The Beauty of Torah

The beauty of the Torah is not only the profound wisdom and truth contained in it, but it is also an ongoing set of laws, waiting to be uncovered.

It is extremely important not to minimize the fact that there are actually two Torahs, the Oral and the Written. The majority of the time spent in the desert, was spent on studying the laws.

There was a fairly long period in our history when every Jew knew the Five Books of Moses by heart. The Meam Loez claimed that this lasted until the end of the First Temple period.

When the Torah was originally taught, the entire nation were explained each verse four times; one time from Moshe Rabbeinu, a second time from Aharon, a third time from his sons, and a fourth time from the seventy elders.

The Mitzvot given on Mount Sinai, were given together with their interpretations. For example, the Torah gave instructions to “Place these words as a sign on your arm, and as frontlets between your eyes.” The word “Tefillin” is not found in the text at all. The explanation given back then, was the same as it is today, in making kosher Tefillin.

The Torah gave instructions to “Dwell in a Succah for seven days.” It did not include instructions as to how large it must be, how many walls must it have, and what kind of roof it must have. All of this was learned directly from Moshe Rabbeinu who received it from Hashem.

It is clear that the acceptance of the Oral Torah is tantamount to the denial of the Torah in its entirety.

Shavuot is the holiday where we express our appreciation for having received the gift of the Torah. But if we really want to learn to appreciate this gift, we must study it in depth, to see its wisdom and beauty first hand.