Forbidding the Acceptable and Making Acceptable the Forbidden

After Ezra's reforms, the Sanhedrin became more than just a place of judging minor offenses: It became an overarching authority, believing itself capable of even overruling God Himself. The best example of this arrogance is the story of the Oven of Aknei:
Baba Metzia 59b
If a man made an oven out of separate coils [of clay, placing one upon another], then put sand between each of the coils — such an oven, R. Eliezer declared, is not susceptible to defilement, while the sages declared it susceptible. It is taught: On that day R. Eliezer brought forward every imaginable argument, but the Sages did not accept any of them. Finally he said to them: "If the Halakhah (religious law) is in accordance with me, let this carob tree prove it!" Sure enough the carob tree immediately uprooted itself and moved one hundred cubits, and some say 400 cubits, from its place. "No proof can be brought from a carob tree," they retorted.

And again he said to them "If the Halakhah agrees with me, let the channel of water prove it!" Sure enough, the channel of water flowed backward. "No proof can be brought from a channel of water," they rejoined.

Again he urged, "If the Halakhah agrees with me, let the walls of the house of study prove it!" Sure enough, the walls tilted as if to fall. But R. Joshua, rebuked the walls, saying, "When disciples of the wise are engaged in a halakhic dispute, what right have you to interfere?" Hence in deference to R. Joshua they did not fall and in deference to R. Eliezer they did not resume their upright position; they are still standing aslant.

Again R. Eliezer then said to the Sages, "If the Halakhah agrees with me, let it be proved from heaven." Sure enough, a divine voice cried out, "Why do you dispute with R. Eliezer, with whom the Halakhah always agrees?" R. Joshua stood up and protested: "The Torah is not in heaven!" (Deut. 30:12). We pay no attention to a divine voice because long ago at Mount Sinai You wrote in your Torah at Mount Sinai, `After the majority must one incline'. (Ex. 23:2)"

Ezra's intention had been pure: He intended to create a way for the Torah, which had been lost, to never be lost again. However, he inadvertently changed it into a group that believed it had more authority on Earth than God Himself. Some have asked me, "If Ezra was a prophet and man of God, how could he have done something so misguided?" My answer is that he was not responsible. What he did in reforming the Sanhedrin was in good faith; yet the Jewish people over the centuries, as is their nature, went astray from the straight path. I do not say this because I am an anti-Semite; I am proud of my Jewish heritage. Yet it was the experience of all the prophets sent to the Jews that they were slandered, ridiculed, imprisoned, and even killed. Not one of the prophets met with the faith and love that was given by the Muslims to the Prophet Mohammad (saws). To defend his religion, people killed their own loved ones in battle; people would gather the water that he performed wudu with and would not allow a single drop of it to fall to the ground; his hair, given to Khalid ibn Walid, was stored in a helmet for which several warriors gave their lives when the helmet was knocked off of his head. Not a single Jewish prophet met with this devotion and loyalty and love. It must be said in all honesty and shame that the Jewish people, as a group, display arrogance against God and manipulate the law to suit their interests. May Allah protect us all from falling into this pattern of behavior and instill in all of us a deep love for Allah and His messengers.
Other examples of making things forbidden which are permissible include the treatment of milk and meat products. In the modern Orthodox Jewish home, there are at least two sets of plates, but up to six, for the purposes of completely separating milk products from meat products. This is entirely unfounded in the Torah. What the Torah requires is simply not to boil a young cow in its mother's milk, because this was a religious ritual of the local Canaanites. By the time of the Talmud, they said not to put meat and milk on the table together unless you had them in separate containers. But today, this separate containers ruling is absolute, and no meat can be put into a dairy container nor dairy into a meat container or the food and the container become triefe (haram). The reason given for this is the Jewish principle of "building a fence around the Torah." An example of a forbidden thing that was made acceptable is that it is permissible in Jewish law to put treife items (like pork products) into kosher (halal) foods, as long as the treife product makes up no more than 1 in 60 parts of the kosher food and is not a vital ingredient.