Two Minute Torah Podcast

Nitzavim 5768 by Rabbi Robert Gamer

This week's Torah portion, Nitzavim, contains one of the more famous phrases in our tradition. Deuteronomy 30:12 says, "Lo ba'shamayim hee", literally "It is not in heaven". In the context of Moses' speech the phrase teaches that the Torah is within our grasp to understand and to practice. The phrase, "lo ba'shamayim hee" is part of a famous story in the Talmud about a debate that took place between the sages and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus who lived at the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century. The debate is over the ritual status of a particular kind of oven and whether the oven can become ritually pure or impure. Rabbi Eliezer uses every conceivable argument to prove his point including miracles, the last of which is a Heavenly voice that declares "How can you argue with Rabbi Eliezer? The law is as he states in every instance!" At that point Rabbi Yehoshua, one of the great rabbis of his generation, stood up and exclaimed, "Lo ba'shamayim hee", It, meaning the Torah, is no longer in heaven!" With that the argument ends and the sages are victorious. Later it is said that at that moment God laughed and said, "My children have bested me!" Rabbi Yehoshua teaches us that once God, the ultimate source of the Torah, gives the Torah to us we no longer rely on miracles or heavenly proclamations. Instead it is up to us in each and every generation to interpret the Torah and apply it to our lives. In this way we continue to make Torah a living text that has relevance and meaning for us today and in the future.