Midrash Tanchuma-Ki Tissa
“When the Holy-One-Blessed-Be-God came to give Torah, He related it to Moshe in order. First Bible, then Mishnah, Aggadah and Talmud…even those future questions that a seasoned student would one day ask of his teacher. The Holy-One-Blessed-Be-God related even these things to Moshe at that time, as we find in the Torah: And God spoke of all these things…”
Allen Selis in My Jewish Learning on Reform Revelation
The Reform Movement’s 1937 Columbus Platform suggests that the written Torah is a “depository” of Biblical Israel’s consciousness of God—a record of past revelation—but certainly not the last word in our ongoing dialogue with God. Instead, “revelation is a continuous process, confined to no one group and to no one age.”
Allen Selis in My Jewish Learning on Reconstructionist Revelation
Kaplan identifies the content of Torah as a set of “folk-ways” that the people of Israel constructed and continuously adapted to fit the spirit of their age. The tradition would always have “a voice, but not a veto,” as the entire body of tradition was always meant to be in flux. For Kaplan, there could never be a Sinai—instead, the folk-ways of each new generation would reflect the current needs of the Jewish soul. Each new tradition would be sacred—until its time had passed.
Allen Selis in My Jewish Learning on Conservative Revelation
While mainstream Conservative Jews envision a personal God most Conservative rabbis do not believe that God actually gave the Torah, letter by letter, at Mount Sinai. So what did happen? Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, in his God in Search of Man, argues that the chronological details of Sinai are irrelevant—since the Torah is a moral, not a chronological text. Rabbi Neil Gillman, in SacredFragments, argues from Franz Rosenzweig’s position that God merely revealed Himself at Sinai—the people of Israel then recorded their response to God’s presence in the form of Torah. While God might have initiated the revelation at Sinai, it was the human community which preserved that encounter.
Solomon Schechter (1847-1915) summed up this position in the doctrine of “catholic Israel.” The phrase implies that it is the “catholic” or unified body of the people of Israel who are responsible for the development of Judaism in each generation, taking the fruits of the Sinai revelation and adapting them to meet the needs of the day. One Talmudic source illustrates the problem aptly. In the Mishnah (Brachot 6:8), there is a disagreement about what blessing to say when drinking water. The earlier Sages had the tradition that one should say the blessing “over all things…” while Rabbi Tarfon received the tradition to thank “the Creator of many appetites…” before drinking. What was the Law? In the Talmud, the latter Sages refused to resolve the matter. Instead, they decided to “go out and see what the general populous does.” (Brachot 45a)
From this approach, Schechter concluded that the general community should be viewed as the true arbiter of God’s Law. In theological terms, this means that Sinai takes place in the meeting of community—not the lone grappling of individual conscience. Like Reform, Conservative Jews are open to the idea of change as an authentic manifestation of Torah—but only when that change filters through convictions of community. For Conservative Jews, Sinai happens in the public square, as community members seek to understand God.
Mechilta:
“What great praise it is for Israel, that as soon as they heard God’s word at Sinai, they began to interpret it…"
לנשייכו כי היכי דתתעתרו תנן התם חתכו חוליות ונתן חול בין חוליא לחוליא ר"א מטהר וחכמים מטמאין
It was taught elsewhere, If he cut it into sections (lit. vertebrae), and placed sand between every section, Rabbi Eliezer rules it pure and the Sages rule it impure.
וזה הוא תנור של עכנאי מאי עכנאי אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל שהקיפו דברים כעכנא זו וטמאוהו תנא באותו היום השיב רבי אליעזר כל תשובות שבעולם ולא קיבלו הימנו אמר להם אם הלכה כמותי חרוב זה יוכיח נעקר חרוב ממקומו מאה אמה ואמרי לה ארבע מאות אמה אמרו לו אין מביאין ראיה מן החרוב חזר ואמר להם אם הלכה כמותי אמת המים יוכיחו חזרו אמת המים לאחוריהם אמרו לו אין מביאין ראיה מאמת המים חזר ואמר להם אם הלכה כמותי כותלי בית המדרש יוכיחו הטו כותלי בית המדרש ליפול גער בהם רבי יהושע אמר להם אם תלמידי חכמים מנצחים זה את זה בהלכה אתם מה טיבכם לא נפלו מפני כבודו של רבי יהושע ולא זקפו מפני כבודו של ר"א ועדיין מטין ועומדין חזר ואמר להם אם הלכה כמותי מן השמים יוכיחו יצאתה בת קול ואמרה מה לכם אצל ר"א שהלכה כמותו בכ"מ עמד רבי יהושע על רגליו ואמר (דברים ל, יב) לא בשמים היא מאי לא בשמים היא אמר רבי ירמיה שכבר נתנה תורה מהר סיני אין אנו משגיחין בבת קול שכבר כתבת בהר סיני בתורה (שמות כג, ב) אחרי רבים להטות אשכחיה רבי נתן לאליהו א"ל מאי עביד קוב"ה בההיא שעתא א"ל קא חייך ואמר נצחוני בני נצחוני בני
This is the “oven of Achnai.” What is Achnai? Said Rabbi Yehudah in the name of Shmuel: That they surrounded it with words [of debate] like an Achnai snake, and declared it impure. It was taught: On that day R. Eliezer answered all the answers on earth and they did not accept it from him. He said, “If the law is like me, the carob tree will prove it”; the carob tree was uprooted from its place one hundred Amah, some say four hundred Amah. They said: “We do not bring proof from a carob tree.”... He went and said “If the law is like me the water channel will prove it”; the water channel flowed in reverse direction. They said: “We do not bring proof from a water channel.” He went and said “If the law is as I say the walls of the House of Study will prove it”; the walls of the House of Study inclined to fall. R. Yehoshua protested at them, saying to them “If scholars defeat each other in the law, how does it better you?” They did not fall because of the honor of R.Yehoshua and they did not straighten, because of the honor of R. Eliezer, and they still incline and stand.... [R. Eliezer] went and said, “If the law is like me, from Heaven they will prove it”; a heavenly voice came out and said, “What have you with R. Eliezer, who the law is like him in every place?” R. Yehoshua stood on his feet and said “[The Torah] is not in heaven,” (Deuteronomy 30:12). What does "[The Torah] is not in heaven" mean? R. Yirmiyah said: “That the Torah was already given at Sinai, we do not pay attention to a heavenly voice, since You already wrote at Sinai in the Torah, “After the majority to incline,” (Exodus 23:2). R. Natan met the prophet Elijah and said to him, “What did the Holy One Blessed be He do in that hour?” He said to him: “He smiled and said, “My sons have defeated Me, My sons have defeated Me.”
Baruch atah, Adonai
Eloheinu, Melech haolam,
asher natan lanu Torat emet,
v’chayei olam nata b’tocheinu.
Baruch atah, Adonai, notein haTorah.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe,
who has given us a Torah of truth, implanting within us eternal life.
Blessed are You, Adonai, who gives the Torah.
