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Conclusion

In my introduction to this Compilation I said that the essays were written to help me clarify my thoughts on certain aspects of Judaism which can be subject to different approaches. So what have I learned on the way and has it underpinned my faith?
 
I believe that something happened in Sinai some 3200 years ago when the Jewish people received the Torah; a written code of instruction for ethical, moral and religious behaviour, far in advance of any similar Code current at the time. Should you ask me to explain precisely what happened in Sinai at that time, I would repeat the comment made by Chief Rabbi Dr. Sacks in a recent television interview when he said ‘I don’t know, I wasn’t there’. I believe that they were also given an oral code to explain parts of the written code. The guardianship of these Codes was entrusted to the Kohanim, the priests, who were to be the teachers to the nation.
 
During the course of the next 1200 years or so, the Jewish people experienced many trials and tribulations. Civil war, political intrigue, destruction of the first temple, the first exile from its land, corruption among its leaders and finally the destruction of the second temple and the second exile. There were periods when chaos reigned.
 
Some two or three hundred years before the destruction of the second temple a new religious grouping, the Pharisees and forerunners of the rabbinic system, became disillusioned by the corruption then endemic among the Kohanim. They believed that the Kohanim’s interpretation of the Torah, did not make allowances, inter alia, for the new developing economic and commercial climate, and they usurped their authority.
 
The Pharisees inherited two distinct problems. The first problem was to establish a fair and non-corrupt administration, both religious and civil. The second problem, and one which arose only after the destruction of the second temple, was to try to ensure the continuity of the Jewish people. In order to do this they introduced many new oral laws for which they attempted to find justification in the written Torah. It could well be that it is this combination of the old and new which has helped to preserve Judaism. On this basis it could also well be that the Pharisees could be considered the first ‘reform’ Jews.
 
They introduced, as an article of faith, the concept of individual eternal life, a concept that the majority wanted to believe. In addition they introduced another ambiguous and confusing concept, namely, that whilst man has complete freewill to act, even against other persons, God is nevertheless responsible for all man’s experiences, good or bad. This concept, for which I have been shown no explicit support in the Torah, has been incorporated into our liturgy to such an extent that our liturgy has replaced our theology in the minds of many Jews, to the detriment of our people. 
 
Although the above scenario will be anathema to many rabbis it is as I understand it, and one which I discussed, developed and detailed in my essays. This scenario results from having read many historical, theological and philosophical books, written by orthodox Jews. It has helped me remain a proud and reasonably observant Jew within mainstream Judaism hopefully enabling me, more easily, to distinguish fact from aggadah. 
 
January 2003