Unwritten Law | Rabbi Shmuel Goldin

I'd like to announce that uh today's she sponsored by Michael vogle in memory of and thank you very much for the sponsorship uh number two I'd like to thank the many of you who've come up to me and commented positively about my son's sheer in the morning at at 9:15 it's tremendous tremendous Han for me to hear the the the remarks and as hasem he should continue to to teach many okay today's Shear actually is not only one of my favorites but I think one of the most important shim that I can give uh for those of you who may have heard it before um in one of my sessions uh don't worry I've added some bells and whistles as well uh but I apologize if some of it is repetition I learned a sh all my life uh from the time that I was in kindergarten through Yesa University SM but it wasn't until I sat down and started to learn and learned through the hak rambam hak the per mishos his introduction to his work explaining the mishna it was only then that I really began to understand oral law and what it how it works and how it functions and how it it really is so pivotal to our existence I had questions if everything's given to Moshe SII why are there disputes why are we ar why aren't we short and this hakama really addressed all of those issues but let's take a look first at the Dilemma tomad Bley says uh M says that mosu received entirely all of the details of the Torah all of oral law all of the all of the differences of opinion that to develop under over the ages all of this all of this was revealed to Moshe at SII the second quote even stronger VNA all the details that will be learned by all of the Kim across the ages whether it's whether it's Li whether it's aod everything was revealed to Moshe SI to the point including even a a question that a student will ask his teacher that was revealed to mosha SII as well and that is the text that speaks of the oral law and speaks of its um given how it is given over the ages and there are those who take this very literally among the commentaries and among the authorities if you take a look at the D haran the uh the Spees of or of of ran rabim kades everything everything was given to Moshe seni says Lan I I take the gorah literally at face value and therefore you have to understand that all of all of Al all of oral law was revealed to Moshe SII and eventually we lost it perhaps over the ages that's why you have uh differences of opinion but that's that's what the ran suggests the ramom takes a totally different approach Turn the Page the lam and I have it for you in a paragraph there believes that when we speak about mosha receiving the oral law at sin what mosha received were specific foundations and methods of learning and some laws we'll talk about that but the Corpus of oral law it was not totally given to Moshe SII but rather the ways in which it should be applied the ways in which the Torah should be learned the ways in which decisions should we make when we are dealing with and changes in circumstance and changes in situation and the ram says that's what it means when we say it was revealed to Moshe SII that all of the foundations were revealed to him but not every detail not every detail certainly not what becomes man ated by rabbis in 1900 20 20,000 whatever it is you you just don't that was not revealed to Moshe SII that is a product of the rabbis of our time and in order to understand the Rah says you have to divide you have to start by dividing the oral law into its component parts there are five component parts to the oral law each one with its own rules each one with its own details let's learn them let's see them categories number one and two divides this into two categories says the r first category those laws that are given to mosha specific laws or can be learned specifically in the way that Mo that mosha learned and and handed down from the text that's the phrase and you find says he says that when anybody says this is there's no M that's it and you find that in the gar you find that in the middle of a m someone may say no that's finished that's that that was given to Moshe SII handed down now this Corpus of law this body of law in this category is not big at all it's a number of a number of they include U Moshe made the that we should read the Torah on chab uh um other other aspects of of of the Liturgy um specifics um that uh that were Hashem felt had to be delivered in their entirety to Moshe and hand it down the second Corpus and the second Corpus is laws given to mosha SII that don't even have a hint in the text and these laws were given to moset sini because they were essential Elemental laws that had to be given in their need to motion now let me give you examples the first the first section for example says you shall bind them to your arms and place them in what am I supposed to do take a whole safer Torah it doesn't tell me what what what the are that the specific paragraphs in the filling should be those paragraphs that Fillin should be black you don't see anybody with polka doted Fillin Fillin should be this way now there you may say to me who there's a m right there's a difference of opinion between Rashi and the RAB the difference of opinion between and you'll see people sometimes will turn will put on two two pairs of tilling to to fulfill both points of view all of us do Rashi and then some of us add rabab what's the difference between the two does anyone know not not the text the order of the par that's it there's no debate about the text itself the text itself is a what there is debate about is the order of the text in the filling Rashi says one way rabam says another way and that's it but but idea of filling and what they should be that's and that's what we call which is based on the text but explaining the text says to when I tell you this is what I mean the second uh section which are laws given to Moshe that are external to the text I'll give you one example what's a te what's anama what is the biblical measurements of te the smallest uh measurement or an amama all right so a te is basically what a fist held like this that size and and if the LA says 10 then it's 10 fist sizes of this size basically now you're going to tell me that your fist may be a different uh a different uh length than my fist of course so we have to say the normal Fist and we'll find what that is the average fist is that X same thing with anama what's an Amo from your fingertips to your elbow that's it all right what's an Amo that's an Amo and again it will vary if you measure it or I measure it but we will come up with the objective measurement and that will be it now these two sections actually present a very interesting problem if you think about it oral law has strength and weaknesses written law has strength and weaknesses what's the strength of written law that can't be changed right it's handed down it's there should you're not going to argue with right it's its weakness is that it's not adaptability it's not adaptable you can't interpret it that's it finish Trin filling or filling that's it nobody's going to talk about it oral law has strength and weaknesses what's the strength of oral law that it's adaptable what's the weakness of oral law that it's that you may lose it right it's it's not written now these two sections have the weaknesses of oral law and written law but none of the strengths if you think about it these two sections are immutable they're but they're not written down so you have a mutable law that's not written down why does aades do that why does he why doesn't he write down in the text what Fillin should be if nobody's going to argue about it why doesn't he tell us what a muuza should contain so there are variety of different approaches I'd like to offer three suggestions the first is that this these well the way I'll put it is that this section of law these sections of law prime the pump of halic process you know what prime the pump in other words if I if I want to get water from a pump first I've got to do it a couple of times so this is setting the stage for oral law in three ways number one AES is telling you not everything is written down that the law is much more than will appear in the text number two he is establishing and this is close to my heart rinic Authority right he basically is saying that Moshe comes down that mountain Moshe rabenu the first Rabbi first RV comes down and he has information that only he has it has to be transmitted and therefore Rabbi Authority will flow from him across the ages and finally number three number three is there has to be a human Dimension to the handing down of the W there has to be the the best best example I could come up with is is something that that's a little strange and that is when I was in fourth grade fifth grade I don't remember I went to my teacher and I said to my teacher why do only married people have babies right which by the way isn't true all right we know that isn't true but that's that was my perception at that time so the teacher wisely said go ask your parents that question is something you should ask your parents so I asked my parents alom and my mom was an excellent teacher but they gave me a book to read and I read the book and I still didn't understand but I didn't ask them again and I learned from my friends whatever in other words there has to be there has to be oral explanation for the law to come alive you can't just read a book and understand the law so all of these these the and the final Dimension yeah that's the final so it's number one not everything is written hesu is saying you should know that there exists law beyond the text number two rinic Authority and number three human ingredient in the handing down of world law next and by the way my parents were terrific teachers but this one was a little uncomfortable for them I guess all right now number B category three now this is all Hebrew the next page has has a a summary in English this is in some ways the most revolutionary and the most important part of oral law because most of oral law falls into this category and that is decisions that are made by the rabbis based upon their understanding of Torah law applied to Modern circumstances genetic engineering what's the attitude of Jewish law to genetic engineering what's its attitude to electricity and in this in this particular section you will find debates you will find differences of opinion H and shamai I have a book in my in my uh Library which was given to me by my grandfather when he gave me his libr which was beautiful and that is that a one text which is called it's called a compendium of laws and and customs and in that book is a is an entry that says telephone telephone and the entry says most authorities say you can use a telephone on chabas so apparently at that point the authorities that this author was looking at basically thought it was allowable when we found out more about it rinic Authority changed the the point of view and it became aome but that's a debate that's what's happening one of the most important debates that's happening today and one of the most it's sad saddest and most important is brain death correct the determination of death in Jewish law is total brain death considered death right in other words and that's not the usual interpretation of brain death it's even more it's no activity even in the brain stem or are we going to use the classical definition of death which is the sensation of breathing and what what is the critical question here you have someone hooked up to a respirator that cannot breathe on their own is breathing with the respirator help and it's totally brain dead what can you do can you unplug that respirator and this becomes even more important not just because we want to know what the family's going to have to go through over the next number of years but it becomes important when you consider the issue of transplantation because certain organs can only be transplanted from a body such as that from a body that's living on some level but not really living now according to one position unplugging that respirator is murder that that we go by the technical ritual decision of what it is that that marks death that is a sensation of Brea of breathing this body is breathing and therefore it has to be left alone second position is no that we have the ability in our day to determine death death differently and this person is only artificially be breathing because it's being not help but is caused by the respirator and you can unplug the respirator two totally different positions I believe that the decision is going to be made by the people who are out in the field in other words when a rabbi is struck and and needs to deal with this and that by the way just like telephone the determination in the next generation won't be a debate in other words I think by then we will have decided and decided by practice I think I believe and most rabbis I think HK in this way on a practical level that brain death total brain death is considered death and that you can take the organs from such a person and so in such a situation whether or not I'm right and whether or not that will be the determination let's let's leave that for the continued explanation now what's what's so significant about this section what makes it so revolutionary is that this is the place where God takes Divine Law and hands it to man and says it's your job to take this law and to use it as you see fit now wait a minute hold on a minute there's a truth up there right and the truth is determined by by God how am I able to I I'll say one thing but colleague will say another who's right who does God agree with so what happens in the days of the sun hrin is that the law will be debated the M vote will take place and the majority Will Rule and that will be acceptable I'll go even further in a little in a little while take a look at um page number four I believe yeah at the bottom of the page the famous ridic debate between el Rabbi elezar and his colleagues concerning the a ofen this is often quoted right what the a an Akai oven an oven is specific kind of oven that is made a potery that's put together shards that are put together can you caser such an ofen and reab elzar says no and the majority says yes they're sitting in the base medish all right what happens RAR is a very strong personality and he says I know I'm right and God's going to prove it God if I'm right I want that tree outside here to start moving and the tree begins to move he says God if I'm right I want that stream that's flowing outside the Bas medish to flow Upstream instead of Downstream it flows he says I'm right I want the walls of this space m to begin to fall and the walls begin to lean as if they're going to fall he says okay guys I got gone on my side right therefore are you're going to decide like me along comes um is it reab yua right reab yosua stands on his feet and says famous phras from the Torah that's no longer in the heavens God is given this to us has told us how we should make decisions and how we should apply and that being the case God will agree to anything we come up with if we enter the process with loyalty if we enter the process going in saying we were going to try to find the objective truth but whatever we say whatever decision we make that will become acceptable yes what happens when the majority has decided very clear majority and that's what and then 20 years later whatever it is the majority changes okay excellent the opp excellent question can can one bezdan overturn the bezden that exists before all right we'll talk about that in a minute okay let's let's talk about that because what happens is we we have trouble finding a major what the majority is let me let me go further the next section is a section that on page number five that underscores what we're saying that you and I have looked at before in another context and that is raban Gamel says that it's Ro kotesh and believes the witnesses and rebi elzer I think right basically doesn't doesn't accept does not accept and he believes that he establishes that that the other position is right and and and therefore not only is the day of Roes determined but what all theim ran Gamel says I'm the NY I am making a a rule that you are to appear before me on the day that you think it's y Kipper with your purse and your and your your staff in other words I want you to desecrate that day because you have to go by me Ezra goes out and doesn't know what to do he encounters reab aiva he encounters rebosa and they say to him look you you've got no choice you have to obey Rabon gam Leo if you're going to cast an aspersion on Ron gam Leo's bezden then you have to cast an dispersion on every bezon that you that existed existed till now right in other words you can't this process won't work and therefore he appeared in front of rabang glio with his staff with his purse on the Y Kipper that that that he thought was yipper and RAB said Bo Shalom we we quoted this before come in peace rebi V my love my teacher and my student rebi you are my teacher in wisdom but you are my student that you accepted my words right very beautiful so what's happened so therefore ra is saying we decided it in way we were supposed to next look at the next paragraph and this is even more in my mind even more revolutionary three years over the course of three years B shamai and Basel had a number of disagreements famous disagreements and we didn't know what to do we follow sh we follow y a voice from Heaven emerged and said they're both right they're both right God sees God sees that they each of them has used the law properly has fashioned an answer based upon their understanding and based upon their wisdom and that's it they are both right oh well God this problem you know is meet kosher or TR B Shi says TR and says kosher how can they both be right so we have to follow someone so therefore weu B Hillel why did Bas Hillel emerge as the Victor in these debates if they're both right because of outsid reasons because of the way they behaved the way they treated Bashi In other words that that determined what the law would be even though B Shi was right so the definition of right this is this is the revolution the definition of right is changed when you come to the definition of right is not an objective right definition of right is were you l loyal to the process did you do your job did you do your best reach to position take a look at RAB mosha Feinstein's introduction and I'll take two questions in a moment once a scholar has properly researched the toal this is rabt Rabbi Feinstein and his introduction to his works the tal and literature with all his ability with seriousness and the fear of the Holy One Blessed Be he and he arrives at a conclusion which he believes to be correct then that is Pak that is truth period finish and basically this is an answer to himself if you look earlier in the introduction he basically says I don't want to do this this is too much of responsibility I not maybe I'm not equipped to come up with God's answer and he says no this is the answer to that this is that God will accept whatever I come up with and that lets me move ahead yes well the Bas the Bas well first of all we don't again this is medik was there a BOS we don't know right secondly secondly the BOS only said AA uh they then decided who would go we were to follow that was decided on Earth and that the BOS was only saying I want you to know that they're both right and now go ahead and make your decision oh I forgot to say that BR thank you so much right okay thank you yeah after the event with the tanor where rear said I'm right and and tried to Pro proved it Divine by Divine will some um rebi I think it was rebi nson rebi Nason met El one of the other Rabon yeah one of the other Rabon and he meets anovi according to this Mish in the gumar and he says to reer he says toi please tell me what did God say when we decided the law against Rebel what did he say and elos answers with a famous answerit and what is the the usual translation of that text is my children have defeated me they have defeated me me meaning that's right but another interpretation was suggested I don't I heard it in the name of the vnon or Rabbi salvic so I'm not sure who said right and it's beautiful this time it doesn't mean it comes from the word Eternal my children have made me eternal and that's what this does what this does is it allows us to make decisions when it comes to things that again genetic engineering in Jewish law right and we're going what the escalator cause which what's the escalator cause the escalator oh okay that it's change right okay it's changeable but once you decide that becomes the decision right now in terms of the question that was asked what if the majority differs in another era what rarely it doesn't really happen in other words doesn't really happen because what happens is the people the rabbis of one generation basically respect those who came before now the process doesn't work at its best in our time why not because we don't have a son Henrik and we don't take a majority vote well how do you determine your you go to your Rabbi and your Rabbi if he is able to tell you the answer we'll tell you the answer and if not he goes to a post and confers etc etc etc and you'll get different answers from different people we have existed with that problem since the destruction of the temple so so somehow the process still works in spite of the fact that we don't have the ability to determine the majority the process still works with people finding their Rabbi authorities and going by their Rabbi authorities yes what I phone oh please close the phone okay answer about hasem said people were you have made made you have beat defeated me or you have made me eternal is that that's because they remain loyal to a process that could exist over time in other words this section basically says what could have happened is we could have entered Israel and we could have encountered something that wasn't dealt with in the Torah and it wasn't dealt with in oral [Music] in and we have basically three choices one choice is to ignore it another choice is to say uh no I it's an important thing but I does it's not dealt with in Jewish law and the third possibility is it everything is dealt with like Jewish somehow and we're going to deal with it and that's what we did and that's why this becomes Eternal because it becomes usable in every generation that's great okay I'll repeat that I'll repeat that he went one of our one of our students here went to a uh RV many years ago and I'm repeating it for the uh and uh the RV said to him stopped him in the middle of the question and said I know what you're going to ask I am mmir I I rule strictly in this I'll give you the name of someone who's more lenient all right that was a interesting roof interesting all right so anyway that yes I'm going back to the very beginning of your different approaches of taking literally everything was be revealed right looking back over history see the tremendous volume issues that come up over theas one wonder I Know M was was very W how he had the capability you're you're basically you're basically honing in on why I agree with the r all right in other words you can believe you can accept look paring of the Red Sea the The Ten Commandments all of that it's miraculous so perhaps miraculously Moshe was able to receive all of that information and pass it on but but but but it didn't but after after a while it got lost and then that's why we have M Locus etc etc I didn't read the section in the ramban rambam where he takes on that point of view and he says that point of view is absolutely wrong from his perspective and creates serious lack of respect for the rabbis right and he he even stronger than that and basically he dismisses it and says I don't I don't agree all right next yes I want to go back to the original example about the telephone because when the telephone came out maybe there was some that you were allowed to how did that in the same way that I think brain death will be determined in other words after time the majority of rabbis said no right that's what happened in other words it was being debated at that time and and the decision was no when they learn more about the telephone when they learn more about its use and and what happens they came up and and you won't find anybody today who doesn't say who says you can use it without unless it's unless it's emergency that is correct that is correct the is dependent by the rabbis of the time who determined it and and even though there differences of opinion among those rabbis when it comes to overarching issues they will find agreement you won't find anybody who says you can use a telephone you won't find any you you won't find anybody who uh disagrees about how we interpret the laws of chabas but you will find other other you will find other debates this made on an incandescent lamp to make sure that people know because there were people at that time who thought that you can use electricity on shers and he wanted to show them this is fire just like a interesting interesting all right K moer according to her made habd an incandescent lamp to show that he didn't use it on chabus he only used it after chabus to prove or to testify that you cannot you and right okay yes there's a you have to ask your POS yes so for example when I was growing up we always open refriger then I went to G and I found that people don't open and close the refrigerator because supposedly the motor starts or doesn't stop no not even light we're talking about mot in the refrigerator I brought up well that's that's there are differences there are differences of opinion on that and differences of opinion BL based on what kind of refrigerator it is and what its mechanisms are and the answer is you have to ask and find the PO sake that you feel you unlike that story you're not allowed to shop in other words what do I mean this Rabbi is lenient when it comes to refrigerators this rabbi lenient this other Rabbi is lenient when it comes to the second day of yan in Israel uh this Rabbi and then I'll go to all the lenient rabbis so you can't do that you have to have your Authority and you have to take him for Better or For Worse yes and I don't mean better or worse for stract or or or not yes yes I think an entire paper entire I don't know the right word on electricity and he actually proved why you could use electricity and then the rabbis above him a couple of them said it might be right but we're not GNA okay so again I I can't I can't comment on that because I don't know the facts in other words I don't know what SCH Orbach wrote and I don't know who disagreed so I can't I can't talk about that but but this is I understand I understand all right yes last last comment because we have to go where I was brought up where I was told it's for food you can open it on shs and then I went to Gates head and they said that if you want to open a bottle you need to poke a hole in the cover of the B so I permitted to Simply say this is the most absurd thing ever heard because no you're not I'll tell you what I'll tell what I do is I I happen to open uh Swit both most caps that are sold but if the cap is on a is on the wine that cap was put on not by two pieces that was put on sort of on the bottom that I my son taught me I poke a hole in that and then I so it's not totally ridiculous all right but there are some of opinions say that say you don't have to I would assume all right that will again right right right right live and learn right okay no let's go on okay okay I want to I've got 10 minutes and I have a lot to cover all right please 10 minutes a lot to cover all right number four number four what is the and number four and five are similar but vastly different they are no page is sick page six all right is that right um no page page five six C and D all right these these two sections are similar but vastly different at the same time they are similar because this is these are sections of laws that the rabbis mandate not on the basis of their understanding of toorah law but mandate because they want to mandate it now there are what what do I mean the first section is called gazerro gazerro are according to the rabbis gorim fences fences around the law for example Muka Muka is a fence around the laws of chabas it was created by the rabis you don't find it in the Torah you don't find it God didn't say the think was M the rabbis did determined that if people were going to be able to move certain objects on chabas that they shouldn't use or don't have had not set aside for shabas use they might come to carry them they might come to use them we're going to make them look so and they did that on the basis of their understanding of the communities with which they were dealing and Gaz wrot are basically only until the end of the close to the end of the to a little bit more in other words we don't have Gaz root today we we have the next section all right so Gazo are exist they are uniformally accepted and they are supposed to be accepted by the to by the total community so therefore you have yes I just did m m all right m is xra what I'm sorry you can't marry oh no that's not exra I'll get to that in a minute you can't marry two wives all right so G is a law that is surrounding and protecting the Torah law like Muka like um I can't what's forbidden in the Torah concerning meat and milk what's forbidden according to the Torah are three things cooking it eating it eating a cooked mixture gaining satisfaction from a cooked Mi selling it I could according to Torah law sit down at the table with my steak and wash it down with milk according to Torah law in other words the Torah law does not prohibit the eating of non-cooked together milk and meat long come the rabbis and they say wait a minute this isn't going to work right we have to create fences because if people are going to be able to eat it in that fashion they're going to eat it in the prohibited fashion and we we understand human nature we understand our communities we need to make that Gaz GRE by all the the rabbis total Acceptance in the community now that's Gaz wrote takote which is the last section is even more revolutionary taka note give the ra gives this section gives the rabbis the authority to mandate laws that are not connected necessarily to Toto but because they see that these laws have to be mandated because of situations or communities for example RAB naram RAB naram was a Authority Middle Ages numerous numerous tuote one of the most famous was just spoken of before you can't marry more than one wife that that we all we Banning polygamy and Jewish law now takote takote are for a particular time and for a particular place and can be limited a rabbi in his community can make a taka and I'll show I'll tell you what one was in in a minute but the takote the takote of RAB ner he was the Authority for all of ashaz jury so therefore ashkenazim stopped polygamy at that point spim did not hold by reum they had their own authority and their authority never made the takona that you can't have more than one wife which is is why spim continued to in some cases have polygamy and some spim who came to to Israel uh came with two wives because that was the accepted practice they eventually accepted the ashkenazic practice in in this case and and I guess it's also secular law what yeah yeah probably yeah yeah in other words it now is it's Universal what the second one could second wife could be M okay good all right so now now I'll give you another example I'll give you I'll take your question in a moment I'll give you another example I'll give you another example um I was Rabbi in pic Maryland before I was Rabbi in Anglewood New Jersey there is a there was a law on the books in Washington which was a Tak it was a takana that was used by numerous Comm communities in Europe it was it was called Basher HS outside meat and what was this Tak we were just building up the Washington Community the there was a butcher the rabbis wanted the butcher to succeed but guess what he was charging more and had to charge more because of his expenses then the butcher in Baltimore so what were all the Jews doing going to Baltimore right Along come the rabbis say that's not going to work we we if we want to have a community we have to have a butcher in the community we're making a rule that outside meat cannot be brought into Washington where and and and cannot be consumed in Washington and now now they now the problem is they're making a monopoly for that buger right so what what then do they do they have to go to the Butcher and they have to mandate to him that he has to be reasonable in what it is he's charging but the these are taka note one of the most early one of the earliest tuote is one that is part of our lives today and that is the Tak found in the mishna yes alade deem all right what does it mean you don't redeem captives literally for more than their worth now wait a minute oh well just more than their worth every person is a whole world the rabbi say how do you determine the worth of of of a person and so therefore what do what do they do what I mean what what is the the reason for this Tak because p is one of the most important rules in the Torah they're limiting that rule because they knew that if they kept giving and giving more and more they would two things would happen they would bankrupt the community and they would also what they would also encourage additional host hostage taking so that's why so that was a Tak now how they applied the takana and how we should apply the taka today I don't have an answer for that because what well well yes and no I mean if I were part of the family of that one person I I I I don't know what I'd say all right yeah but that's an opinion we but it is it's a valid opinion because of that Tak it's a valid opinion because that Tak exists and how you determine what is the worth or the value of that of that hostage determines whether or not you can now I want to take you to one last paragraph and then I'll take any questions the last paragraph is the following look in the last uh next actually two two points look at the page number SE uh six and seven no seven seven so page number seven is the what do I mean by the result there is a famous medish in the townwood again you don't have to believe it in terms of you can you can say it happened or you can say it's teaching me something what what is it the medish the medish is mosha rain who is going up Hari to get the Torah this is appropriate for us right we're coming to par isra and when he goes up to get the Torah he what does he find he finds God tying the crowns onto specific letters of the Torah right in other words and you look at the Torah SC certain uh letters of crowns he turns to and sayses give us the No Frills Edition please right we we're waiting that this is we can't wait for this to which a who responds no I'm going to put the crowns on because someday in your people will be a great scholar who is going to determine the meaning of the crowns and why they are on those those letters and his name is RAB AKA so Moshe says oh wow I'd like to meet Himes transforms uh Moshe time takes him in time to the time of reab AKA he is sitting in reab aa's Yesa in one of the last Rose and he's getting more and more upset because he doesn't understand the word he doesn't know what that's that that's not what I'm getting at siai and to one question raises his hand and says what says that law Rea says comes from this law which comes from this law which comes from this law and this was given to that we except the rabbis recognized that the law will look vastly different in every generation because of the challenges that will be faced by the law but the mechanisms to determine that are built into the text are built in and and because of that we have existed for the centuries this is what has kept us together I'll tell you the personal note is actually a section that I have in my book on um on schoe but I'll tell you the the story I was putting I was creating a boundary for an ath A wol and how was I doing it I was doing it by putting you have uprights and horizontals you create a series of doorposts and what we used to do now they run it up whole the whole we used to do is put a piece of wood at the bottom and there's a law that if you take the wood straight up and it intersects with the horizontal that's good enough as long as the wood is of enough size fine problem is enough size the problem is the telephone poles are never straight they lean and here I was putting up a a piece of wood on a leaning telephone pole and I didn't know what to do I if I put it here it was going to end up in hour space if I put it here it was going to end up in the middle of the pole so I worked on it for minutes the congregant who was with me and helping me in this endeavor turned to me afterwards and said Rabbi do you really believe God cares whether or not that piece of wood is under that piece that particular wire that you spend 45 minutes of your life doing that and automatically I answered with an answer that to me defines how I view this whole process I said I don't believe God cares I believe that God cares that we care and what I mean by that is what he wants from us is to be loyal to the process and to consider it valuable and to recognize its strength and to realize that it's kept us alive for centuries okay thank you very much