And these are the laws that you should set before them. (Shemos 21:1)
Like a laid-out table (Shulchan Aruch) and prepared for a meal before them. (Mechilta) -Rashi
It’s interesting to note that not one of the many laws mentioned in this week’s reading can be properly executed based upon the bare bones of the verses alone. In fact, not one Mitzvah in the entire Torah is capable of being carried into action given only the parameters provided in the text. There are almost 30,000 details that make up Tefillin and 5,000 in the ubiquitous mezuzah with little information to guide us to their uniform completion. What constitutes “killing”? When does life begin? When does it end? Is it “family planning” or is it murder!?
The Torah cries out for an explanation. There must, by definition, have been a concomitant corpus of information that accompanied the giving of the laws and that is what we call the “Oral Torah”. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch uses the analogy that the Written Torah is like the notes to a scientific lecture. Every dot and doodle has supernal significance. If properly understood it can awaken the actual lecture. The notes remain practically useless to someone who has not heard the lecture from a Master. Therefore, in the Oral Torah is the sum of the lecture while the Written Torah is merely a shorthand record. Why was so much left to Oral Transmission? Why relegate the largest and most critical portion of the Holy Torah to an “oral tradition”?
Even after the Oral Torah/The Talmud was committed to writing, it retains its essentially “oral” character. The Talmud is a closed book to those who do not know and have not been trained to know how to crack the code and bring out its sweet and holy goodness. Anyone on the planet today who is proficient in learning and a teacher of Talmud must have been guided by one mentor or more, in an almost apprentice-like relationship, and who helped him gain the otherwise hidden keys. Following this line of logic leads us all the way back. Our teacher learned from a teacher who learned from a teacher that reaches all the way back to Mount Sinai.
I have a colleague who has asked at many seminars, “Is there a doctor in the house?!” There is usually at least one. After clarifying that this is not a medical emergency, he askes the doctor, “Did you have a main mentor in medical school?” The answer is commonly “Yes”. Then he asks a follow up question that has never been answered in the affirmative. “Do you know who your mentor’s mentor was?”
This past week we lost my earliest Rebbe, Rabbi Shimon Hirsch. I remember well that it was my first real Purim in Yeshiva, perhaps 44 years ago. We were dancing around in Rabbi Hirsch’s foyer after having imbibed a few glasses of wine. We were heading out with a designated driver of course. As I turned to walk away, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was the Rebbe’s gentle hand. He pivoted me towards him and stated, “My Rebbe gave me a smack and now I am going to give you a smack!” Then he gave a light but memorable hand across my face.” I felt a strange honor in that gesture. It took me years to begin to appreciate how honored I truly was. His Rebbe was Rabbi Aaron Kotler, whose Rebbe was Reb Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter from Slobodka, whose Rebbe was Reb Simcha Zissel Ziv, the Alter from Kelm, who was a student of Reb Yisrael Salanter who was a student of a hidden Tzadik, Reb Zundel from Salant, who was a student of Reb Chaim Volozhin, who was the primary student of the mountain peak of Torah scholarship in the last 900 years, The Vilna Gaon. How I cherish that loving touch.
It is critical to experience a teacher because learning Torah is not only an academic exercise. One needs to see a real Rebbe, a model of excellence. The Navi says, “V’hayu Eineicha Ro’eh Es Morecha” – Let your eyes see the face of your teacher” and the Talmud tells us that interacting with and serving a Talmud Scholar can be greater than learning”. A great conductor can look over a multilayered musical composition and imagine a concerto. However, when his ears are treated to the actual symphony, the experience will be beyond inspiring. We too need a living Torah, a virtuoso, who with every step, and facial expression, and carefully crafted word is teaching Torah.