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Guarding the Purity of Torah

by Ram ben Ze’ev



Guarding the Purity of Torah
Guarding the Purity of Torah

The Jewish people have survived centuries of exile, persecution, and dispersion because of one immutable truth: Torah does not change. From the moment our forefathers stood at Har Sinai and declared נעשה ונשמע—na’aseh v’nishma—we will do and we will hear—the covenant was sealed for all generations. The words spoken then were not suggestions, nor were they meant to be adjusted for convenience or circumstance. As it is written in שמות (Shemot) 34:27, “Write for yourself these words, for according to these words I have made a covenant with you and with Yisrael.”


Yet in every generation, there are temptations to bend Torah and halakhah for the sake of the mundane. Sometimes this comes cloaked in good intentions: a fundraising exercise, an attempt to make practice more accessible, or even the belief that our own priorities might be more pressing than what is written. But the danger is clear. When we justify deviation, no matter how small, we risk eroding the sanctity of Torah itself.



Today, communities sometimes adjust practice for the sake of fundraising, convenience, or appearance. But when an aliyah becomes a commodity, or a mitzvah is adjusted to suit the mood of the people, we risk forgetting that Torah is not ours to reshape—it is ours to guard.


The pursuit of money or influence, no matter how noble the intended cause, cannot justify diminishing the sanctity of Torah. When we deviate, we declare with our actions that the mundane outweighs the eternal. It is not tzedakah if you are buying an aliyah.


The Holy Zohar warns repeatedly of this danger. In Pinchas (246a) we are told that even the slightest breach allows the chitzonim (external forces) to draw sustenance from holiness, weakening blessing in the world. In Vayikra (10a) the Zohar cautions against mixing kodesh (holy) with chol (profane), for blurring these boundaries distances the Shechinah from Yisrael. The message is unequivocal: holiness must remain distinct, untouched by compromise.



Tanya reinforces this truth. In Iggeret HaKodesh, Epistle 26, the Alter Rebbe teaches that every mitzvah, even the one we might call “small,” is in fact a bond with Ein Sof. To substitute or alter it is to weaken that eternal connection. The value of a mitzvah lies not in our perception of its importance, but in its origin as Divine command.


Our strength lies not in innovation but in faithfulness. The words of the Torah are eternal and unchanging, and our responsibility is to uphold them in their purity. Just as a king entrusts his servants with a royal seal, demanding they never alter its imprint, so too has the King of Kings entrusted us with His Torah. The value of the seal lies not in its appearance or popularity, but in the unbroken image of its source.


We live in a time when it is more important than ever to remember that fidelity to Torah is not negotiable. To guard its purity is to guard the covenant itself. To remain true, without swerving right or left, is to stand as our ancestors stood—firm in faith, loyal in deed, and bound eternally to the words spoken at Sinai.



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