"It is time to work for the Lord" is the first half of a verse in Psalms that has served as a dramatic slogan at several junctures in

rabbinic Judaism Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian ...

. Psalm 119:126 states: "It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken" (''New Oxford Annotated Bible'' ad loc.; ''Eth la'asot Yahweh he-feru Toratekha''). This verse would seem to suggest that, when the wicked are breaking the commandments, God will deliver the steadfast. However, in the readings of rabbinic

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

, an alternate meaning of the verse is given, due to an ambiguity in the

Biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of ...

: instead of God acting in response to sin, humans should act on behalf of God. Thus, the verse may be understood as: "It is time to work for the Lord..."

History

In the tannaitic period, the sage

Hillel the Elder Hillel ( he, הִלֵּל ''Hīllēl''; variously called ''Hillel HaGadol'', ''Hillel HaZaken'', ''Hillel HaBavli'' or ''HaBavli'', was born according to tradition in Babylon c. 110 BCE, died 10 CE in Jerusalem) was a Jewish religious leader, sag ...

cited the verse to call fellow Jews to intensively study the Torah when it is neglected. (

Ephraim Urbach Ephraim Urbach (Hebrew: אפרים אלימלך אורבך) (born 1912 – 3 July 1991) was a distinguished scholar of Judaism. He is best known for his landmark works on rabbinic thought, ''The Sages'', and for research on the Tosafot. He was a ca ...

interprets Hillel as calling for fuller observance of the Torah commandments in general, ''The Sages'' pp. 341f.) Rabbi Nathan makes a related gesture, for Jewish efforts against heresy, at the end of

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

Berakhot. Nathan transposes the two halves of the verse thus: "They have made void your law, it is time to work for the Lord." (See Urbach, 836n.93) In the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

ic period, the verse is thus called upon to justify the radical shift in rabbinic belief after the destruction of the Temple. Due to the conditions of exilic Jewry, the rabbinic leadership decided to permit the

Oral Torah According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law ( he, , Tōrā šebbəʿal-pe}) are those purported laws, statutes, and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses, the Written Torah ( he, , Tōrā šebbīḵ� ...

to be transcribed in writing and disseminated. The verse is interpreted to mean that "It is better that one letter of the Torah he verse forbidding the writing down of the Oral Torahshould be uprooted than that the whole of the Torah be forgotten." (''Temurah'' 14b, Elon ''Jewish Law'' 5:1, Louis Jacobs, p. 133 trans.) In the modern period, the dramatic character of the verse again enters the stage. The verse is among those utilized to justify rabbinic innovations in

halakhah ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

. In Enlightenment period Germany, both the

Reform rabbis Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

and their

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

opponents cite the verse to justify the urgent nature of their actions ("It is time to act for the Lord"). The two conflicting positions see quite different referents for the verse's "they have voided the law"—the Reformers felt the need to accommodate the growing disinterest in Jewish law, whereas the Orthodox felt that the Reformers themselves were voiding the law.Elon ''Jewish Law'' 14:3, 14:5

References

{{Reflist

Sources

*On the baraita of Hillel the Elder, see ''Tosefta Berakhot'' 6:24 and Lieberman ''ad loc''. *Talmud Berakhot 63 *Nathan Birnbaum, “Et la’asot,” //trans: "It is time to work (for the Lord)" // in Nathan Birnbaum, ed.'', Divrei ha-olim'' (Vienna, 1917) *Elon. ''Jewish law'' *Jacobs. ''A Tree of Life: Diversity, Flexibility, and Creativity in Jewish Law'' *Urbach. ''The Sages'' Other uses: *Ra'avad on

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

(''H. Mamrim'' 2:9) * Jacob Emden's responsum on concubinage also relies on the vers

*

Franz Rosenzweig Franz Rosenzweig (, ; 25 December 1886 – 10 December 1929) was a German theologian, philosopher, and translator. Early life and education Franz Rosenzweig was born in Kassel, Germany, to an affluent, minimally observant Jewish family. His fa ...

uses the verse in his public letter to Hermann Cohen, ''It is Time: Thoughts on the Problem of Jewish Education at this Moment'' (Berlin, 1917) //''Zeit ists'' (German) ''Et la'asot'' (Hebrew) Other uses: *In an

aggadic midrash Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, ...

, the cock sings the verse as a call to work. Ginsburg, ''Legends of the Jews'', I:3 *There is an Israeli periodical named after this verse, ''Et la'asot'' //trans: "It is time to work (for the Lord)" Jewish law principles Hebrew Bible words and phrases Psalms

History

See also

References

Sources