B"H
All Israel Must Aspire to
All Israel Must Aspire to
the Moral Level of the Prophets
I've been thinking about all day about many discussions I have had with Torah scholars and I am terribly troubled. What I am about to say I do not say easily or without fear of Heaven.
It seems to me that when we limit ourselves to the moral level of CHaZa"L (the Sages of the Talmud) we hobble ourselves.
We have to be brave and absolutely honest and accept that considering the pressures they were under they did a very good job - but they did make moral compromises and they were not anywhere near on the level of the Prophets precisely because they made moral compromises.
It was not easy for them engaging in Halalchic debates and decision taking with centurions breathing down their necks.
Nevertheless, we have to be able to see the political map obscured under the Halakhic discussions in the Talmud.
Only the Prophets of Yisra'EL were morally uncompromising. Only they could not be bent under fear or torture and murder nor tempted with promises of their descendants continuing to be Head of Academies. Therefore, their hearts were not convoluted and their minds were not clouded and they attained maximum clarity of vision possible in this world.
We must strive to make our moral level must be that of the Prophets, even while we incorporate the Halakhic decisions of the Sages of the Second Temple period and beyond *insofar as NO moral compromises are involved*.
If we do not, the Third Temple cannot be built and it most certainly would not stand even if it could be built.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
I've been thinking about all day about many discussions I have had with Torah scholars and I am terribly troubled. What I am about to say I do not say easily or without fear of Heaven.
It seems to me that when we limit ourselves to the moral level of CHaZa"L (the Sages of the Talmud) we hobble ourselves.
We have to be brave and absolutely honest and accept that considering the pressures they were under they did a very good job - but they did make moral compromises and they were not anywhere near on the level of the Prophets precisely because they made moral compromises.
It was not easy for them engaging in Halalchic debates and decision taking with centurions breathing down their necks.
Nevertheless, we have to be able to see the political map obscured under the Halakhic discussions in the Talmud.
Only the Prophets of Yisra'EL were morally uncompromising. Only they could not be bent under fear or torture and murder nor tempted with promises of their descendants continuing to be Head of Academies. Therefore, their hearts were not convoluted and their minds were not clouded and they attained maximum clarity of vision possible in this world.
We must strive to make our moral level must be that of the Prophets, even while we incorporate the Halakhic decisions of the Sages of the Second Temple period and beyond *insofar as NO moral compromises are involved*.
If we do not, the Third Temple cannot be built and it most certainly would not stand even if it could be built.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
