On this page, the rabbis express the fear – perhaps during a
later time of repression – that all of their work will be forgotten, leaving
the future of Judaism once again in doubt:
Our Rabbis taught: When our Masters
entered the vineyard at Yavne, they said, “The Torah is destined to be forgotten
in Israel, as it is said:
Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And it is said, And
they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they
shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.”
(Amos 8:11-12)
“The word of the Lord” they understood to mean the halacha
– Jewish law. But:
R. Simeon b. Yohai said: 'Heaven
forfend that the Torah be forgotten in Israel, for it is said, for it shall
not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed.' (Deut. 31:21)
The reinterpretation and engagement of Jewish study keeps
the Jewish people alive.
In every generation, it seems, there is a cry that the
future of Judaism is at risk. And in every generation it seems there is kind of
reinvention which keeps Judaism alive. Today it is coming in the form of blogs, social media, on-line study, local and international "days of study." It is happening in synagogues and in informal gatherings. The renaissance we are seeing in Jewish
learning, in creating new ways of connecting our Jewish past and future is a continuation of that trend and counter to the talmudic rabbis' fears. They could not have imagined it - but perhaps they would have recognized it.
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