Reply To: Simchas Torah and women

I heard the following from my Rebbe at YU regarding a problem with the Maharat which may be able to be applied here and possibly what people mean when they talk about following the Mesorah:

Torah Judaism is not trying to “evolve” with the times. The Torah that was given to Har Sinai was as authentic as possible, and we are trying to recreate the Torah that was given to us directly by HKB”H. The generations that are closer to ma’amad Har Sinai are probably practicing more authentic Judaism than we are, simply because they are chronologically more connected to Har Sinai. Any communal change from past practices, by this definition, is making our Judaism more different than Har Sinai, and therefore less authentic.

That doesn’t mean change is never appropriate. The Beis Yaakov system was a change. Even gezeiros and takanos of Chazal are changes to how Judaism was practiced from Har Sinai. But those changes, in general, are instituted with the motivation of trying to save something that was at risk of being lost. It was a change to preserve Torah Judaism. Women were uneducated and falling off the derech so the Beis Yaakov system was institued. Chazal were afraid that Klal Yisorel would violate issurim so they instuited gezeiros and takanos. They were changes, but changes to protect Judaism from falling even further away from the Torah of Har Sinai.

Any communal change that doesn’t have this motivation, as noble and legitimate as the motivation may be, by definition is changing our Judaims from a more authentic version.