Not in Heaven (לֹ֥א בַשָּׁמַ֖יִם הִ֑וא, ''lo ba-shamayim hi'') is a phrase found in a Biblical verse, , which encompasses the passage's theme, and takes on additional significance in
rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...
.
The full verse states: "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?'
[''New Oxford Annotated Bible,'' Deut. 30:14.] In general, the verse conforms with how "... the deuteronomic tradition believed its
Torah
The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
to be an immediately accessible wisdom, neither distant nor wondrous."
Jewish interpretations
The phrase "not in Heaven" is
understood to justify human authority to interpret the Torah. The Talmud explains "
he Torahis not in Heaven" to mean that the meaning of the Torah itself is to be uncovered not by prophets, or even God's
miracles
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...
or words, but by humankind's interpretation and decision-making. In the story of
the Oven of Akhnai, "
Rabbi Yehoshua
Joshua ben Hananiah ( ''Yəhōšūaʿ ben Ḥănanyā''; d. 131 CE), also known as Rabbi Yehoshua, was a leading tanna of the first half-century following the destruction of the Second Temple. He is the eighth-most-frequently mentioned sage in th ...
affirmed the independence of human interpretation from divine intervention since this is what God wills. In support he adduces the biblical statement that the Torah is 'not in heaven' ()."
In the
academic study of Jewish law, the verse "not in Heaven" serves as the Biblical grounding for the jurisprudential structure of
halakhah
''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...
(Jewish law). The source for Rabbinic authority is really from (According to the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do). As one author explains, thanks to the
midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...
ic reading of the verse, "...God himself acquiesced in His exclusion from the halakhic process. Having revealed His will in Sinai in the ''grundnorm,'' He Himself, according to the Rabbinic explanation, entrusted the interpretation of His will to the Sages."
[Roth, p.124. Cp. Elon on the absolute authority of the sages, ch.7:4.]
See also
*
Eliezer ben Hurcanus
Eliezer ben Hurcanus (or Hyrcanus) () was one of the most prominent Judean ''tannaitic'' Sages of 1st- and 2nd-century Judaism, a disciple of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, Avot of Rabbi Natan 14:5 and a colleague of Gamaliel II (whose sister, ...
, against whom
Rabbi Yehoshua
Joshua ben Hananiah ( ''Yəhōšūaʿ ben Ḥănanyā''; d. 131 CE), also known as Rabbi Yehoshua, was a leading tanna of the first half-century following the destruction of the Second Temple. He is the eighth-most-frequently mentioned sage in th ...
cited "not in Heaven" on the case of
The Oven of Akhnai
Bibliography
*
Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
.
Mishneh Torah
The ''Mishneh Torah'' (), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' (), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''halakha'') authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam). The ''Mishneh Torah'' was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE ( ...
, Foundations of the Torah 9:1-4 (E.g., "it is said 'It is not in heaven' -- you thus learn that henceforth no prophet is authorized to innovate anything." Walzer p. 269)
*Berkovits, Eliezer. ''Not in Heaven: The Nature and Function of Halakhah.'' (NY, 1983) Cf. "Conversion and the Oral Law" reprinted in ''Essential Essays on Judaism'' (Jerusalem: Shalem Press, 2006).
*Boyarin, Daniel. "Old Wine in New Bottles: Intertextuality and Midrash." ''Poetics Today'', 1987
*Gordis, Robert. ''The Dynamics of Judaism: A Study in Jewish Law.'' (Indiana UP:1990)
*JP Rosenblatt, JC Sitterson. ''Not in Heaven: Coherence and Complexity in Biblical Narrative'' (Indiana UP:1991)
*Walzer, et al. ''The Jewish Political Tradition: Authority'' (Yale 2000)
References
{{Jews and Judaism
Jewish law principles
Jewish philosophy
Biblical phrases