Re: Who speaks for God? (June 5)

I read the D’var Torah from Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser with a troubled heart. There, he states in reference to same-sex marriage, “the Bible does not make any clear and indisputable statements about the issues that grab today’s headlines”. However, the verses in the Torah that condemn homosexual actions are as direct as can be. (See Leviticus 18:22, 20:13). To claim that there are no clear statements to the contrary is simply incorrect.

Furthermore, his invocation of Eldad and Medad is illogical. To compare their unsettling and unexpected prophecy with the right to contravene and negate laws in the Torah due to one’s inner voice is not logical.

Finally, he encourages all of us to listen to our inner voice as our guide in lieu of the time-honored interpretations of the Torah. However, just as each science has its own methodology and framework with which to understand it, G-D gave Moses the tools with which to dissect, analyze and understand the Torah. In the words of Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik, often considered the father of Modern Orthodoxy: “The truth in Torah learning can only be achieved through singular halachic Torah thinking and Torah understanding. The truth is attained from within, in accord with the methodology given to Moses and passed on from generation to generation…. One must join the ranks of the sages of tradition… and must not try to rationalize from without the laws of the Torah, and must not judge the Torah in terms of the secular system of things.”

While this method allows for much creativity (as can be seen by the plethora of books adorning a classical Yeshiva library), it requires a self-negation that may even involve debating one’s inner voice.

I only hope that readers of this newspaper have the motivation to investigate our authentic tradition for themselves.

Rabbi Menachem Z.

Weissmann

Pawtucket