Greetings:
OK - I talked with Rabbi M. today. As some of you may know, I went through the process of "converting" to Judaism some time ago with a Bet Din composed of Rabbi M., Rabbi B. and Cantor R. just before I was to have my Mitzvah (similar to a Christian Baptism). About five minutes into the interrogation Rabbi B. asked, "Do you believe in the Oral Torah?" What a question! How many people coming into Judaism even KNOW what is an Oral Torah??
Anyway, not to play games, I just said, "No." and then told him why. There are way too many contradictions from various Rabbim about what is kosher and what is not kosher in the Mishnah, Talmud, etc. In the original Torah, Moses never contradicts himself - he only says what G-d tells him to tell the Jewish people. And what he says in one place never contradicts what he says in another place. Is what we have today infallible? Probably not - but the Massoretic text is about as close as we can get to G-d's original words so I accept it for now. And the various translations (JPS and KJV) are pretty close to what the original Hebrew says but I use the JPS for my dissertations.
Anyway, back to the problem. When Rabbi M. says that if the Oral Torah contradicts the written Torah then the Oral Torah is correct, I have a real problem. (And, yes, I taped the whole thing so I can prove it all.) So, here is my question: If the Oral Torah says that adultery is OK, does that make it OK with HaShem? I don't think so. If the Oral Torah says that homosexuality is OK, does that make it OK with HaShem? I don't think so. But, it seems that since I follow the written Torah as having precedence over the Oral Torah, I cannot convert to Judaism - not with this particular Beth Din. And, apparently not with any other Beth Din today.
This is really perplexing. I know many Jews who believe that the TaNaKh (Bible) is nothing more than a codification of campfire tales and not really the Word of G-d. Others attend just to be part of their heritage. But, because they were born Jews, they are accepted and no questions are asked. But, because I am trying to become part of the Jewish faith, I am being questioned and told that I HAVE to believe that the Oral Torah takes precedence over the written Torah. If something that Rabbi M. says today eventually becomes part of the Oral Torah, and it contradicts written Torah, then I have to believe it if I am to be part of the congregation. I can't do that.
Yet, other Orthodox congregations tell me that I have to accept Oral Torah as well in order to become a Jew. I can accept it on the same level as I would accept Christian Commentary, but not on the same level as I accept Torah. While Torah as we have it today may not be infallible and without question, it would be most difficult to question something in it without some really substantial reasoning. (If my son is a drunkard and a sluggard should I take him to the elders and have him stoned?) Anyway, there are things that I can accept and things I cannot accept right now, but to say that Talmud and Mishnah - and even sermons - take precedence over Torah would seem to be way out of line.
I'm confused.
Shalom
Yaakov
(aka, James)
