I recently had a conversation with someone who said that if the Torah would be given today that Hashem would not have used certain words such as slaves as that concept doesn’t really exist today. I think he might have been talking about an eved ivri.
I told him that to say that would be saying that the Torah isn’t timeless and that yes, Hashem would have used that word today because it does not only refer to a slave in the actual sense but has deeper meanings which can be gleaned when explored further.
I guess I just wanted to know your thoughts on the matter.
Thank you!
Thank you for your interesting question! The Torah has several sides to it. On one side, it was written in black fire on white fire, long before the world was made. On the other side, it is a record of events happening from the creation of the world till the death of Moshe Rabbeinu. Even some of its mitzvos are defined by events: “Don’t marry someone from Ammon or oav… – they didn’t greet you with bread or water on the way, and they hired Bilaam…” See the introduction of the Ramban to the Torah, on how the “spaces between the letters” were subject to change. So, I don’t know what the Torah would look like if it were given today. In some deep way it would be the same. But it would also be different, because it would talk about Rav Elyashiv and President Bush instead of Moshe Rabbeinu and whoever!
Don’t think I was too much help, but I wanted to join in the discussion.
Best wishes,
Michoel Reach