Shalom and thank you for your question! You want to know if there is a place in the Bible that tells how to live our lives. Excellent question.
The whole Bible tells us how to live our lives. In fact, the Zohar section 2, 161:1 (book of mystical interpretation of the Bible)’ teaches us that “G-d looked in the Torah and created the world.” This means that the Torah (Five Books of Moses, books of the prophets, Psalms and other Scriptures,) is like a blueprint for the ‘structure ‘ of the world. The Creator gifted us with a manual for managing our lives in the world. The Hebrew word Torah means teaching or instruction.
However, if we simply read the Bible text this will not help us understand the instructions. The Written Law – the Scriptures, is actually like a cryptic code, it cannot be understood without the aid of the Oral Law. The Oral law includes the Sifri, the Mechilta, the Mishnah and Talmud, and more. There are many commentaries to help us understand. But it is not a free for all. Moses received both the Written and the Oral Law from G-d and taught it to the Israelites- the Jewish nation. In the tractate Ethics of the Fathers, 1:1 it states “Moses received the Torah ftom Sinai (meaning from G-d on Mt.Sinai) and handed it down to Joshua, from Joshua to the Elders, and from the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets handed it to the Men of the Great Assembly.” What this means is that there is an unbroken chain of tradition that started with the Jewish people receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and continued throughout the ages. Along with the laws came the Thirteen Principles by which the Torah is interpreted. Only a sincere Torah scholar who studies according to these principles and receives from the scholars who came before him can interpret Torah and make decisions of Jewish law – Halacha, when necessary.
Thus, if we want to know how to live our lives according to Torah, we must study it – under the guidance of true Torah scholars.
An example of how we could become mislead if we do not study the Oral Law, is if we take at face value the verse in 21:23-27. “An eye for an eye” “a tooth for a tooth.” What does this mean? Have you ever heard of someone who was vindicated in court for taking revenge on someone by gouging out his eye because it says so in the Bible? The Oral Law teaches us that this refers to monetary renumeration. If George caused an accident where Jeffery unfortunately lost his eye, George must pay for medical expenses and other expenses incurred as a direct result of the accident.
The Torah teaches us among many other things, to respect and appreciate G-d our Creator, to respect our parents, (in challenging cases guidance by an appropriate third party should be sought) our teachers, and the family unit, to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. It says in Deuteronomy 23 13-15, “Your encampments should be holy”. This commandment refers to making arrangements for physical hygiene in our dwelling places, and the Sages teach us that it also infers that we should be careful not to speak words of Torah or prayer in unclean places. On a deeper level, we need to make sure that we are choosing a lifestyle of seeking spirituality and remaining focused on that, without getting sidetracked by activities that could distract us from our true purpose – carrying out G-d’s will.
We are approaching Passover, when G-d redeemed the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. The Hebrew word for Egypt means constraints. The Biblical reference to Egypt, or ‘constraints ‘ is an instruction for life – not to be satisfied with remaining in our comfort zones, but to go forward with ways to leave those comfort zones, and strive to pray, study, and reach out to those around us – helping make sure that other people have what they need – physically and spiritually.
Feel free to ask more questions!
