Torah Torah Torah with Rabbi Susman

So

this

observance of Simchat Torah, not biblically commanded, is an observance about how Torah, the concept of Torah, more than just the literal words of the five books, has become central to the life of the Jewish people.

And again, though it may sound redundant to say this to our listeners, One should consider that in antiquity, it was not unusual that when the locus of religion was destroyed, the people were destroyed.

When the Greeks or the Romans or the Babylonians or the Persians or the Assyrians or any other of the ancients would destroy the capital city of conquered people, the conquered people often disappeared.

because the locus of their relationship with their deity no longer existed, and they transferred their loyalty to the deity of the conquered people.

But in the case of the Israelites, when their temple in 70 was destroyed by the Romans, the vast majority of them did not transfer their allegiance to the Parthenon of Roman mythology, but rather this group of which Rabbi Sussman is the descendant, namely the rabbis, were able to transform the five books of Moses and the ancillary text, which make up the Hebrew Bible, into something much more elastic, a living document.

that they were able to interpret in a way that gave greater texture to the Jewish survival.

If I'm correct in all of that, do you think you could give us an example of that transition from how the Torah described observance to how the rabbis described observance after the destruction of the temple?

As I mentioned before, when we no longer gave our first fruits to God as sacrifices, we had to replace them.

We had to offer something as meaningful.

So, for instance… If we look at the 613 commandments, and a mitzvah is not a good deed.

A good deed is walking an old lady across the street, being a good boy scout.

These are mitzvah commandments.

It's a how-to manual commandment.

for communities and a world.

So if you are a Christian, you are familiar with the Beatitudes, and they are wonderful aphorisms as to how to live and how to care.

Well, for the Jews, those commandments are such.

So, for instance, the rabbis will say, there's the story of Rabbi Hillel.

An unbeliever comes to him and says, Rabbi, on one foot, tell me the totality of Judaism.

And Hillel said, that which is repugnant to you, do not do to anyone else.

Sounds like the golden rule.

Lovely.

But then he added, the rest is all commentary.

Now go and learn it.

So

this

observance of Simchat Torah, not biblically commanded, is an observance about how Torah, the concept of Torah, more than just the literal words of the five books, has become central to the life of the Jewish people.

And again, though it may sound redundant to say this to our listeners, One should consider that in antiquity, it was not unusual that when the locus of religion was destroyed, the people were destroyed.

When the Greeks or the Romans or the Babylonians or the Persians or the Assyrians or any other of the ancients would destroy the capital city of conquered people, the conquered people often disappeared.

because the locus of their relationship with their deity no longer existed, and they transferred their loyalty to the deity of the conquered people.

But in the case of the Israelites, when their temple in 70 was destroyed by the Romans, the vast majority of them did not transfer their allegiance to the Parthenon of Roman mythology, but rather this group of which Rabbi Sussman is the descendant, namely the rabbis, were able to transform the five books of Moses and the ancillary text, which make up the Hebrew Bible, into something much more elastic, a living document.

that they were able to interpret in a way that gave greater texture to the Jewish survival.

If I'm correct in all of that, do you think you could give us an example of that transition from how the Torah described observance to how the rabbis described observance after the destruction of the temple?

As I mentioned before, when we no longer gave our first fruits to God as sacrifices, we had to replace them.

We had to offer something as meaningful.

So, for instance… If we look at the 613 commandments, and a mitzvah is not a good deed.

A good deed is walking an old lady across the street, being a good boy scout.

These are mitzvah commandments.

It's a how-to manual commandment.

for communities and a world.

So if you are a Christian, you are familiar with the Beatitudes, and they are wonderful aphorisms as to how to live and how to care.

Well, for the Jews, those commandments are such.

So, for instance, the rabbis will say, there's the story of Rabbi Hillel.

An unbeliever comes to him and says, Rabbi, on one foot, tell me the totality of Judaism.

And Hillel said, that which is repugnant to you, do not do to anyone else.

Sounds like the golden rule.

Lovely.

But then he added, the rest is all commentary.

Now go and learn it.