Pensée juive sur Isaïe 9:17

Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to explain, to analyze, and to delve deeply, to enlighten the eyes of those who are (Cf. Isaiah 50:10) "walking in darkness", but not with noise and antagonism. It is upon us to judge favorably even the most mistaken of their opinions. (Jeremiah 50:6) “Wandering sheep is my nation, their shepherds have lead them astray”; their shepherds are also lost shepherds, who have been lead astray by those who have lead them. Without anyone to straighten out the path, and without anyone standing in the breach providing a way out of perplexity, (Isaiah 9:17) “they will be overcome by the intensity of the smoke.” And the perplexity has kept growing, to the point that they have lost the way. Instead of [the Torah appearing as] upright paths, ways of pleasantness in the Torah, they view them in their eyes as a great confusion and perplexity. Their souls which thirst for light, lead them to falsehood, which they find by rejecting Torah and faith.

There is no doubt in the world that the basis for holding on to the Oral Torah with the Written Torah is so that the Torah can be expounded upon in Bet Din in every generation. Their rulings, even though they are accepted in essence, have many fine details, innumerable. And in the very distant future, there will definitely be new interpretations that will be extremely helpful, according to the generation and the times. Perfect faith is [believing] that the true foundation of the Torah is that any Bet Din representing Jewry that has the support of the community can interpret the Torah for any doubt. However, the Bet Din needs to be “in the place that God chooses.” Obviously, that means that it’s impossible to have a strong and secure center without us having the Holy Temple, and a king, and an establishment that protects us from any obstacles, in the land of our forefathers.