Review: The Talmud on Trial

Allow me to take this opportunity to demonstrate that the Talmud often agrees with the Gospels. Just as in all the main points of ethics there is agreement, so also both the Talmud and Gospels condemn pride, arrogance, and presumption. Consider the following concluding argument from the Talmud in regards to the above-cited quotation: -By an inspired practitioner of Judaism, I. Lichtenstein, District Rabbi at Tapio-Szele (Budapest, 1886)

I've written a couple of reviews of articles that will be appearing in the Fall 2010/5771 issue of FFOZ's Messiah Journal, including Vine of David and One Law for All but this one is different. This is no ordinary magazine article. To quote from the article's introduction:

Vine of David is pleased to present, for the first time in English, the entirety of Rabbi Lichtenstein’s 1886 publication The Talmud on Trial. Translated from the German by Kevin Hanke, with additional translation by Nikola Orlic, and Jeff Ashman. Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein originally published The Talmud on Trial in 1886, prior to publicly announcing his faith in Yeshua.

Rabbi Lichtenstein wrote this paper in response to the comments of Scottish missionary, the Reverend Alexander McCaul which, in his publication Netivot Olam, he at once praised the Old Testament and Moses and completely denigrated the Talmud. The following gives you an idea of Reverend McCaul's viewpoint:

The Oral Law is presumptuous; it confers upon itself the authority of God; it is tyrannical, gruesome, heartless to foreigners [non-Jews], it humiliates and degrades the female sex, it promotes heresy and superstition, it weakens the influence of moral obligations, it promotes and is partial to ‘outward observance,’ without feeling, without heart, without consecration, in short, without God. It gives deceptive proof-texts for its absurd assertions, which can only maintain their validity by means of one-sided, illogical arguments which have been brought out of the trash heap.

Interestingly enough, although Rabbi Lichtenstein provides a creditable defense of how the Talmud is the source of morality and ethics among observant Jews and in no small measure, reflects the teachings of Yeshua (Jesus), today among many Gentiles in the Messianic movement, the Talmud remains as poorly esteemed.

I was commenting to someone today in an email how Gentiles in the Messianic movement by and large still conceptualize God, Yeshua, the Bible, and their faith in fundamentally Christian terms and in those terms, the Talmud doesn't make a great deal of sense. It becomes at least a puzzle if not a stumbling block as to why many Messianic Jews continue to cling to the Talmudic teachings when they are extra-Biblical and don't speak of Yeshua. Yet we Gentiles may be missing the point because we don't have the benefit of a Jewish education or growing up ethnically, culturally, and spiritually Jewish.

My wife (who is Jewish) tried to explain it to me and I chronicled her explanation, based on a class she attended that was taught by the local Chabad Rabbi, in a blog post called What Did Jesus Change: Ritual? It's a bit of a long read, but it's the best I can do to try to explain to a Gentile Messianic and Christian audience how Jews see the Talmud differently than we do. Of course, I only have my perspective to go on so you'll have to take it for what it's worth.

We also tend to neglect what the Talmud says directly about Gentiles. Fortunately, I blogged on that topic, too.

In about fifteen pages, Rabbi Lichtenstein tries to explain to his Christian audience how the Talmud functions in the life of every observant Jew, how it acts as a clarifier of the Words of God and a pointer to the Heart of the Almighty. You'll have to read the entire article to really get Rabbi Lichtenstein's point and fortunately, the issue of Messiah Journal containing this paper comes out in about a week.

You might ask yourself why a Gentile Christian/Messianic audience should care about the Talmud and its relevance to the teachings of Yeshua and his disciples? Hopefully part of the answer is in the question itself but beyond that, if you truly want to solve the mystery of why so many (but not all) Jewish Messianics consider Talmud study and a Talmudic lifestyle a "must", Rabbi Lichtenstein's defense should give you a clue.

If you're interested in more on the Lichtenstein article, the Gathering Sparks blog has a short commentary. To discover more about the contents of the soon to be published Fall issue of Messiah Journal including additional reviews, visit the FFOZ blog.

Oh. At the beginning of this blog post, I quoted a small portion of Rabbi Lichtenstein's commentary regarding the relationship between the Talmud and the words of the Master. Here's the rest:

Whoever humbles himself, he will be lifted up by the Holy One, blessed be he; but whoever lifts himself up arrogantly in pride, he will be abased by the Holy One, blessed be he. Whoever covets positions of honor, from him honor retreats. Whoever shuns a position of honor, a position of honor pursues that one. Whoever tries to go against the “spirit of the times” (Zeitgeist), the current of time will oppose him; he will be pulverized by the flywheel of time. But whoever takes into account present-day conditions will find that time actually, regularly assists him and proves to be to his advantage. (b.Eruvin 13b)