Asu Seyag La Torah 95
readings of halakhic sources, it is a mistake to confuse their intransigence for religious piety. The late great historian Jacob Katz taught that the current Orthodox attitude of inflexibility is itself a reform(!)—a reaction to sociological and political influences and not a natural result of pure halakhic reasoning.” In numerous case studies, Katz has demonstrated that halakhah ’s role has historically been one of reacting to the changing needs and realities of the Jewish people.'*
It is essential to emphasize that radical innovations, unique interpretations, and bold contradictions to the literal instructions of the Torah text are not the inventions of Reform Judaism. They are the legacy of sages of the Mishnah and Gemara!
Rabbinic authorities have claimed the right, even the obligation, to make rulings that will help strengthen the Jewish people. When the sages of the Kenesset HaGedolah,(the Great Assembly), instructed us: va’asu seyag laTorah,(make a fence to protect the Torah ), they did not mean to fossilize Jewish life and thought— just the opposite! Throughout rabbinic literature the principle of seyag laTorah is a shorthand way of guaranteeing the right of contemporary Jewish authorities to legislate even radical innovations to help the Jewish people survive and fulfill the Divine will as they could best determine. As Maimonides wrote in his commentary to the Mishnah :
The fourth[of the five divisions of Oral Law ]: These are gezerot, laws the prophets and Sages decreed in every generation in order la-asot seyag laTorah—to erect a fence around the laws of the Torah . The-Holy-One-Blessed-Be-He commanded us in general terms to create such legislation when He said:“You shall protect my safeguards.”(Leviticus 18:30) This is explained by tradition to mean: ‘Make safeguards for my safeguards’(Yevormot 21a)®®
Rabbinic sages revered the Torah as divinely inspired and yet they realized the importance of developing legislation that was distinct from the letter of the law as it appeared in the Torah . Early Jewish philosophers apparently shared this conviction. So it has been argued that the first-century Jewish philosopher Philo Promoted the importance of Oral law. In his De Specialibu Legibus (The Special Laws), he offers a fascinating commentary on Deuteronomy 19:14:“You shall not remove your neighbor's landmarks which were set up by earlier generations.” Philo understood this verse as protecting the authority of ancestral customs.