Pemikiran Yahudi Ulangan 17:9: Kuzari, Duties, Derashot HaRan & For the Perplexed

39. The Rabbi: Our law is linked to the 'ordination given to Moses on Sinai,' or sprung 'from the place which the Lord shall choose' (Isaiah 2:3), 'for from Zion goes forth the Law, and the word of God from Jerusalem.' Its mediators were the Judges, Overseers, Priests, and the members of the Synhedrion. It is incumbent upon us to obey the Judge appointed for the time being, as it is written: 'Or to the judge who will be in those days . . . and thou shalt inquire, and they shall tell thee the sentence of judgment, and thou shalt do according to the word which they tell thee . . . from the place which the Lord shall choose . . . and thou shall take heed to do according to all they teach thee' (Deuteronomy 17:9, sqq). Further: 'The man who doeth presumptuously not to listen to the priest . . . this man shall die, and thou shalt remove the evil from thy midst.' Disobedience to the Priest or Judge is placed on a par with the gravest transgressions, in the words: 'Thou shalt remove the evil from thy midst.' This concludes with the words: 'And all the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.' This refers to the time when the order of the Temple service and the Synhedrion, and the sections [of the Levites], who completed the organization, were still intact, and the Divine Influence was undeniably among them either in the form of prophecy or inspiration, as was the case during the time of the second Temple. Among these persons no agreement or convention was possible. In a similar manner arose the duty of reading the Book of Esther on Purim, and the ordination of Ḥanuccah, and we can say: 'He who has commanded us to read the Megillāh' and 'to kindle the light of Ḥanuccah,' or 'to complete' or 'to read' the Hallēl, 'to wash the hands,' 'the ordination of the Erūb,' and the like. Had our traditional customs arisen after the exile, they could not have been called by this name, nor would they require a blessing, but there would be a regulation or rather a custom. The bulk of our laws, however, derives its origin from Moses, as an 'ordination given to Moses from Sinai.' This also explains how a people obtained during forty years sufficient food and clothing, in spite of their large number. Moses was with them, and the Shekhinah did not forsake them, giving them general as well as special laws. Is it not absurd to assume that they refrained from inquiring occasionally into the details, and handing down their explanations and subdivisions? Take the verse: 'And I will make known the laws of God and His statutes' (Exodus 18:16), which is supplemented by the other: 'For this is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations, which shall hear all these laws, and they will say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people' (Deuteronomy 4:6). He who wishes to gainsay this verse may look at the Karaites; but he who desires to confirm it, let him behold the branches of knowledge embodied in the Talmud, which form only a small portion of the natural, metaphysical, mathematical, and astronomical studies [in which the Sages indulged]. He will, then, see that they deserve praise above all nations for their learning. Some of our laws originate, in certain circumstances mentioned before, 'from the place which the Lord shall choose.' Prophecy lasted about forty years of the second Temple. Jeremiah, in his prophetic speeches, commended the people of the second Temple for their piety, learning, and fear of God (Jeremiah 29:10m sqq.). If we did not rely on men like these, on whom should we rely? We see that prescriptions given after Moses' death became law. Thus Solomon hallowed: 'The middle of the court' (I Kings 8:64 sqq.), slaughtered sacrifices on a place other than the altar, and celebrated 'the feast seven days and seven days.' David and Samuel appointed the order of the Temple choir, which became a fixed law. Solomon added to the sanctuary built in the desert, and omitted from it. Ezra imposed the tax of one-third of a shekel on the community of the second Temple (Nehemiah 10:33). A stone paving was put in the place of the Ark, hiding it behind a curtain, because they knew that the Ark had been buried there.

Furthermore, the torah itself, refers us to the tradition for its details as written "If a matter eludes you in judgment,..then you shall rise and go up to the place the L-rd, your G-d, has chosen; And you shall come to the Kohanim, to the judge who will be in those days, and you shall inquire, and they will tell you the words of judgment." (Devarim 17:8-9), and "And the man who acts intentionally, not obeying the priest who stands there to minister the L-rd, your G-d, or to the judge that man shall die" (Devarim 17:12).

Now this, indeed, must be understood. How can it be said that other rulings in a halachic dispute were stated to Moses by the Omnipotent One! Shammai says (Iddyoth 1:2) that the requirement of chalah begins from a kav; Hillel says that it begins from two kavim. Only one of these can be true; the other must be untrue. How can it be said, then, that something untrue issued forth from the mouth of the Omnipotent One? The understanding is as follows: All of the Torah — both the written and the oral — was given to Moses on Sinai, as our sages have stated (Megillah 19b): "R. Chiyya b. Abba said in the name of R. Yochanan: 'From the verse (Deuteronomy 9:10) "…and upon them according to all the words…" we infer that the Holy One Blessed Be He showed Moses all of the Torah's deductions and all of the scribes' deductions and what the scribes were destined to originate, namely, the reading of the Megillah.'" "The scribes' deductions" are the disputes and differences of view among the Torah scholars — and all of them were taught to Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, by the Omnipotent One without the decision for each specific dispute. But he was given a guiding principle for the ascertainment of the truth, namely (Exodus 23:2): "After the multitude to incline [judgment]," and also (Deuteronomy 17:11): "Do not turn aside from the thing that they tell you." And when disputes multiplied among the sages, if it were a case of one against many, the halachah was established according to the majority. If it were a case of many against many or one against one, the decision was according to the view of the sages of that generation, this decision having already been relegated to them, as it is written (Ibid 9): "And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, or to the judge that shall be in those days." Similarly, "Do not turn aside…" We see, then, that permission was given to the sages of the generations to rule on the disputes of the sages according to their own view, even if their predecessors were greater and more numerous than they. And we have been commanded to abide by their consensus whether it corresponds to the truth or is at variance with it.