In Deuteronomy it teaches לא תוסיפו מן הדבר אשר אלקים מצוה אותך ולא תגרעו ממנו “You shall not add or subtract to the law which I command you today.”[1] The example given by the Code of Jewish Law for not adding is not adding a 5th species to one’s lulav.[2] Instead, we need to follow the exact 4 species that are outlined in the Torah.
A fun example of this was a drawing which had species native to Canada (where the artist lived) rather than the 4 from Israel. It included a maple leaf for lulav. I shared it and received the following reply from one of my teachers: “nice idea for someone else’s religion.” We are fortunate in California that we can grow all 4 species here as our climate is close enough to Israel’s. Imagine growing up in Milwaukee like me where none of these species naturally grow. I understood the desire to get native species while concurrently maintaining our tradition.
Many think “does Judaism really not add or subtract?” At times it feels like we have added many prohibitions over the centuries while refusing to subtract any. A core reason I am a Conservative Jew is Rabbi Mordecai Waxman’s twin pillars of tradition and change-that we can maintain traditions while living in ever evolving situations with new areas of knowledge that Jewish law has to confront. Upon entering rabbinical school, I read a book that said Conservative Judaism is the most faithful denomination to the tradition of not adding or subtracting.
Regardless as to whether or not that is correct-at times I have my doubts-I hope we will take the tradition of not adding and subtracting seriously. At times Jewish leaders have added so many fences around prohibitions that the original prohibition becomes lost in the shuffle. At other times, we adopt the attitude “anything goes” and throw off traditions that are there for a reason. My hope is that on the Conservative Movement we can continue to maintain the solid middle ground-not adding to the burdens but neither subtracting from our responsibilities as members of the tribe.
[1] Deuteronomy 4:2
[2] Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim Laws of Lulav 651:14
