"Do not add to that which I am commanding you, and do not delete anything from it, (but rather) observe the commandments of G-d… (Deut. 4:2)

We return to this unequivocal directive every year in the Torah reading on the Sabbath after Tisha b'Av – as if to remind us that the Destruction resulted from the nation's neglect, the "deletion," of some of the commandments.

Before delving into the rationale behind this directive, let us illustrate its meaning. On the most concrete level, we may not, for example, reduce the number of passages in the tefillin from four to three. By the same token, we may not add a fifth passage from the Torah, even if it strikes us as a beautiful and apt selection.

In short, the message of the verse is: "Follow G-d's plan exactly! Follow the Manufacturer's instructions!"

This applies both to tangible objects such as tefillin, and to intangible principles, such as the laws of interpersonal relations. Contrary to the practice of some Jewish groups who cut out Torah laws when they don't dovetail with the changing mores of modern society, we Jews are commanded to stick with the original Program. Thus, when the Torah tells us, for example, that homosexuality is unacceptable, or that an innocent fetus is not to be removed and thrown into the garbage, we appreciate that there is no basis for modification or compromise.

How is it Possible

And yet, this demand for faithful adherence to the program spelled out in the Torah and the Talmud has come to seem problematic to many Jews over the last century or two, especially in the State of Israel. How is it possible, they wonder, to build a modern, dynamic society on the basis of a legal system "frozen" at Sinai?! Doesn't society, by its very nature, constantly grow and develop? Surely, change is the Number One in human history.

If so, the legal system which regulates life in society must be able to adapt to changing conditions…

Dr. Y. H. Yieven explains why this indictment is wrongheaded: (From In the Pathways of the Faith of Israel (Heb.) p.105)

The charge of (the Torah's obsolescence made my (some of) our intellectuals is based on a very superficial understanding of things. The fact is that the "law of obsolescence" applies to the technological/external things in our lives. We exchange our wardrobe in accordance with the dictates of fashion, we change our modes of transportation in accordance with improvements in technology…

But things which touch our very essence are not affected by changing fashions. We wake up to the sunrise and rejoice at the bright sunlight… and morning song of the birds in just the same way that people did thousands of years ago.

No-one will say that our enjoyment of the ancient sun is not "modern," that the time has come to trade in that obsolete sun for some sort of newfangled fluorescent lamp.

Every minute, we breathe the same air that the ancients breathed, and yet we don't feel the need to trade in this "antiquated" air for some super-modern synthetic gas.

The same is true of the bread that we put on our table. Although it is essentially the same bread that the ancient Egyptians ate, we never consider substituting a synthetic protein compound concocted in the laboratory for this old relic.

The faith of Israel is like the sun, the air and like the bread.

Timeless, Yet Timely

Of course we may not annul or add to the mitzvos of the Torah, for the relevance of this ancient law is perpetual! It will remain in its original form, and remain relevant to our lives as long as the human heart continues to beat – the heart that it was intended to set right.

As long as we continue to love and to hate, to feel admiration and jealousy, to seek purity and sink in the quicksand of depression and sin… this heart of ours needs the Torah for guidance. After all, this heart of ours functions just as it did thousands of years ago.

While it is certainly true that the tools at our disposal have improved, we ourselves have not. While we used to kill our fellow men with sticks and stones, we now use automatic rifles and atom bombs. But the human appetite for killing and hating and abusing hardly seems to have lessened, as the headlines remind us daily. The need for Torah guidance and regulation in this and every area of our lives, has not changed.

Our understanding of the directive not to modify the Torah is further enriched by the Malbim (Rabbi Meir Leib Weiser). He notes that when an item is complete, nothing needs to be added to it and nothing removed. The Malbim likens the Torah, in this regard, to the human body. A person with six fingers on each hand is no less blemished than one with three fingers on each hand.

That which is perfect needs no modification. And thus it is with our Torah, the Law of Life. In the words of the Psalmist: "The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul…" (19:8).