Moshe Shmuel Glasner - Philosophy of The Oral Law and Zionism

Philosophy of The Oral Law and Zionism

Apart from its importance as a traditional Talmudic commentary, Dor Revi'i is also noteworthy because of the philosophy of the Oral Law that is expounded in the introduction (haqdamah) to the work. A distinct philsopophical essay is contained in the conclusion of his comprehensive introductory statement (petiha) of the ten main halakhic principles of ritual slaughter (shehitah) that underlie the main halakhic discussion of the tractate. The latter essay argues that the Torah presupposes basic principles of morality that are incumbent on all human beings independently of any explicit commandment (e.g., a prohibition against eating human flesh). In the haqdamah, Rabbi Glasner develops a philosophy in which halakhah is seen not as the pure expression of Divine Will, but as a creative process in which man himself is an active participant. Halakhah is the outgrowth of an evolving tradition that encompasses the attempts of the Sages of each generation to apply Divinely sanctioned principles of interpretation to the sacred and unchanging Written text received at Sinai. That process of interpreting the written text and applying it to ever-changing circumstances constitutes the Oral Law or Tradition. The Oral Law, like any living tradition, cannot remain static and unchanging. Nor was it intended by the Divine Author of Written Law that the Oral Law be static. Indeed, the dynamic nature of the Tradition was imbedded in the Oral Law by the ancient prohibition against writing down the rulings of the Oral Law in an authoritative text. As long as the Oral Law was transmitted orally and not in writing, later authorities had the right to overturn the rulings of their predecessors that were predicated on a particular interpreation of the Scriptures (Maimonides Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Mamrim 2:1-2). This purely oral transmission of the Oral Law ensured its flexibility and adaptability to changing circumstances. However, the right of later authorities to change the rulings of earlier authorities was radically circumscribed when the prohibition against writing down the Oral Law in a canonical text was abrogated by Rabbi Judah the Prince (second century of the common era) in order to produce the Mishnah. The justification for abrogating the prohibition against creating an authoritative text of the Oral Law was that the looming onset of the Diaspora would make preserving the Oral Law as it had been known previously impossible. Only through the creation of an authoritative text could the integrity of halakhah be maintained under the unprecedented conditions of prolonged exile in the absence of any supreme halakhic authority. But clearly the resulting ossification of the Oral Law owing to the combined effects of exile, persecution and an authoritative written text was very far from the process of halakhic evolution and development which Rabbi Glasner believed was the Divine intention. It was from this philosophical perspective that he conceived of Zionism as a vehicle not only for national rebirth in the Holy Land, but for restoring the Oral Law to its ancient position as the means by which the spirit of the Jewish people in each generation could find concrete expression. For Rabbi Glasner Zionism held great promise for both pragmatic political reasons as well as deeply religious and spiritual ones.

A similar philosophy of the Oral Law, also emphasizing the distinction between written and oral transmission, was subsequently articulated in several works by Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits, who was a student of Rabbi Glasner's son and successor as chief rabbi of Klausenburg Rabbi Akiva Glasner.