Why are practical mitzvot so central to Judaism? Why isn't it sufficient just to contemplate the philosophical content of the Torah's teachings?

When famine struck and Isaac considered leaving the Land of Israel, God commanded him to remain in Israel. God allayed Isaac's fears, promising him:

"I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky, and grant them all these lands... Because Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My decrees, and My laws." (Gen. 26:4-5)

Did Abraham keep God's commandments? Indeed, the Sages understood from this verse that the Patriarchs fulfilled the precepts of the Torah — even before their revelation at Sinai. Fifth-century scholar Rav Ashi made an even more audacious assertion. He claimed that Abraham even observed the mitzvah of eiruv tavshilin — a rabbinically-ordained ritual allowing one to prepare for the Sabbath when a holiday falls out on a Friday (Yoma 28b).

Observing Eiruv Tavshilin

A scholar once commented to Rav Kook that this Talmudic statement clearly cannot be taken at face value. How could Abraham know what the rabbinical court would decree a thousand years in the future? The Sages must have intended to convey a subtler message: Abraham's philosophical mastery of the Torah was so complete, his grasp of the Torah's theoretical underpinnings so comprehensive, that it encompassed even the underlying rationales for future decrees.

Rav Kook, however, was not taken with this explanation. In his response, Rav Kook emphasized that the Torah's theoretical foundations cannot be safeguarded without practical mitzvot. It is impossible to truly absorb the Torah's philosophical teachings without concrete rituals.

This in fact is the fundamental weakness of religions that rely of faith alone. Without an emphasis on deeds and actions, such religions retreat to the realm of the philosophical and spiritual; they abandon the material world and leave it unredeemed. The Torah's focus on detailed mitzvot, on the other hand, reflects its deep involvement with the physical world.

Levels of Holiness

Rather, Rav Kook elucidated this Talmudic tradition in a slightly different vein. While Abraham did not literally perform the ritual of eiruv tavshilin as we do today, he was able to apply the essential concept of this ceremony to his day-to-day life. This was not just some abstract theory, but practical knowledge that guided him in his actions.

What is the essence of eiruv tavshilin? The Sages wrote in Beitzah 15b that with this ceremony one fulfills the Biblical injunction to "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." The Sabbath, they explained, may be forgotten or neglected due to the holiday preceding it. In what way might we forget the sanctity of Shabbat?

The holiness of the Sabbath is greater than the holiness of the holidays. But when Shabbat immediately follows a holiday, a person could mistakenly equate the two. One might desecrate the Sabbath by performing activities that are permitted on holidays, such as cooking. Just as we need to distinguish between the holy and the profane, so too we need to distinguish between different degrees of holiness. This is the purpose of eiruv tavshilin — to remind us of the higher sanctity of the Sabbath.

Abraham, who kept the entire Torah, also made this fine distinction — in his daily life. In his actions, he differentiated not only between the sacred and the profane, but also "bein kodesh le-kodesh", between different levels of holiness.

(adapted from Igrot HaRe'iyah vol. I, p. 135 (1908); vol. III p. 92 (1917))

Copyright © 2006 by Chanan Morrison