interpretation of torah
It seems to me that Torah can mean law, ritual, instruction, and narrative. The readings from both Leviticus and Genesis give instructions somehow on the way to live and to practice rituals and this seems to be done through some type of narrative. The readings from Genesis are more like a story with characters and action while the readings in Leviticus are more just the passing down of God's laws to His people.
In Genesis more natural rituals are explained such as why man leaves his family and seeks out a wife, and these are told in a sort of story form. We also establish the intended relationship of God with His people. The covenant that is made between God and Abram illustrates this. Here, God is instructing people how to worship him and live well in order to recieve the reward of a happy and prosperous life from God.
In Leviticus God tells Moses the laws of purification and the insructions on how to live the correct life and Moses in turn imparts this wisdom onto all of God's people. God's people are told to show their appreciation through the act of different rituals, like the different sacrafices. God sets down the laws and they become traditions as they are followed and practiced by people. For this reason the interpretation or translation of torah as law or ritual makes sense to me. These laws contain specific instructions as well so I can understand that word meaning torah.
I was pretty confused about this whole idea of torah until we had class yesterday. I am starting to understand the whole point of all these specific laws and instructions. It was hard for me to understand how all these sacrafices and rules could relate to people's lives today. It seems that all the laws set down by God may represent the general way he expects His followers to behave towards him. Today we can still share thanks with God and form a relationship with Him even if we are not sacrificing animals on altars. The end of ch. 11 of Leviticus says that "the purpose of the law is to make a distinction between the clean and the unclean," this is reffering to the law saying which animals are ok to eat. This kind of sums up the whole idea that each law may seem really specific but its really telling us a general idea or moral. It seems that the detailed laws that the texts of Genesis and Leviticus share with us are meant to be interpreted by the readers and the general idea of them is meant to be expressed in some way. One can still express the emotions and connections these laws represent without following each one exactly, which would be hard to do in modern times. So I guess I am starting to understand this stuff a littel better but I am still trying to figure it all out.
In Genesis more natural rituals are explained such as why man leaves his family and seeks out a wife, and these are told in a sort of story form. We also establish the intended relationship of God with His people. The covenant that is made between God and Abram illustrates this. Here, God is instructing people how to worship him and live well in order to recieve the reward of a happy and prosperous life from God.
In Leviticus God tells Moses the laws of purification and the insructions on how to live the correct life and Moses in turn imparts this wisdom onto all of God's people. God's people are told to show their appreciation through the act of different rituals, like the different sacrafices. God sets down the laws and they become traditions as they are followed and practiced by people. For this reason the interpretation or translation of torah as law or ritual makes sense to me. These laws contain specific instructions as well so I can understand that word meaning torah.
I was pretty confused about this whole idea of torah until we had class yesterday. I am starting to understand the whole point of all these specific laws and instructions. It was hard for me to understand how all these sacrafices and rules could relate to people's lives today. It seems that all the laws set down by God may represent the general way he expects His followers to behave towards him. Today we can still share thanks with God and form a relationship with Him even if we are not sacrificing animals on altars. The end of ch. 11 of Leviticus says that "the purpose of the law is to make a distinction between the clean and the unclean," this is reffering to the law saying which animals are ok to eat. This kind of sums up the whole idea that each law may seem really specific but its really telling us a general idea or moral. It seems that the detailed laws that the texts of Genesis and Leviticus share with us are meant to be interpreted by the readers and the general idea of them is meant to be expressed in some way. One can still express the emotions and connections these laws represent without following each one exactly, which would be hard to do in modern times. So I guess I am starting to understand this stuff a littel better but I am still trying to figure it all out.
posted by bleonard at 2:12 PM
1 Comments:
Yes, you're getting it. It's as if the interplay between specific laws and general moral principles that you observed in the text sets up a "space" for interpretation. But there are two ways to take your point that these laws would be "hard to do in modern times."
(1) It could be that it's hard today because it's inconvenient or burdensome, or even not quite in keeping with our moral or aesthetic tastes. But even then, ancient Israelites might have found these laws hard to keep for the same reasons.
(2) It could be hard because we no longer have the institutions in which we're supposed to perform the sacrifices - no Temple, no hereditary priesthood that remembers exactly how to perform the sacrifices; these were pretty much destroyed and lost in the wars with the Romans in the 1st-2nd century CE. Yet the rabbis who survived the destruction of Jerusalem and and the exile from there still felt obligated to do the "commandments of God," so they were in quandary. But not all modern Jews feel obligated in that way.
Most modern Jews, confronted with the difficulty of doing these commandments would say (and have said), it's my choice; I don't really have to do them, so I just won't do the ones that seem hard, pointless, or impossible to do.
But others, like the rabbis after the destruction of the Temple, would say, I still have to do them, or God still wants me to do them, so I need to find a to do these commandments in a new, different way that still sticks to the word of God, but takes into account the new situation I'm in, and the fact that I don't have the Temple, priests, and other institutions needed to do them.
In this case, interpretation is not just an option; it's a necessity! That "space" for interpretation between the specific rules and their more general moral/ethical purposes starts to look really good; it becomes increasingly, crucially important.
This is what is later called "midrash" (what we'll be studying next ) - the quintessentially Jewish way of interpreting Torah - both its laws and its narratives. But it seems that this need, this place for midrash (a later historical innovation of the rabbis) was already "built in" to the Biblical text. That's the phenomenon I think you discovered in these Leviticus passages.
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