The Gifts of Torah: Shavuot 2018
Seven hundred years before Moses gave the Torah to the Israelites, a Babylonian king named Hammurabi gave his people his gods’ set of laws. Writ in stone, on a pillar shaped like a pointing finger, what is known today as the Hammurabi Code disappeared for centuries before it was unearthed in Iran in 1901. It is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. A compilation of 282 laws, most of which are based on the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” concept of justice, this is one of the most comprehensive collections of ancient laws ever found.
But Hammurabi wasn’t the first to collect and publish such a code of laws. Archeologists have since discovered fragments of about half a dozen other, even earlier codes. These, too, can be found today in various museums. What they all have in common is that they portray a rich and multi-layered social system, where power was everything. If you were a free and wealthy man, the law was there for you. However, if you were a woman, a slave or a child, you were basically worthless.
And these codes also share one other common denominator: they are just about all that’s left of nations and peoples that have long ago ceased to exist and disappeared in the passage of time.
The Torah, too, is an ancient document, going back some 3000 years or more. Famously, it too includes the line “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” But there the similarities end.
The most interesting and important factor that distinguishes the Torah from all other ancient codes is that while the earlier laws were spoken by the gods to individual kings, the Torah wasn’t revealed only to one man, king or prophet. It was the entire Jewish People—present, past and future—that witnessed this extraordinary Revelation. In fact, the Midrash—rabbinic stories that came to shed light and explain the Torah—tells us that when “The Holy One gave the Torah, no bird screeched, no fowl flew, no ox mooed… The sea did not roar, and none of the creatures uttered a sound. Throughout the entire world there was only a deafening silence as the Divine Voice went forth speaking: Anochi Adonai Elohecha--I am Adonai your God (Midrash Exodus Rabbah). That was so that everyone could hear God’s word. The Midrash continues to tell us that the Word was revealed in seven—and some rabbis say seventy—languages, so that everyone, every man, woman and child, of any nation or culture, could understand it. As such, it is the most democratic document that was ever presented to humanity.
It is also the most just.
In the ancient world, the king was the supreme ruler; his face adorned the statues of the gods, and he himself was revered as a god. Unreachable, unblameable, unimpeachable, the king was not only the law, he was above and beyond it. Not so with Moses and the Torah.
The justice that the Torah teaches is fair and equal. “You are all standing here today before Adonai your God: Your leaders, your chieftains, your elders and officers, all the men of Israel; your little ones and your wives, and also the stranger who is in your midst, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water” (Deut. 29:9-10). From the Torah’s perspective, all people are equal. No one is above the law. Not even Moses. God alone is the judge, and standing before God, no one is special. Justice does not depend on your gender or age; no allowance is given to the rich, and no preference to the poor.
However, not all the laws in the Torah are quite up to date. There are entire sections that reflect the times and mindset of the ancient world. But here’s the point: While the Torah’s words cannot be changed, people are granted freedom to interpret and adapt its laws. To paraphrase the words of our Patriarch Isaac, the voice is the voice of God, but the language is the language of people. Like people, words, semantics and meanings evolve through the ages. As times have changed, so have we, along with our understanding both of God and of ourselves. In no Jewish community anymore is an eye taken for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth. Instead, monetary reparation is made, reflecting the importance of both eyes and teeth to a healthy body and a healthy society.
Like Moses, who, 3200 years ago already, understood that God does not want revenge, but rather repentance, so does Judaism, today as much as ever, value compassion and kindness over strict justice and harsh punishment. It may have seemed like a small step in its time, but today we recognize this freedom to interpret ancient laws and update them in the light of changing times, as a giant leap forward.
However, quite possibly the Torah’s greatest gift of all is its belief in the power of love to bring about change. Nowhere is this stated better than in the section called The Holiness Code, which includes the verse, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Dignity and respect for the elderly; extending a helping hand to the poor, the weak, the sick and disheartened—these are some of the ways in which we show love to one another. These are more than laws: they are values that the Torah calls holy, arching above any other form and example of human behavior. These are what makes the Torah without a doubt the most valuable document in the possession of humankind.
And still one more difference between Hammurabi’ Code and the Law of Moses: the former is now found only in textbooks and museums. The Torah, however, can be found in every home, in every synagogue, in every heart. It isn’t an ancient relic gathering dust, but rather a living, evolving record of a conversation we’ve been having among ourselves and with our God for more than 3000 years now.
The gifts of the Torah to humanity are some of the reasons why it has survived so long. But as with any gift, you have to use the Torah to make it work. It isn’t enough to write or carve the words. You have to study and understand them; you have to internalize them; you have to practice them, every day, every night, every time and every place. With each act of justice, generosity, love and compassion, be it great or small, you make the world a better place, a holier place.
Shavuot—the holiday that comes seven weeks after Passover, reminds us why we were set free from Egyptian bondage in the first place. It wasn’t so that we could roam aimlessly through the wilderness; rather, it was to set us on a journey toward holiness. At Sinai we accepted the Torah and agreed to live by its rules. Today, more than three millennia later, we are still walking by Torah’s light. The Torah’s gifts—freedom, justice, compassion, love and holiness—are the unfailing source of our strength, the power that keeps us going, secure and sure-footed, through all times and all generations.
In some Jewish communities, when young children begin the study of Torah, they are given candy and sweets, so that the taste of Torah would always be sweet in their mouth. May the words of the Torah continue to sweeten our lives, and may the light of the Torah bring us and all the world the blessings of happiness and peace.
© 2018 by Boaz D. Heilman
