Parashat Re'eh - Adding and Subtracting

(29) When the Eternal your God has cut down before you the nations that you are about to enter and dispossess, and you have dispossessed them and settled in their land, (30) beware of being lured into their ways after they have been wiped out before you! Do not inquire about their gods, saying, “How did those nations worship their gods? I too will follow those practices.” (31) You shall not act thus toward the Eternal your God, for they perform for their gods every abhorrent act that the Eternal detests; they even offer up their sons and daughters in fire to their gods. (1) Be careful to observe only that which I enjoin upon you: neither add to it nor take away from it.

(2) If there appears among you a prophet or a dream-diviner and he gives you a sign or a portent, (3) saying, “Let us follow and worship another god”—whom you have not experienced—even if the sign or portent that he named to you comes true, (4) do not heed the words of that prophet or that dream-diviner. For the Eternal your God is testing you to see whether you really love the Eternal your God with all your heart and soul.​​​​​​​

(1) It is obvious, and also explained by the Torah, that the commandments were established forever and ever. They are not to be changed, and should not be added to or diminished, as it says "All this word which I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it." (Deut 13:1); and it says "What is revealed is for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Torah." This teaches that we are commanded to fulfill all the Torah's directives forever. It is also said: "It is an everlasting statute for all your generations," and [Deuteronomy 30:12] states: "It is not in the heavens." This teaches that a prophet can no longer add a new precept [to the Torah]. Therefore, if a person will arise, either from Israel or from the nations, and perform a sign or wonder and say that God sent him to: add a mitzvah, withdraw a mitzvah, explain a mitzvah in a manner which different than explained by Moses, or if he says that the mitzvot commanded to the Jews are not forever, but rather were given for only that time, he is a false prophet. He comes to oppose the Moses' prophesy and should be executed by strangling, because he intentionally spoke in God's name what God didn't command. The One Whose Name is Blessed commanded Moses that "this commandment is for us and our children forever", and, "[God] is not man that He lies".

A court has the authority to issue a decree and forbid something which is permitted and have its decree perpetuated for generations to come. Similarly, it has the authority - as a temporary measure - to release the Torah's prohibitions. What then is the meaning of the Scriptural prohibition: (Deut. 13:1) "Do not add to it and do not detract from it"?

The intent is that they do not have the authority to add to the words of the Torah or to detract from them, establishing a matter forever as part of Scriptural Law. This applies both to the Written Law and the Oral Law.

What is implied? The Torah states: (Ex. 23:19) "Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk." According to the Oral Tradition, we learned that the Torah forbade both the cooking and eating of milk and meat, whether the meat of a domesticated animal or the meat of a wild beast. The meat of fowl, by contrast, is permitted to be cooked in milk according to Scriptural Law. Now if a court will come and permit partaking of the meat of a wild animal cooked in milk, it is detracting from the Torah. And if it forbids the meat of fowl cooked in milk saying that this is included in "the kid" forbidden by the Scriptural Law, it is adding to the Torah.

If, however, the court says: "The meat of fowl cooked in milk is permitted according to Scriptural Law. We, however, are prohibiting it and publicizing the prohibition as a decree, lest the matter lead to a detriment and people say: 'Eating the meat of fowl cooked in meat is permitted, because it is not explicitly forbidden by the Torah. Similarly, the meat of a wild animal cooked in milk is permitted, because it is also not explicitly forbidden.' "And another may come and say: 'Even the meat of a domesticated animal cooked in milk is permitted with the exception of a goat.' And another will come and say: 'Even the meat of a goat is permitted when cooked in the milk of a cow or a sheep. For the verse mentions only "its mother," i.e., an animal from the same species.' And still another will come and say: 'Even the meat of a goat is permitted when cooked in goat's milk as long the milk is not from the kid's mother, for the verse says: "its mother."' For these reasons, we will forbid all meat cooked in milk, even meat from fowl."

Such an approach is not adding to the Torah. Instead, it is creating safeguards for the Torah. Similar concepts apply in all analogous situations.

(40) Al Khazari: How could this be made to agree with the verse: 'Thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it?' (Deuteronomy 8:1). (41) The Rabbi: This was only said to the masses, that they should not conjecture and theorize, and contrive laws according to their own conception, as the Karaites do. They were recommended to listen to the post-Mosaic prophets, the priests and judges, as it is written: 'I will raise them up a prophet . . . and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him' (Deut. 18:18). With regard to the priests and judges it is said that their decisions are binding. The words: 'You shall not add,' etc., refer to 'that which I commanded you through Moses' and any 'prophet from among thy brethren' who fulfils the conditions of a prophet. They further refer to regulations laid down in common by priests and judges 'from the place which thy Lord shall choose.' For they have divine assistance, and would never, on account of their large number, concur in anything which contradicts the Law. Much less likelihood was there of erroneous views, because they had inherited vast learning, for the reception of which they were naturally endowed. The members of the Sanhedrin, as is known by tradition, had to possess a thorough acquaintance with all branches of science. Prophecy had scarcely ceased, or the Heavenly Voice, which took its place. [Here, the text goes into a lengthy discussion on the difference between when the Karaites and Rabbinic Jews start counting the Omer, and the text concludes as follows about the Rabbinic interpretation:] Perhaps this was done under the influence of divine inspiration. It is quite possible, and it saves us from the confusion of those who endeavour to cause confusion.