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TEXT:
The Many Voices of Torah
In this text Rabbi Yehiel Michael Weinberg argues that the Torah is a harmonious
combination of distinct and different voices, all of which add to its beauty.
All the disputations of [the rabbis throughout the ages] represent
the words of the living God….Indeed, that’s the magnificence of
our Torah. The entire Torah is one song, and it is the harmonic
combination of different and distinctive voices that makes listening
to a choir a transcendent experience. Indeed, that is the very essence
of the pleasure we derive from it.
‫וכל מחלוקת התנאים והאמוראים והגאונים והפוסקים… דברי אלוקים חיים‬
‫ ותפארת‬,‫המה… זוהי תפארת תורתינו… וכל התורה כולה נקראת שירה‬
‫ וזהו עיקר הנעימות‬,‫השיר היא כשהקולות משונים זה מזה‬
- Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein: Aruch HaShulchan, 1880s
TEXT: Contemporary Challenges
~ www.jpeoplehood.org/toolkit
The Many Voices of Torah
Explanation of Text
R
abbi Yechiel Michael Epstein (1829-1908)
was a 19th century Lithuanian Halachist
who is often remembered as “Aruch HaShulchan”
his important work summarising the sources and
opinions of the 16th Halalchic code, the “Shulchan
Aruch”. He stands in the centre of Eastern
European orthodoxy in his time and the quote
brought above is thus a particularly interesting
statement concerning the breadth of the Jewish
tradition and its ability to contain different points
of view.
The Rabbinic tradition in Judaism, as a
tradition which has for thousands of years seen its
major task as elucidating the will of God through
a minute and often creative dissection of the Torah
and the Tanach and the secondary literature that
has accumulated within the Rabbinic tradition itself
(such as the Talmud), has walked a very delicate
tightrope between two different tendencies.
On the one hand it has allowed much
freedom in interpretation, recognising that an
intellectually based Rabbinic elite must be free to
suggest independent interpretations and analyses
of the Torah tradition. On the other hand, since
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ultimately it has believed that God’s will must be
expressed in a system of actions that must obligate
all Jews, it has tended to encourage a final decision
between the various practical implications of the
alternative interpretations. In other words it has
encouraged freedom of thought much more than
freedom of action.
In terms of the interpretations the breadth
of acceptable interpretations is quite astonishing as
any student of Midrash (the ultimate interpretative
layer in the Jewish tradition) will immediately
recognise.
But the task of the “poskim” (the Halachic
experts who made it their business to make final
decisions on practical issues) was to make the
“right decision” in practical terms and this balance
between parshanut (interpretation) and psika
(final practical decisions) is one that characterises
Rabbinic tradition at most periods.
Rabbi Epstein in his book takes the role of
the posek and that is one of the things that makes
the quote so interesting. As he explains the legal
bottom line in each subject under discussion, he
elevates the distinct and often opposing voices
TEXT: Contemporary Challenges
~ www.jpeoplehood.org/toolkit
TEXT: THE MANY VOICES OF TORAH
in the Jewish tradition to an ideal of harmony
between those voices. That is what makes the
study of Torah so pleasurable.
His opinion here reflects the famous
Talmudic dictum about the frequent disputes
between two schools of Rabbinic study, Bet Hillel
and Shammai, “Elu v’elu divrei elohim chayim” –
both opinions are the words of God – which of
autonomy and personal responsibility to heights
never before seen in Judaism).
The question here then is whether there
can be meaning to peoplehood when there are no
accepted common points of authority in the Jewish
world. Do people see themselves belonging to the
whole Jewish People (“Klal Israel) or only to those
with whom they share ideological kinship?
course was narrowed by the acceptance of the idea
that the ultimate Halacha (practical decision) went
according to the house of Hillel.
Thus the Jewish tradition has been one of
pluralism of thought far more than of practical
action concerning real life matters. However,
despite the radical nature of much of the
interpretation (once again, especially though not
exclusively in the field of Midrash) ultimately the
assumption has been that all those who indulge in
legitimate interpretation buy into the assumptions
of the system and this is the difficulty of extending
the idea of pluralism to cover modern times.
The last centuries have seen Jews moving
away from the traditional assumptions of the system
and although modern ideas and interpretations
continue to abound, the traditional Jewish world
has not tended to accept such interpretations as
legitimate unless they come from somewhere
within their own ideological world.
Those outside of that system have tended
to reject the traditional authorities, thus creating a
reality of alternative systems of authority (including
many ideological systems which reject altogether
the idea of authority, elevating the idea of personal
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Educational Suggestions
Here are two suggestions for using this piece:
1. Present the piece by Rabbi Epstein and briefly
discuss it. As a trigger for discussion divide
the group up into small groups and ask each
group to prepare a wordless version of any
Jewish song (Have Nagila, Maoz Tsur, Hatikva,
Yerushalayim Shel Zahav etc.) according to the
description in the piece (i.e. different voices in
harmony).
Sing! Then do another version of the same
song with two or three voices singing but out of
harmony. Sing that one too.
Ask the group why they are doing that?
Go back to the quote and ask how much
disharmony the world-wide Jewish People
community can accept before it ceases to be a
people? Can a people be a people if each person
is singing a different song or if different groups
are singing different versions of the song? How
much common ground does there have to be
in order for a people to continue to be seen as
a people? What implications are there for the
Jewish People today?
TEXT: Contemporary Challenges
~ www.jpeoplehood.org/toolkit
TEXT: THE MANY VOICES OF TORAH
2. Divide the group into pairs. Let each pair discuss
what sort of Jews (if any) they think that they
have nothing in common with. Then let them
list the things that they might have in common
with those Jews.
For example, if they say they have nothing
in common with Ultra-Orthodox Jews, they
might have a Seder at Pesach, they might have
had a Bar-Mitzvah if they are boys and they
might know the story of Moses and Egypt etc.
If they say they have nothing in common
with unaffiliated Jews, they might know that
Israel is a Jewish state, they might have one or
two Jewish parents and their families might have
been immigrants to their country within the last
four generations.
Use this as a basis of discussion regarding
the question to what extent there have to be
things in common for a people to be a people in
general and how the Jewish model of peoplehood
might play out in this context. Bring in the piece
by Rabbi Epstein. What might he say on the
question? How does the group relate?
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TEXT: Contemporary Challenges
~ www.jpeoplehood.org/toolkit