answer is we're connected through God through T the the bru is only through T why why so says look at number 23 the says I wrote for you the majority of my but it became strange what does this mean says tus that once the was written we became strangers to God you know why because Jews have the and Christians have and Muslims have the so in what way are we unique and therefore the implication is that is why we're not all to write down T because if the will be written down what we don't want the other room right if the T will be written down then who would have access to it everyone would have access to it and then we would be strangers to God so what makes us unique to Hashem in other words hner says we see from here that when we say the t is a bris between and abris is not just something that connects me and you it's more than that a bris is something that connects me and you that doesn't connect me or you to anybody else bris means exclusivity it's exclusive to me and you a bris is not just something me and you have in common if me and you have something in common and we also have it in com with everyone else in the world it's not a bris so bris doesn't doesn't just mean a connection between A and B It Means A and B and nobody else so be a bris between us and hem of course not because everyone has a the only thing that's a Brisk between us and is because it's exclusive and the definition of bris is exclusivity what you're doing but basically it's only after the Advent of their religions that had it that it was written down so they were never able to adopt it doing no we're just saying we're just saying that because they had access to the uh to the Kish they adopted it for themselves and we us the uniqueness that that would give us okay so listen to the foll so we make questions after we make two in the morning and then right F says what are these so we did write says what are these two there two separate achievements that attained one wasu has nothing to do with the fact that hasem gave us and 63 MIT in is what we call bris there's a concept aside from the fact that we have a t that we have to keep the MIT and we have to learn the T it's a bris the bris means it's between me andam and no other nation has access to it that's the first achievement of Kabal by the way what date did that happened on it happened when said I am making a covenant between me and you and not the what what the Covenant was exactly that we got on that was the that was a deal that GNA get out and is going to have his children but in terms of the uniqueness of Cl is toam that was on B that was the BR Tyra that was the exclusiveness of the deal and then the giving of the actual Tyra was on V on sh says rutner what's the reason why we were not allowed to write down T it's in order to maintain the exclusivity of the bris in order to have bris Tyra it's not enough to have Tyra you need to have bris Tyra you need to it to be exclusive so as of Hunter if that's the case then what right did rabi have to come along and write down the T you're abolishing the exclusivity of the T you're abolishing the bris Didi nullify the bris that hasem had with how could he do such a thing so say that is why even when wrote down the he left out certain phrases he wrote in a certain way where even if would take it it would still be exclusive between so the concept of it's not a matter of convenience it's not a matter just of the tune which may be true but it's deeper than that it's in order to preserve the special bris that has with it's in order to preserve what we call bris and that is probably the primary reason why T was not allowed to be written down why it's in order for it to be for all eternity the but now we wrote it down why can't the come and take away through that establish their religion their religion is already formulated how canit how can we permit conversion how can we permit someone to come talks about it says you could enter the bris huh you could enter the bris you could you could join the bris your choice can a br if we are chosen no choice you no choice to the so that's the thing you know that's the difference between how can some of the the were converts some of the most famous you know Rak ketki says you see from here people say Judaism is racist just the opposite all the other nations of the world say that's it we're going to be in heaven and everyone else is going to be on the other side and the Jewish people people say no we're not we're not uh any better than anybody else we have certain responsibilities you want those responsibilities there not the hate you could take those responsibilities also you can join up you could join up we're not any better we're not saying we're better than anyone we are selected for responsibility anyone else who wants responsibility is welcome to share the burden I wish you a you've just experienced another Tor class brought to you by tor anytime.com