How Can Torah Never Be Wrong? — Parshas Shoftim

if a man speaks alone in a forest and his wife's not there to hear him is he still wrong this week's torah portion parsha shayft him tells us something very interesting about when rabbis teach us and they are seemingly incorrect when they're seemingly wrong tata says according to the law they instruct you and according to the judgment they say to you you shall do mean you mean do not divert do not waver from the word that they tell you right or left whatever the rabbi's ruling is don't divert from it stay to it don't divert to the right or to the left rashi in his commentary takes those two words you mean us to the right or to the left and says [Applause] even if they tell you right is left and left is right that's what it means do not divert from the word they tell you right or left means even if they tell you the right is the left and the left is the right the kosher king so how much more so how much more so she's when they tell you mean val small small when they tell you right is right and left is left because even if they would tell you right is left and left is right you would listen to them unwaveringly so how much more so when they tell you that right is right and left is left you should listen to them unwaveringly okay so this is obviously very interesting this is something that a thoughtful intelligent person would want to understand better because at first glance at least it sounds like we're supposed to be in denial of reality and that's it you just avoid reality deny reality um if that's what it is that's what it is but it it seems funny that that it seems funny to think that that's what it would mean so um i want to tell you a story but the story is a story within a story and then there's a side story before the story you'll see the story is just a little bit of background that over the years the the rabbit would ask many times that rabbis not just congregational rabbis pulpit rabbis but rabbis who are um in a position to make halachic authoritative halachic judgments what we call a pasik or a uh a halaq judge or or ruler that such rabbis should render halachic decisions stating clearly that according to shalhan according to the code of jewish law it is forbidden to give away land in israel it is forbidden for the jewish people or any jewish person to give away land in israel to our enemies now just to clarify that abba's position and why the rabbit was saying this was a halachic position this has nothing to do with zionism this has nothing to do with nationalistic aspirations um in fact it has nothing to do specifically with the land of israel it has to do with the preservation of life as dictated by jewish law specifically chapter 329 of uh 329 6. and over there it says that if jews live in a border town that means a town which is vulnerable because it's close to uh the border and the enemy is mobilizing or showing any before they even attack but they are showing any type of uh desire to to come to to go to combat that even on shabbos we have to defend ourselves even you know the shabbos is pushed off in order to uh to defend ourselves and we have to treat the situation as a situation of life and death so the entire israel is on the border it's not a very large country it's on the border and uh therefore it has to be treated as a situation where there is there's a threat to life and therefore we are not allowed to increase our vulnerability god forbid and we have to defend ourselves so that is a halal point just about saving life and not having to do anything necessarily with with the holiness of the land or with the nationalistic aspirations of the jewish people to to once more be in our homeland this is just a simple law of uh preserving life at any rate the point is that there the rabbit many times many many times over the years asked that people who are qualified to render halal decisions should render a halachic decision that it is forbidden to compromise the jewish security in in the jewish land by giving away or even discussing uh giving away land now that's the background on one of these occasions when the rabbi was asking rabbis to render such rulings specifically this occasion was matsushabe sprecious tough shin mem alef the rabbi was saying that you know rabbi should make such rulings and then ever asked a question asked now you might say what's the point of this because the people who are in a position to give away the land are not necessarily torah observant or they necessarily are not torah observant or many of them um so why would they care about a halachic ruling right oh you're going to have rabbis come out with a halachic ruling okay but these people don't follow halakhah or are they shamer shabbos so those things in their own lives they don't keep they're going to hear a halachic ruling for something that they under so much pressure to do in diplomatic pressure political pressure all of a sudden now they're going to be from they're going to listen to a halachic ruling so the rabbi explained that's not the point and how did the rabbi explain with a story so here's the story within the story the story that ebba told is a story of the raga chaver gone harav yasif rosen who was known as the rugachovergon the genius of rogachov because he was that's where he lived most of his years although the story i'm about to tell you takes place in leningrad where he lives for a short period of time and gone means the genius and he was an absolute genius he had the entirety of the oral law at his fingertips just a computer mind and had penetrating uh insight and and depth and analysis uh he was a he was a rov for many years in dvinsk and he was he was known as just a a an incredible uh scholar and in fact there are correspondences between the rabbi and the raga chaver when the when the rebel was much younger they were contemporaneous the the roger chavez uh passed away in 1936 at any rate so this story takes place when the rogue trevor was living in leningrad and in fact i told you there's a story within a story and then a side story let me tell you the side story first just because i'm mentioning the ruger trevor living in leningrad so i'll tell you the side story about leningrad um this was in the 1920s it was actually at the same time derogatory lived in leningrad it was the same time for a period that that the sixth rabbit the rebel yachts of yitzchak lived in leningrad at the same time it was after the la babachirebas left the town of lobavich during world war one and uh which was you know 1917 around the time of the revolution in russia so for for a short period of time in the 1930s the the sixth rabbit lived in leningrad so anyways the story is that there was a lubavitcher hosted the simcha garadetsky and he saw the rogotova when he was in leningrad and he when he introduced himself he says i've come to lenigrad to the rabbit. and the raga trevor said to rebecca he says you've come to the rabbit in leningrad he says yes i've come to leningrad to the rabbit he said no no did you come to the rabbit in leningrad or do you come to leningrad to the rabbit because there are 16 nafka means there are 16 differences actually i'm sorry 17. there are 17 practical differences in halacha one of them that i'll tell you why i said 16 because he says there are 17 in total one of them is whether or not you are obligated to eat in asuka that's one of them the other 16 that's where i remember the number 16 from he says the other 16 if you care you can figure it out so 17 afghanistan there are 17 practical halachic difference differences that will emerge from whether or not you formulate your statement as i've come to the rabbit in laningrad or i came to leningrad to the rabbit okay at any rate the point is you know the mind of the raga chaver that he knew 17 practical differences in holocaust all right but here's the story that i want to tell you so if you remember i was saying that the rabbit was saying that rabbanim that that that rabbis should make halachic uh decisions that you're not not allowed to give away land and then the demo asked well the people who are in a position to give the give away this land are not going to listen anyways because they're not necessarily holocally observant okay so that ever said fine so i'll tell you i'll tell you a story and they never told the story that when the dragon chaver was in leningrad here's the story they want to tell you that guitar was in leningrad and uh so this was in the time of the the the bolsheviks this is after the revolution so the communists sent him a tax bill so he gets the tax bill and the tax bill was actually itemized it was broken down into two different taxes so the dogetover had a grandson who was also very very intelligent i'm sure you know if he had his grandfather's genes he was you know we would consider him a genius uh and he also was very um well versed in secular law and he just he knew he knew things you know he had a lot of worldly knowledge so there ago chavez showed his grandson this tax bill and he asked him to he said explain to me what these taxes are for so his grandson was very world worldly like like we mentioned so he was able to explain that this this taxes for this this taxes for this and he explained to him the nature of the taxes so you ever heard this and he looks to his grandson and he says this tax according to toyota i'm obligated to pay if the government asks for such a tax according to toyota you have to pay it this tax i'm not obligated to pay according to tata you don't have to pay i'm not paying it go pay pay the one that taylor says you're obligated to pay don't pay the one theta says you're not obligated to pay now you don't want to mess around with communists right they they weren't like such nice people not you know the bolsheviks they're not like you know such reasonable people right so kind of bold to say this one tater says pay this one tata says you don't have to pay don't pay it right but that's what that'll trevor says a few days later they get a letter in the mail correction from the government from the or from the communist party or you know i guess that's the same thing um sorry we we your your tax bill was an error and you're only obligated to pay this tax not the other tax so what's the point of the story the point of the story is not just that the raga chava was able to look at a situation and determine what would be the toyota perspective in that situation the point of the story is that the raga chava was able to say what the tater perspective is on the situation and his saying it actually changed the reality changed the reality so when the traveler passkind when he made a halachic ruling this tax i have to pay this tax i don't have to pay so therefore the reality conformed to the saktin to the halaq ruling that episode that's the same point here when we come out with rulings about what the government should do in in in the holy land it's not because we necessarily think that they're listening to halacha but when arov makes up sakdin when he makes a halachic ruling there's a kayak there's a power that trader has and specifically a halachic ruling a practical legal rendering of the toyota and that that ruling actually has the power to make things happen in reality we say i mean according to the zayer that stockholm that when hashem created the world he looked into the toyota and he created the world there's a famous hayem yam that abby wrote a book called with their teaching every day so the hayem for base schwart which happens to also be the over there it says there are two kinds of laws there are laws that create life and laws that respond to life so secular law human law are laws that respond to life you look at the world you see their certain conditions and you make laws to respond or to react to this situation then there's trader law tater law isn't responding to the conditions of this world tater law actually is creating the conditions of this world and when there's a ruling according to toyota it actually determines that the reality should be that way so now we can understand what rashi was telling us when rashi said even if the judge will tell you that right is left and left is right does that mean that if reality is one way and the rabbi makes a halal decision and tells you know reality is a different way that we should go against reality no that's not what it means it means that is actually changing reality it's not man-made laws that respond to a pre-existing reality tata is the blueprint for reality so this is what we have to understand on one hand trader takes into account the realities of this world for instance classic example when a rabbi has to rule whether or not you break shabbos for for a sick person so the rabbi will base his ruling on the advice of a doctor rabbi doesn't decide whether or not the person's sick enough the doctor decides or when a rabbi has to make a ruling about a certain technology whether it's permissible use on shabbos for for example so you have to listen to the to the scientists who understand how that technology works so when a rabbi makes a ruling he or like the douga trevor who asked his grandson who understood law explain to me what what the the basis of these taxes are right so a rabbi has to take and take into account the reality but but that doesn't mean that the the rabbi is subservient to the facts as they are presently it means you take into account those facts and then peter gives its ruling and then that ruling has the has the power to influence reality so based on all of this maybe it won't surprise you if i will tell you also that in addition to the rulings that that ever asked for over the years that rabbis should rule about safety and security in the land of israel there was something else that the rabbit asked that the rabbis should make halachic rulings about on many many occasions that ever asked that the rabbis should rule that according to it is time already for mashiach to come not just it's a nice thing we want meshia we'd be very happy if meshiach comes no according to according to our tradition according to everything that we know according to the to the to the oral law as it's been transmitted to us faithfully in an unbroken chain our tradition shows us that it's time for meshiach it's not just a feeling it's not just a hope it's time for mishir to come when the the svardic chief rabbi of israel of uh leo came to the river so that was one of the things that i never spoke with him about that he and other rabbis who are in leadership positions should make this ruling that it's time already for meshich to come and that when we make such a ruling or when rabbis who are in a position to make such a ruling make these rulings that this actually helps to bring about the reality may it be speedily now