Torah

“ For great as the Halachah was, and divine and holy, the Torah was greater, for in it God had given all that He had to give. "Greater," said a Rabbi, "is one single word of Torah, than all the 'Mitzvōth' contained in it." And another: "All the world is not equivalent to one single word of Torah" (j. Peah. 15d) , meaning that the beholding of the perfect revelation of God is more than the realisation in action of a part of it. ”

“ I know that many Israelites say that the Torah is the more important, but they are stupid, and they do not know that the earth shall tremble from great pains before God and Israel, Father and Matron, shall be united in a kiss of love, until the slave will not retreat before the queen—the Talmud before the Kabala. ”

“ It had been for ages the custom in Israel for the priests to give instruction to the people upon matters connected with religion, explanations of duty, decisions of disputes, intimations of the will of God. This was, of course, Torah; and it was Torah which was regarded as being given by God through human agency. The Torah which the Lord gave by the hand of Moses would not originally imply any code or book, but simply such ancient sayings, precepts or otherwise, as were traditionally ascribed to Moses as the great teacher of Israel in the days of old. ”

“ Behold, the Torah is the remedy for the soul and the body, and it ensures their well-being and coexistence as long as the body follows and elevates itself after the soul, without opposing it. Then, both the body and the soul will continue to exist, for the Torah is the elixir of life and sustenance for both, ensuring their perpetual life. ”

“ To become a Scribe was not so much to take orders as to take a degree, though that is not an exact parallel.
I have explained in the preceding chapter the way in which the Torah was regarded as the embodiment of the full and final revelation which God had made to Israel. It was the source of all knowledge, the supreme authority, the regulator of all action. It included within its range the whole duty of man, his entire relation to God and to his fellow-men. The written Torah was contained in the Pentateuch. ”

“ Here, the esteemed scholar reveals his mindset, which suggests that these philosophical matters are closely tied to the Torah and are beloved by it. They are its true companions, sharing the same essence and encompassing every facet. They are not equal, heaven forbid. For one is holy, and the other profane; one is pure, the other impure; one is light, the other darkness; one is wheat, the other straw. And there is no harmony between them. In fact, he uproots the foundation of truth and casts it aside, decreeing that wisdom exists only in philosophy, not among the wise of Israel. ”

“ The Torah moreover included the great commands to love God and man, which once for all placed the religion of Israel on a spiritual basis. If the Jews often attached more importance to the letter and form of Revelation than to its substance, and were more careful for ritual and external observances than for inner righteousness, we have no right to cast a stone at them. ”

“ God will help him to obey the good, and will not prevent him from yielding to the bad. To keep his mind fixed on the Torah, and filled with its teaching, is his protection against sin and his incitement to right living. He is glad that the Torah gives him so many precepts to fulfil, because it thereby constantly reminds him of God, and provides opportunities for serving Him. The Torah is the centre and circumference of all his thoughts and beliefs about religion. ”

“ Latin, the language of Western Christendom, was abhorred by the descendants of those whom the Roman destroyer of the Temple had driven into exile, and the study of the Torah was the one form of literature to which all Jews, old and young, rich and poor, devoted themselves with a single-minded earnestness worthy of the ancient Pharisees and Scribes. ”

“ The object of the whole Torah is that man should become a Torah himself. Every man being a Torah in himself, said a disciple of Baalshem, has got not only his Abraham and Moses, but also his Balaam and Haman: he should try to expel the Balaam and develop the Abraham within him. Every action of man should be a pure manifestation of God. ”

“ The unique name encompasses the entire Torah. The Torah is woven with the name of the Lord, and it is the essence:
Since the Torah assumed the form of a human, it was fitting for a person, and through it, a person becomes truly human. In the end, one will cleave to this human:
I saw in a midrash using this language: Four holy letters are called "Adam," and upon them, the Almighty said, "Let us make man." From the Yud, awe shall be aroused before the Master of masters, that a person should be in awe of Him. From the Hei, repentance shall be stirred within a person. ”

“ I would not say that this never happened; because it is not wise to assert a universal negative. But it certainly was not the primary or the usual effect. The Torah made the religion of Israel personal and individual to a far greater degree than it had been before; and it did so by conveying to the individual Jew not merely the legal precept but the prophetic fervour, the joy and the inspiration of personal communion with God as well as the high privilege of serving Him. ”

“ It would be to renounce the very blessing for the sake of which they desired that the Gentiles should come in. And, even if there were no Gentiles, the Torah was still the very life and soul of Israel; to part with it would be death; a fact to which Israel has borne witness through the centuries. In the nature of things, the religion of Torah as held by the Pharisees could not free itself from Particularism; and though it could and did cherish a vision of Universalism, the vision was for the far future, and only floated fitfully before the gaze of the Pharisee. ”

“ Behold, the Torah of the Written Law encompasses the Torah, Prophets, and Writings, as the essence of the Patriarchs is Torah, and the teachings of the Lord with the righteous are the foundation of the world, along with the kingdoms of the House of David, which are written. Similarly, the Torah of the Oral Law encompasses Mishnah, Beraitha, Talmud, and the entire comprehensive entity mentioned in the Song of Songs, as it includes its chambers. ”

“ The Jews represented the relation of man to God in terms of Torah, in the knowledge of divine truth therein contained, and in filial obedience to God whose precepts were recorded in it. They found, on the lines of Torah, the ground of faith in God and present communion with Him; and while they always hoped to learn more of the contents of revelation—to be shown "wonderful things out of the Torah,"—and while they aspired to a closer walk with God, they never felt that the Torah needed to be replaced by any other means of revelation and communion, as being itself only partial and defective. ”

“ For the thirteen tikunim/"states of perfection" of the Holy Beard correspond to the Thirteen Attributes of Torah exegesis which are the entirety of the holy Torah. Woe for he who touches, God forbid, to destroy one hair of the holy beard and the pe'ot with contempt in his soul and with malice and treachery! Woe for him and woe for his soul! for he uproots himself and his soul from the God of Yisrael and has no portion in Torat Moshe! Woe for their souls, for evil has been recompensed upon them! ”

“ Therefore, even someone who is not really able to attain new Torah insights must at least make great effort each and every day to study Torah with renewed enthusiasm and passion, that it will be literally "as new" for him, for this too is considered a renewal of the Torah, as explained elsewhere. This corresponds to tzitzit, tefillin, kriat shma and prayer, all of which represent a renewal of the mind that is drawn upon each Jew every day. All this is evoked by the shining and the impression of the Submergence into the Absolute, which corresponds to sleep. ”

“ The watchword of the New Testament is Love. The watchword of the Talmud is Wisdom. And each can claim, as its ideal, the highest and fullest and noblest meaning of its own watchword.
I pass to the consideration of another effect produced by the conception of Torah as the controlling factor in Pharisaic religion. Within the lines of Torah there was room for a highly developed spiritual life, a pure morality, a devout piety. Also, for warm sympathy and generous kindness, and in general for the virtues which make human nature lovable. ”

“ When the Torah was passed to Moshe, tens of thousands of Supernal angels appeared so as to raise him with the flames of their mouths, but the Creator protected him. So now, when the renewal in the Torah ascends and appears before the Creator, He protects it and shelters the one who performed it, so as to prevent the angels from finding out and envying him, until new Heaven and earth are made out of this renewal in the Torah. ”

“ Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah, the Prince, said, "Excellent is the study of Torah combined with some worldly pursuit (6) , for the effort demanded by them both makes sin to be forgotten. All study of Torah without work must at length be futile, and leads to sin (7) . Let all who are employed with the congregation act with them for Heaven's sake, for then the merit of their fathers sustains them, and their righteousness endures for ever (8) . And as for you (God will then say) , 'I account you worthy of great reward, as if you had wrought it all yourselves.' 3. ”

“ Our moral and religious training is based on the Word of God, on the Torah, and the study of the Torah, ‏חלמוד תורה‎, is an essential element in Jewish education. The term Torah is to be understood in no narrow sense, but as including the written and the oral Law, all the books of the Holy Writings, and such works as have from time to time been composed for the purpose of facilitating and promoting the study of the Torah. ”

“ That the Torah was not such as Paul represented it to be is a statement which is true, both positively and negatively. He ascribed to it a character which it did not possess, and he left out of his description features which it did possess, and which were essential to it. Paul always takes Torah in the sense of "precept," "mitzvah," νὁμος [Greek: nómos] , not necessarily separate injunctions, but a collective expression of command, for which the term Law is appropriate. ”

“ There is here no opposition between the conception of Torah and that of life under the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus also regarded the Torah, at this time at all events, as being [145] the supreme and final revelation that God had given to Israel. To fulfil it was not merely to obey its precepts but to make one's whole life, in thought, word, and deed, respond to that divine influence. And Jesus maintained that the Pharisees did not go the right way to attain that end. ”

“ The Torah proclaims to men to be occupied with and endeavor in the study of the Torah, but no one lends an ear.
Come and behold, whoever studies the Torah sustains the world and properly sustains every act in the world. ”

“ Chapter Two - To clarify that the work of creation and the work of the divine chariot are concealed teachings of the Torah, and no intellectual worthiness and desirability can be attributed to them. A statement is made that hidden teachings of the Torah cannot be disclosed, and so on. We will elucidate and reveal the secret of the mentioned concept in the words of our sages, may their memory be a blessing. ”

“ The particular teacher who had given such and such an interpretation, thereby rendered explicit [94] what had till then been implicit in the Torah. The Torah was not merely the written word of the Pentateuch, but the divine thought behind it. And to interpret the Torah was not to read something fresh into the written word, but to get something fresh out of it. If a Pharisee were asked, Where is the Torah to be found? he would answer: "The written word and the unwritten tradition together make up the Torah." ”

“ As has been shown above,597 Wisdom is described in the Bible as the first of all created beings, the assistant and counselor of God in the work of creation. Then we see that Ben Sira identifies Wisdom with the Torah.598 Thus the Torah, too, was raised to a cosmic power, the sum and substance of all wisdom. In fact, the Torah, like the Logos of Plato, was regarded as comprising the ideas or prototypes of all things as in a universal plan. The Torah is the divine pattern for the world. ”

“ However, in order to bring the matter closer to the intellect, they are compared in this way, as the rain cannot be understood or comprehended without them. As the Sages have said, the Torah speaks in human language. And if so, they are the order of created beings, and likewise the entire order of the Torah, as will be explained. It turns out that nothing comes out of them except themselves, as they are everything, and without them, it is impossible for anything to exist. ”

“ And how could it not be so? [For the Torah] is the daughter of the living God, and is the essence of supernal wisdom, and there is the secret of its strength [that it is hidden away inside wisdom] , and He is praised; His Name and wisdom are one. Just as there is no beginning to His beginning or no end to His end, so too is there no beginning or end to His wisdom [it is without limit] . Concerning this, the pleasant singer of Israel (Psalms) says: "your commandment is exceedingly broad" (Psalms 119: 96) . That is to say: there is no boundary [to your commandment; to the study of Torah] . ”