Turn It Again: Torah Wisdom for Today
In Pirkei Avot, a book of maxims in the Mishnah, an ancient rabbi, Ben Bag-Bag said about Torah study, “Hafokh bah, va’Hafokh vah, d’khola bah.” Turn it over and over, for everything is in it. For two thousand years, that’s what Jews have done. Here is another turning.
Parshat Shoftim 2024
Torah Though An Illuminated Lens
Edward Bulwer-Lytton is a largely forgotten 19th-century British author and politician, yet his most famous line has endured: “the pen is mightier than the sword.” Bulwer-Lytton understood how ideas matter and that ultimately, the right idea at the right time can change everything more than force of arms.
One of the most powerful ideas to emerge in the middle of the 20th century was the notion of moral and cultural relativism. Argued by such post-modern thinkers as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, the concept that there is no absolute truth independent of one’s subjective viewpoint was initially startling. Yet what was once a belief held by a few French intellectuals has come to define much of today’s worldview.
The repercussions of cultural relativism have been a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s commonplace for many people to recognize that the beliefs of others and themselves may be equally valid (or invalid). This can lead to greater tolerance and respect for differences, which in turn has sometimes resulted in greater appreciation for minority cultures. But the opposite is also true, for this same moral relativism has provided shade to those who justify heinous acts as simply part of their own cultural autonomy. Moreover, a great many people feel unmoored once the dependability of truth disappears. It also makes it easy to justify the unjustifiable; this past year, we have witnessed acts of tremendous barbarism. Sometimes, the pen that is mightier than the sword ends up justifying the use of the sword, reminding us how much ideas truly matter.
For society to work, we need to share certain fundamental values along with a minimal notion of a shared world of truth. Yet the post-modernist insight into how personal perceptions and individual contexts impact how we view reality can’t be thrown away. They have changed how everyone thinks.
Judaism offers an interesting solution to this dilemma. The Talmud preserves different perspectives on an argument, yet when one argument is definitely correct, it will tell us so; the later codes especially do this. Most interesting, in both rabbinic and later mystical, thought, our Sages spoke of an asplaklaria me’irah and an asplaklaria she’aina me’irah, an illuminated or clear lens, as well as an obscured or darkened lens. In both cases, they were attempting to define prophetic forms of divine communication that were more or less mediated. In other words, someone like Moses had greater insight, while for other prophets, their own minds or capacities obstructed and limited their access to divine truth.
Even for those who don’t believe in prophecy, this model allows us to recognize that some perceptions are more true than others and can be relied upon. The college literature professor who first exposed me to Derrida’s notion of “deconstructionism” spoke of stronger and weaker readings. Getting closer to the truth and the world of facts is not merely an intellectual exercise, but is something that appears within a Jewish legal framework.
In Deuteronomy 17:2, the Torah instructs us that “a person shall be put to death only on the testimony of two or more witnesses; no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness” (JPS….). The legal tradition that develops around this injunction is a direct challenge to the popular notion of cultural relativism, for a witness’s testimony is subjected to countless checks to ensure that it is as close to the truth as possible. When it comes to the death penalty, our Sages would never have contented themselves with the idea that “everyone’s narrative is equally valid,” nor should we. Later, in Deuteronomy 19:16-21, the Torah enumerates the law of “eidim zomemim” or “plotting witnesses.” To preserve the integrity of truth and judicial testimony, a deterrent was created: Individuals who committed perjury would be subject to the same legal penalty as their false testimony. Imagine if such a rule applied to our social media posts!
The world today is roiled by conspiracy theories and grand social narratives that challenge any notion of a shared world of truth. This “pen” has indeed been stronger than the sword, destabilizing democracies, fostering enmity, and sowing seeds of doubt in the minds of millions. We need to find a way back to a belief in the best truth we can find; some lenses truly are more brightly illuminated than others. As we have seen, the Jewish tradition of epistemic humility offers us several approaches. More than ever, we need the lessons of parashat Shoftim.
