What is Torah? Jewish tradition says that when Hashem created the world, He looked into the blueprint of Torah. All things were conceived first in Torah. In other words, this is His perfect will, which He expressed in Creation. As with Man, will precedes thought like the crown of the head is over the brain. The anthropomorphic crown of Hashem is called Keter. It is interesting that the gematria (numeric value) of Keter is 620, which is the sum of 613 plus 7, numbers that represent the only two types of people in the world: Jews and non-Jews, or B’nai Noach. Keter is Hashem’s will, expressed through Torah for the world.

Adam was placed in Gan Eden, where his job was to work and guard it. This raises a question. He could not have had to plow or to prune the trees or vines, because they grew perfectly on their own. He did not have to water the garden, because a river went forth from Eden to water it. All the conditions were perfect for the plants of the garden to grow, and the animals, as well, were fed and watered naturally. So what was the work Adam was assigned? He was commanded to toil in Torah. The first six of the Noachide laws were actually given to Adam:

1. Appointing judges
2. Prohibition against blasphemy
3. Prohibition against idolatry
4. Prohibition against murder
5. Prohibition against adultery
6. Prohibition against theft
(Only after the Flood was the seventh commandment given against eating the limb of a living creature, when Hashem allowed mankind to eat meat for the first time.)

These seven laws should not be taken in a simple, broad sense that would allow one to peruse them and assume he is observant. Rather they should be seen as main principles that head many subtopics, some quite subtle. For example, if one is not to murder, this includes destroying someone’s reputation. With this view, we can see how this was a lifetime study. Indeed, we are told that before Yaakov went to Laban’s house from Yitzhak’s, he spent years in the yeshiva of Shem and Eber.

As we look into the Torah, there are clues that there was law given to mankind before Sinai. We know that Hashem is just, that if He judges a society and finds them guilty, there must have been some warning of bad behavior. The first instance of this is the first sin. Adam and Chava had one command: not to eat of the tree in the midst of the Garden. If they had not been told this beforehand, Hashem could not have justifiably punished them. They broke a law they understood to be His will.

The second case was Cain’s murder of his brother Hevel (Abel). His answer to Hashem’s query as to his brother’s whereabouts indicates that he knew he had violated a principle of law. Therefore we can know that there was a law against bloodshed from the beginning.

When the blind Lamech accidentally killed Cain and then his own son, Tubal-Cain, his wives (Ada and Tzilla) wanted to leave him. They went to Adam, the judge, to ask him for his opinion. Even then we can see that there was a type of legal system in place--Adam acting as the first judge in the world.

The generation of the Flood was so wicked they were judged thusly and wiped from the face of the earth. Sodom and Gomorrah were likewise destroyed. Hashem spoke to Avraham of the “iniquity of the Amorites.” The sexual licentiousness of the Canaanites was cited as a cause for their indictment when the people of Israel were entering the Land. There was law, of which the people were aware—or Hashem could not have legitimately condemned them.

These laws were the subject of study at the yeshiva of Shem and Eber. This was the context of worship of Melchizedek, the “priest of the Most High G-d” in Salem. It was what Noach preached to the people before the Flood. It was what Avraham taught in his tent, bringing people to convert from idolatry—(to what?) If we look carefully at the scriptures, it becomes clear that there was a direct line of teaching, not just of a single righteous individual in each generation, but of a group of people, led by these notables. This is the oldest religion known to Mankind, honoring the Creator of the Universe.

These laws were also what the Patriarchs taught their families, who eventually became the nation of Israel--developing within this structure of basic morality. The Torah of Israel, consisting of 613 laws, is an expansion of these first principles, honoring the Creator of the Universe as the priestly nation for the world. Just as the priests of Israel have stricter laws that set them apart from the rest of the nation, Israel, as the nation of priests, has stricter laws that set them apart from the rest of the nations of the world. As the priestly nation, Israel preserved the Torah, and this includes the Universal Torah of our oldest common forebears.

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