Let My People Know

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: “The Torah is not a book of remedies.”

Why is there no differentiation between categories of mitzvot?

It seems clear that it is not the Torahs purpose to present a system of laws to prevent people from eating each other alive.

It is also clear that the Torah is not a book of remedies; that is not the basis on which the Torah stands.

The fact that the diverse categories of mitzvot are mixed together in the Torah, and that we are unable to explain the sequence of the subjects, teaches us an essential lesson:

If we are to receive the Torah, the only way is to accept it as it is.

We can receive the Torah only if we accept it with all its various components, because the Torah itself does not differentiate between them or see any difference between them.

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz