For this commandment that I command you today – it is not beyond you and it is not distant. It is not in heaven, [for you] to say, “Who can ascend to the heavens for us to take it for us, and let us hear it, so that we can perform it? Nor is it across the sea, [for you] to say, “Who can cross to the other side of the sea for us and to take it for us, and let us hear it, so that we can perform it?” Rather, the matter is very near to you – in your mouth and in your heart – to perform it. (Devarim 30:12-14)

Parshas Nitzavim contains this famous verse, that the Torah is not in heaven, nor is it across the sea, but it is very near to you. For shorthand, the verse, generally referred to as lo bashamayim hi (it is not in heaven), has some consequential implications. Both in the personal sense and in the authoritative sense. So much so that according to the Talmud, this allowed the Jews to “defeat” God. How could that very idea not only be heretical but even possible?

Before diving into that, let’s address what the verse is actually saying. The Or HaChaim questions, why does the verse need to say the Torah is not beyond and distant? If something is beyond you, clearly it is distant. Similarly, if the Torah is in heaven, why qualify with “across the sea?” Across the sea is difficult, but even in ancient times, it was possible to achieve. So the Or HaChaim points out a distinction that the verse is talking about two different aspects of Torah. 

The words beyond and in heaven refer to Torah learning. Prior to Mount Sinai, Torah was only revealed through prophecy and was not easily attainable. Once Moses brought the Torah down from heaven, now it is here and is available to learn for anyone. Given the tools of the internet and websites like Sefaria.org and Torahanytime.com that has never been more true. Regarding the words not distant and across the sea, these refer to performing the mitzvahs. Though Moses had learned the Torah, since he wasn’t able to cross into the land of Israel, many of the mitzvahs were not available for him to perform. But the Israelites were crossing the Jordan (hence the sea comparison) and they would have the opportunities readily available. 

But many of us don’t live in Israel either and it does seem beyond us to do all the mitzvahs. However, the beginning of the parsha establishes that Jews are guarantors for each other. From that concept we learn that we’re all connected. You benefit from the mitzvahs other people do and they benefit from the ones you do. We all have mitzvahs that stand out to us individually. I have a friend who gets infuriated when people talk in shul. My father can’t stand when pet owners don’t pick up after their animals. Chabad is famously obsessed with getting Jews to wrap tefillin. When the verse says, “the matter is very near to you – in your mouth and in your heart – to perform it,” perhaps it means if you don’t feel like you can do all the mitzvahs, then pursue the mitzvahs that speak to you.

Beyond the availability of the Torah, lo bashamayim hi has even more profound implications. The Gemara in Bava Mezia 59b records an argument between Rabbi Eliezer and the other Sages. 

One day, Rabbi Eliezer argued his opinion, but the Sages did not accept it. Rabbi Eliezer said to them: If Torah Law is in accordance with my opinion, this carob tree will prove it. The carob tree uprooted itself and moved. The Sages said to him: We don’t decide the Law based on a carob tree. Rabbi Eliezer then said to them: If Law is in accordance with my opinion, the stream will prove it. The water in the stream turned and flowed in the opposite direction. They said to him: We do not decide the Law because of a stream.

Rabbi Eliezer appealed again, but this time invoking the walls of the study hall which started to bend, but Rabbi Yehoshua scolded the walls saying: If Torah scholars are contending with each other in matters of the Law, what is the nature of your involvement in this dispute? Finally, Rabbi Eliezer then said to them: If the Law is in accordance with me, Heaven will prove it. A Divine Voice emerged from Heaven and said: Why are you differing with Rabbi Eliezer, as the Law is in accordance with his opinion?

Rabbi Yehoshua stood on his feet and said: It is written: “It is not in heaven,” “lo bashamayim hi” (Devarim 30:12). The Gemara asks: What is the relevance of the phrase “It is not in heaven” in this context? Rabbi Yirmeya says: Since the Torah was already given at Mount Sinai, we do not regard a Divine Voice, as You already wrote at Mount Sinai, in the Torah: “Decide in accordance with the majority.” (Shemos 23:2). 

The Gemara relates: Years later, Rabbi Nathan met the prophet Elijah. He asked him, “What was the Holy One, blessed be He, doing in that hour [of that argument]?” Said Elijah, “He was laughing and saying, ‘My children have defeated me, my children have defeated me.’”

How does this story make any sense? Outright miracles confirm the truth of Rabbi Eliezer’s ruling but the Sages reject it. Then the voice of the Divine Itself validates him and Rabbi Yehoshua dismisses it, saying the Torah is not in heaven. How is this not a chutzpah? How is it not arrogance? If not corruption? Can the rabbis simply uproot the tenets of the Torah with a simple majority? 

The first thing to understand is that we do not make decisions in life because of a miracle. Any Vegas magician can astound a group of people. That doesn’t mean he has any special secret knowledge. But even if a prophet comes and maybe walks on water or raises the alcoholic content of your tap water, that too doesn’t make them right. The Torah and its mitzvahs may not be logical, but their application must abide by legal rationale. My rabbi likes to say, Torah is black and white for a gray world. Applying that black and white to our world of gray is the essence of lo bashamayim hi.

So in that application to the gray world, it’s not always about the letter of the law. No rabbi believes that “an eye for an eye” insists anyone should get their eye poked out as retribution. The rabbis have deduced it refers to monetary compensation. The prohibition of boiling a calf in its mother’s milk extends to putting any dairy on any meat even though a lamb’s mother didn’t have anything to do with the butter you would have otherwise used to fry it. But these decisions don’t come about simply because the Sages felt that was what the Torah implied. They emerge from an inherited system of Torah interpretation; text, tradition, precedent, logic, and the established methods by which the Torah is elucidated (Shlosh Esreh Middot ShehaTorah Nidreshet Bahem).    

It’s with those tools of analyzing the Torah along with a commitment to discovering the deeper concepts and the integrity of the wisdom that we take responsibility for the Torah. Lo bashamayim hi means that we didn’t just get the Torah from Heaven, we made Earth its home. If you walked into a Harry Potter convention, almost everyone there would be able to tell you which line came from which book, how the movies diverged from the source material, and what house they would want to be aligned with at Hogwarts. And many of those fans could argue with J.K. Rowling’s decisions and even possibly write the characters more truthfully if they wanted. The Harry Potter books are home in that space and with those people. 

I hate to make such a comparison, but that is how the Torah should be with the Jewish people. Warming food on Shabbos on a blech with an upside-down tin might seem like a loophole, but it is actually a demonstration of such an intimate understanding that we can bend the limits of the word “cooking” because we understand the law so thoroughly. 

So how is it that Hashem declared He was “defeated?” 

Let’s say your parent’s birthday is coming up and you’re trying to figure out what to get them. You could ask them what they want and you’d be getting them precisely what they want. Or you think deeply. Reflect on what they mean to you, what they’ve sacrificed, what they need, what you’ve seen them long for, and other reflections. Then you get them the perfect gift they didn’t even know existed. You’ve gone above and beyond because of your connection to them. 

Hashem’s “defeat” is kind of like that. We can follow the rules like a child, be wowed by His wonders, and eagerly seek the counsel of those more versed in the Torah. Or we can rise above, claim ownership of the wisdom ourselves, and apply Torah thought for our unique generation. Every parent who’s ever lost to their kid at chess, or gotten schooled on the court by the child they taught to dribble knows that laugh. It’s not defeat. It’s the whole point.

This post is dedicated to the refuah shleima of Batya bas Lore.