Rabbi Glassman's Torah

A sacred Torah scroll — parchment sheets inscribed with Hebrew law, rolled on wooden rollers and typically housed in a protective mantle with decorative finials — present in the synagogue setting. Rabbi Glassman references its legal formulations aloud; Toby listens and later translates those rabbinic arguments into political language in the Oval Office. The scroll functions as a tactile emblem of Jewish law and moral authority within the scenes.

3 appearances

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

3 moments

S1E14 · Take This Sabbath Day

Counsel in the Pew: Conscience vs. Communications

The Torah is verbally invoked in the debate — Toby asserts 'The Torah doesn't prohibit capital punishment' while Glassman counters with other textual prescriptions. As a textual authority it anchors the moral dispute and allows the rabbi to distinguish historical permission from modern conscience.

Before: Cared for within the synagogue, housed on the ark or otherwise present in the sanctuary as an implicit source of law and moral authority.

After: Unaffected physically — remains in the synagogue; its interpretive weight, however, has been contested and reframed by Glassman's modern ethical reading.

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S1E14 · Take This Sabbath Day

Toby Frames the Death Penalty as a Moral Impossibility

Rabbi Glassman's Torah functions as the implied source of the rabbinic argument Toby reports: its halakhic tradition is the origin of legal maneuvers that, historically, made capital punishment practically impossible within Jewish jurisprudence — Toby cites that tradition to reframe the Oval debate.

Before: Located in the shul, housed and cared for by Rabbi Glassman; physically present at the synagogue where Toby consulted with rabbinic counsel.

After: Remains in the shul; its teachings (not the physical scroll) have been transmitted into the Oval through Toby's report.

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S1E14 · Take This Sabbath Day

Let the Next Guy's Problem — Leo Pushes Pragmatism, Bartlet Defers

Toby's argument is grounded in Jewish textual tradition (symbolized by the Torah): he reports rabbinic legal workarounds that made state execution effectively impossible, using the religious text as moral authority to influence executive clemency.

Before: Housed in the shul as part of the rabbinic tradition; source of counsel the public defender sought.

After: Remains in the shul symbolically; its interpretive authority has been carried into the Oval as part of Toby's moral argument.

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