Freedom From God: Rebalancing David Novak’s Covenantal Theology

James A Diamond

David Novak repeatedly returns to the notion of covenant in his corpus and attempts to maintain a moderate covenantal role for Israel in its relationship with God. Though initially overwhelmed by the divine presence at Sinai, rabbinic theology subsequently carved out some space for human initiative and choice in entering the covenant while still not allowing it to be totally contingent on human volition. This paper challenges Novak’s view of covenant by pushing it in a more extreme direction. In fact the right the rabbis claimed for themselves to interpret existing biblical law, derive new law, revise law to the point of their actual repeal, have edged God so far out of the picture that the original Sinaitic imbalance has been radically reversed. In the new rabbinic covenant Israel reserves for itself the absolute right of legislative authority. The beit midrash, the space created by the rabbis to succeed the cultic centre of the Temple, bars God altogether from its confines. The rabbis relegate God’s presence to a Voice from the past that initially crushed human freedom in its imposition of a covenant by fiat at Sinai, subjecting that voice to their unfettered hermeneutical freedom.