To the Editor, Five Towns Jewish Times Rabbi Yair Hoffman claims that there is a popular YouTube video that "makes light of the Gemorah in Yuma 28b" that the Avos fulfilled the entire Torah. In fact, the video was not addressing the Gemara, but rather one particular maximalist interpretation of the Gemara, which is that the Avos actually kept all the mitzvos as given on Sinai, such as writing a Sefer Torah. It was not mocking the minimalist interpretation, which explains the Gemara to mean that the Avos were outstanding people, in a way that today would be expressed by keeping the entire Torah. And while I cannot condone disrespect toward any Torah authority, it seems to me that Rabbi Hoffman's disrespect to Torah authorities is far more egregious.
Another Reformation of Judaism
Another Reformation of Judaism
Another Reformation of Judaism
To the Editor, Five Towns Jewish Times Rabbi Yair Hoffman claims that there is a popular YouTube video that "makes light of the Gemorah in Yuma 28b" that the Avos fulfilled the entire Torah. In fact, the video was not addressing the Gemara, but rather one particular maximalist interpretation of the Gemara, which is that the Avos actually kept all the mitzvos as given on Sinai, such as writing a Sefer Torah. It was not mocking the minimalist interpretation, which explains the Gemara to mean that the Avos were outstanding people, in a way that today would be expressed by keeping the entire Torah. And while I cannot condone disrespect toward any Torah authority, it seems to me that Rabbi Hoffman's disrespect to Torah authorities is far more egregious.