The king must hold on to two Torahs, as it were. One remains in his treasure chest; the other travels with him wherever he goes. In the words of the Mishnah: “He goes to battle, and it goes with him; he en- ters the palace, and it enters with him; he sits in judgment, and it sits with him. He sits down to eat, and the Torah is there with him.”
There are two elements to Torah. On the one hand, Torah represents the un- wavering truth that remains unchangeable, unbendable, and unfazed by the flux of time, space, and history. Shabbos never changes. Tefillin, matzah, shofar, sukkah, mikvah, mezuzah, the text of Torah, bris mi- lah—these are eternal, unchangeable, Di- vine laws and truths. The same delicious or horrible “stale” matzah we ate 3,300 years ago in the desert, we still eat in the 21st cen- tury in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. The same ram’s horn we blew two millen- nia ago is still blown today, the world over. The same tzitzis, the same Shabbos, the same Yom Kippur, the same kosher laws, the same conversion laws, the same Torah.
But there is another element to Torah: its ability to give perspective and guidance to each generation according to its unique needs, challenges, struggles, and expe- riences. Each generation is different. The issues that plagued us a half-century ago are not the issues we confront today, and conversely, we face dilemmas today never experienced before in history. Our bodies, psyches, souls, sensitivities, and environ- ments are different. Our world has changed in significant ways. Torah must also be a blueprint and luminary to the unique jour- neys of each milieu, to the climate of each generation, to the ambiance of every era, to the sensitivities of each age, to the yearn- ings of every epoch.
The prophet Isaiah says (50:4):
My Lord has granted me a tongue for teaching, to understand the need of the times, to give knowledge to those who thirst for knowledge.
A Jewish leader—and every one of us is a leader in his way—must have two Torahs. One Torah remains immune to change. One pristine Torah scroll never leaves the ivory tower of the king’s treasury house. It speaks of truths of life and of G-d that are timeless. It transcends borders of time, geography, and people.
But it is not enough to just teach a timeless Torah. A leader must also find in Torah the language of G-d to this particular generation, to this individual person, to this unique situation, to this singular struggle, to this mindset and weltanschauung. To- rah has the capacity to speak to the timely as much as to the timeless, to the modern as much as to the ancient, to the future as much as to the past, to the things that are always in flux as much as to those that re- main unchangeable.
It is not always an easy balance. How can the same Torah address both the timeless and the timely? If it was relevant 3,000 years ago, how can it still be relevant today?
The answer is: Since the Torah comes from the Creator of the world, He embed- ded into the Torah all the changes, devel- opments, and fluctuations of history. The Torah is the Divine blueprint not only for timeless truths, but also for timely issues and questions. It speaks to each gener- ation, addressing its dilemmas and con- cerns.
RABBI YY JACOBSON
