We often picture God as all-powerful, creating worlds and intervening in human affairs. But did you know there's a tradition that imagines God as… a Torah scholar?
It’s true! The Battei Midrashot (2:367-369) paints a breathtaking vision of the future. Imagine this: the Garden of Eden, lush and vibrant, teeming with life. In the center sits God, not just as a ruler, but as a teacher, a master explainer of the sacred text.
Around God are all the righteous souls who ever lived, basking in the divine light of understanding. And at their feet? None other than the entire heavenly host! The sun, moon, and planets themselves are on God’s right, while all the stars twinkle on God’s left. Can you picture it? It's a cosmic classroom!
But what is God teaching? According to this tradition, God is destined to expound on a new Torah. A new understanding.
Think about that for a moment. What does it mean for there to be a "new" Torah? Well, the tradition suggests that in the messianic era, the Messiah will first transmit this new Torah to Israel, a Torah received directly from God. Only then will God personally teach it in heaven. It’s like a divine relay race of knowledge!
And the key takeaway? This vision underscores God’s ultimate authority on the Torah. After all, who better to explain it than the one who created it in the first place?
This idea—of God studying and teaching Torah—is actually part of a much larger pattern in Jewish thought. As Rabbi Howard Schwartz explores in "Tree of Souls," it’s about mirroring. Just as observant Jews pray, wear tallit (prayer shawl) and tefillin (phylacteries), and study Torah, so too does God. God is the Master of masters.
So, what is this "new" Torah all about? The tradition implies that it's appropriate for a world transformed, a post-messianic world unlike anything we've ever known. (You can find more on the concept of a new Torah in "A New Torah," p. 522). It’s a Torah for a reality where old limitations and understandings have fallen away.
It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What new insights, what profound wisdom, will this new Torah reveal? What will we learn when God, in that future time, sits down to teach? Perhaps it’s a reminder that learning and understanding are never truly finished, even for God. Perhaps it's an invitation to always keep our minds and hearts open to new possibilities, new interpretations, and a deeper connection to the divine.