Why the Torah was tardy
By TED ROBERTS, the SCRIBBLER ON THE ROOF
Here’s a basic question that our sages have ignored: Why did The
Creator of the universe wait so long to hand us the Book of Books – the Torah?
Consider the generations from Adam to Abraham to Moses who stumbled trying to find their way – Torahless. There’s a legend – not rabbinic – just a story told by kibitzers sitting around the kitchen table that casts light on this question. The legend tells us that the angels
cast an unanimous vote for the Almighty to present His Torah that first week in Eden: coincidental with the creation of man.
They were wary of him. “He’s dangerous,” they advised the Creator.
“At first, he’ll use a stick to walk with. Next, he’ll use it to knock fruit out of the trees. Then he’ll sharpen one end of it and throw it at his fellow creatures. You have made him with the reproductive instincts of the desert hare, the ferocity of the lion, and the greed of the buzzard vulture. The hare is gentle, the lion is lazy, and the vulture is dumb. They cannot harm your creation. But man is different. He needs rules. He needs Torah NOW!”
The Lord rejected this argument: “My special creation is not programmed like the animals. I have given humanity the blessing and curse of free will. We shall see what they will do without restraints.”
And the Lord looked down on the paradise he had built on earth. And He saw Adam and Eve, the newlyweds, as gentle as the fruit-eating orangutans. And He could almost hear the happy humming of the green earth beneath heaven. All was well. It was the seventh day and the Lord rested.
The angels chattered among themselves like the bluejays in Eden. “He shouldn’t have rested before he gave Torah,” said one new angel with fluffy, untested wings and a halo that he wore with a tilt to one side.
“Yeah,” said a cherub. “Wait’ll he gets a load of Cain.”
When the Lord next checked out his universe, He saw the first act of disobedience in the Garden and He saw Cain’s murderous rage. He saw the generations who displayed all the faults of the lustful desert hare, the savage lion, and the greedy vulture, with none of their
virtues. “The earth was corrupt in his sight,” as he was later to note for posterity in Genesis Chapter 5, verse 11.
So he sent the flood. “That should do it,” He predicted to the angels. “Such power will make man fear me.”
“They need Torah,” chorused the angelic court.
“No,” he said. “Not now.”
Then came the generations of the Patriarchs; righteous men, but imperfect. With hesitation and a sigh, the Master Builder of the universe peeped between his fingers again at the strange animal with a soul called man, just in time to see the sons of Jacob sell their
brother Joseph into slavery.
“Now!” said the angels.
“No,” said the Lord. “Did I not make them in my likeness? They will find their path to righteousness.”
Soon, the descendants of Abraham were slaves in Egypt and their wailing drifted up to heaven itself and the ears of their Creator.
Ah, another opportunity, he thought, to demonstrate my power to this unruly breed. And He delivered his people from the whips and clubs of the Egyptians.
Strengthened by his might, they strode out of Egypt as free men, but no sooner had they struck off their chains than they forgot his mighty hand and outstretched arm. “Oh, that cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night. Yeah – great sound and light show.”
The Lord threw up his hands in despair.
“They need a rule book,” He announced to the heavenly hosts. “They need limits on their freedom like the planets need an orbit – like the river needs a bank.”
And HASHEM took the ex-slaves to Sinai where He spoke face-to-face to Moses and gave him the Torah like a father gives a son a prayer book on his Bar Mitzvah day.
