-from The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Talmud
by Rabbi Aaron Parry
If I gave you time to change my mind
I'd find a way just to leave the past behind
-from Reason to Believe (1965)
by Tim Hardin (as sung by Rod Stewart)
I finished Rabbi Parry's book last night and immediately launched into Bart Erhman's Jesus, Interrupted, but Rabbi Parry's book had something to say about my current journey of faith (and it's momentary interruption) and perhaps how I'm going to proceed.
While I'm sure I'll never become a "Talmud expert", I still enjoyed Rabbi Parry's book and thought it a good vehicle for communicating a very complex topic to "idiots" like me. For several years, I've been receiving a daily "Daf" (folio) from Daf Yomi Digest, and while there are periods of time when I neglect my daily studies, I've recently returned to reserving a time each day for their review.
I can't really say I'm "studying" Talmud, since that would require a context provided by a proper Talmud instructor and class environment, but I can at least glean small bits of wisdom from the illuminating "Stories off the Daf" (and I even occasionally blog on a topic inspired by a Daf).
In comparing my readings of Jewish vs. Christian sources, I continue to find myself more drawn to Jewish writing for some reason. It seems to resonate with me on a more emotional or spiritual level, and while Rav Ami says not to "give over words of the Torah to an outsider", Maimonidies and the Meiri (Rabbi Menachem ben Solomon, 1249-1316) support the position that "the only restriction for a non-Jew is to learn Torah or Talmud as if doing so is a divine commandment", however accessing "the knowledge and wisdom therein is fair game."
The latter statements seem to go along with other Rabbinic opinions I've read in the past few months, so there is a provision for a non-Jew to continue a daily review of Torah and Talmud topics as long as he (me) does not do so saying that it's a commandment from God. That said, it really is impossible for a Christian to gain a deeper meaning into the teachings of the Jewish Messiah and his Jewish disciples without studying Torah. Since it also seems impossible to understand the Torah without reading Talmud, continual exposure to all of these sources is a requirement.
However, the Talmudic opinions of the sages aren't going to cover all of the areas where I'm obviously lacking, hence my checking Jesus, Interrupted out of my local library.
I'm more calm now about the discovery of just how many holes exist in the Swiss cheese of my understanding of the Bible, God, and faith than I was just a day or two ago. I'm discovering that it's not necessarily unusual to have this sort of revelation somewhere along the journey. While I've said in the past that a life of faith isn't always a life of ease, I truly wasn't prepared for the detours and rough conditions along the path I've chosen (or the one God has chosen for me, I still can't figure out which is which).
Although I feel very unequipped to continue my teaching duties at my congregation as they are outlined for the next several months, I nevertheless must try to do my best given my current understanding. I probably have no business trying to teach others about something I struggle so much with myself, and I hope and pray that His wisdom will fill in the gaps where I am woefully lacking. As the Talmudic quote I placed at the beginning of this blog post states, before rescuing someone else from drowning in the ocean, you must first learn how to swim yourself. So far, all I've got going for me is a bit of dog paddling.
With what is the road to faith paved? I can't say it's paved just with the pages from the Bible, because that's only part of the story. True, the very famous Psalm 119:105 says, "Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path", but that could mean both the Bible as a document and our "living Torah" the Jewish Messiah. I believe it also includes the wisdom and compassion of other people of faith as expressed both in their teachings and especially in their acts of lovingkindness.
All of the stones that pave the road are held together with an invisible, intangible cement which we call "spirituality". Intellect is not enough because it's far too easy to "think" our way out of the faith. While study, knowledge, and wisdom are vital elements in a life of faith, keeping it all in your head isn't the same as applying faith as a lived experience. That experience includes doing the Torah, so to speak, by using what you've learned and gained to help others in small and (if it be Hashem's will) great ways. But it also means cultivating a holy life, not just with your fellow human, but with God.
Yeshua's (Jesus's) two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:28-44) say that both are necessary, starting with loving God with everything that you are, and then, as a product of loving God, loving your neighbor as yourself. What Yeshua didn't say (but to which the Talmud alludes) is that, in order to have an effective love for your neighbor, the relationship with God is essential. Too many people go along hating or at least disliking themselves or feeling worthless or ineffectual in their lives. That's hardly a good model on which to base "loving your neighbor as yourself.".
At the risk of sounding sentimental, what we get out of a relationship with God is not just the experience of us loving Him but of Him loving us. "For God so loved the world..." (John 3:16) is just about the first Bible verse most Christians memorize and I think with very good reason. When we fail to apply it to our own flawed and damaged lives, it's also the first lesson many believers (including me) forget.
In pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, faith and particularly God's love, ends up taking a back seat and sometimes even gets kicked off the bus.
The road pointing to our goal can seem lonely and often I feel as I've always walked it alone. Sometimes the only way to feel the love of an intangible God is through what He's left here for me and for everyone. The Bible is imperfect because God's people are imperfect. Yes, God could have made a perfect Bible, but He also could have made perfect people. He chose not to do either of those things. When we complain that this Christian or that Jew isn't living up to the standards set by God, we are stating the obvious. Our imperfections are why we need Him. The Bible is the same thing. It's imperfect. That's why we need faith, perseverance, and a way to look through a "spiritual lens" to be able to keep walking on the road, even when our legs feel like lead weights, and even when all of the sign posts around say that the road leads to nowhere.
When the road is dark, the Word really does provide a "lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path". Even if you don't believe that, I'm going to proceed hopefully anyway. After every fall, there comes a time when you have to get up again. That's why we fell so much as children...so we could learn to pick ourselves up. What we don't always see, is that through faith, God is the One helping us to our feet, brushing us off, and pointing us in the right direction again.
Someone like you makes it easy to giveGood Shabbos
and never think about myself.
If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true...
Still I look to find a reason
to believe.
-from Reason to Believe (1965)
by Tim Hardin (as sung by Rod Stewart)
The road is long and often, we travel in the dark. But there's always a light showing us the way. We just have to look for a reason to believe.
20 comments:
Amen! To paraphrase Paul, "consider it pure joy, my brother, when you face trial." To paraphrase Martin Buber, when you face trial and speak to God through prayer, question, or doubt, He comes to You. Prayer is an Invocation, to borrow a Wiccan term. "Our Father, who art in heaven," we say plaçes God closely to our heart-dialogue like a shepherd to his flock.
Jon
"The Bible is imperfect because God's people are imperfect. Yes, God could have made a perfect Bible, but He also could have made perfect people."
Imperfect Bible?
"All Scripture is inspired by G-d and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of G-d may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2.Tim.3:16,17
Scripture is perfect for what it was intended for and that is a life of living for the will of G-d.
"Scripture is perfect for what it was intended for and that is a life of living for the will of G-d."
Anonymous, you yourself stated it succinctly: it's "perfect for what it was intended for".
Which is quite different from claiming that it's free from any errors/linguistic/grammatical/factual precision problems that may have been introduced by all the inspired though imperfect human beings who wrote it.
Gene,
That is your honest opinion, there are plenty of scholars that will disagree with you.
There's a difference between "inspired" by God and "dictated" by God, Anonymous. I'm approaching the position that the Bible isn't perfect and, if God allowed human beings to insert their memories and personalities into the Biblical record, then it *can't* be perfect. Nevertheless, as Gene says, it serves humanity as it is.
I'm discovering that faith is made up of lots of little bits and pieces along the way. The Bible is one part, but it can't stand alone because of its inconsistencies. If we're looking for the perfect document and our faith is based solely on its perfection, we'll exit the faith rather quickly.
Greg Boyd's video is another piece I found which was very helpful, but also not perfect if, for no other reason, than because he failed to define how he maintains Jesus as the core of his faith and has confidence in who and what he is. We can consider the Talmud, Christian and Jewish commentaries, teachers, and other sources in more or less the same way.
Ultimately, the glue that holds faith together along with all of these little fragments of information is an ineffable and ethereal quality we refer to as spirituality. God has dropped a series of events made of this "substance" into my life to fill the spaces between the stones and tiles that make up the path of my faith.
As Psalm 77:12 says, I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds. While God doesn't sprinkle our lives daily with unexplainable or supernatural experiences like manna in the desert, we can, like the Psalmist, recall those times when he has made his presence extraordinarily clear and savor them, like remembering the taste of fine wine.
The reason to believe isn't always in our face, so to speak. God asks that we look for it and keep looking for it. That's probably why we use the Word, among other things, as a lamp.
"That is your honest opinion, there are plenty of scholars that will disagree with you."
Anonymous... so what? There's a scholar (or two) for every position under the sun.
In any case, I believe that our Bible is one of the best preserved documents of antiquity, bar none. Whether or not G-d allowed for humans to insert their own imperfections into the text is irrelevant (except to those who wish to ignore the facts) - the imperfections do nothing to take away from the intent of the Bible as inspired by G-d. What's relevant, however, is that the Bible we have today is what G-d has given us to work with, to live by and to know G-d.
" That's probably why we use the Word, among other things, as a lamp."
I wasn't aware of other lamps. I though the Word of G-d (Scripture) is our Lamp and Light? I understand there being other resources to validate the Word but what other lamps?
I wasn't aware of other lamps. I though the Word of G-d (Scripture) is our Lamp and Light? I understand there being other resources to validate the Word but what other lamps?
Wow! You are *really* literal. I was attempting to be somewhat symbolic and poetic in my expression. I'm not writing a doctoral dissertation on the literal meaning of Psalm 119. Work with me, here. I'm experiencing a bit of joy in my faith this morning. I am also willing to share, if you'd like some. ;-)
"I wasn't aware of other lamps. I though the Word of G-d (Scripture) is our Lamp and Light?"
Where, besides Scripture, there's the living Word himself, Yeshua, the one who said "I am the Light of the World." (John 8:12). He active today, not just in the pages of your NT.
There there are followers of the Master themselves, about whom Yeshua said: "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14).
James, Gene
lol chill guys. I'm just tying to understand what you mean, you know that a lot of times what we think a person is saying is not really what they meant.
"Where, besides Scripture, there's the living Word himself, Yeshua, the one who said "I am the Light of the World." (John 8:12). He active today, not just in the pages of your NT."
"There there are followers of the Master themselves, about whom Yeshua said: "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14)."
I agree Gene, but all im saying is that Yeshua and His disciples are in line with the written Word. Hey I'm not trying to be argumentative, maybe I'm just misunderstanding you both. I'm literal because Scripture is supposed to taken literal and we must also see when it's speaking in Spiritual symbolic way.
As we've both mentioned before, text-only communications leave something to be desired. Misunderstandings happen.
Do you believe that *everything* in the Bible is to be taken literally? What about the Song of Solomon? Do you believe that the description of God's creation of the universe is a literal, step-by-step instruction about what He did to bring everything into existence?
While I believe that there are significant portions of narrative that are supposed to describe actual events, there's also a lot of poetry, symbolism, and metaphor included. That's why we study the Bible and not just read it. That's also why at least some familiarity with the Talmud is helpful.
Scholars, both Jewish and Christian have been trying to puzzle out the Bible for thousands of years. To this day, Rabbis wrestle with the Talmud, attempting to gather meaning from the Word and struggling with each other, sometimes very dramatically, as Jacob struggled with the angel.
I get the impression based on such ancient traditions, that we can't read the Bible the way we'd read a set of instructionson how to install a water heater.
"I'm literal because Scripture is supposed to taken literal and we must also see when it's speaking in Spiritual symbolic way."
So, Anonymous, you are not "literal" after all, but rather selectively literal? Don't worry - most people are. Let's do a test:
Literal or symbolic:
"And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of G-d with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell."
James,
I agree! There is much symbolism in Scripture and yes it must be diligently studied. The Writings of the Sages help tremendously in getting insight into the Word as they are have been studying Scripture their entire lives.
May G-d's Spirit lead us into the truth!
We must pray that G-d lead us into the truth through His Spirit.
There is much symbolism in Scripture and yes it must be diligently studied. The Writings of the Sages help tremendously in getting insight into the Word as they are have been studying Scripture their entire lives.
May G-d's Spirit lead us into the truth!
I can go along with that.
Gene,
you are a funny guy lol. I'm just saying that their are things that are literal, but i understand that much of it is symbolic and spiritual.
Man is physical and spiritual, we have a body, soul, and spirit. I believe that Scripture speaks to us in these ways. The physical hints to spiritual things and vice-versa.
I get the impression based on such ancient traditions, that we can't read the Bible the way we'd read a set of instructionson how to install a water heater.
Thank G-d for that, because the Bible speaks back to us if we listen closely to what the spirit of G-d is saying. There are allways deeper levels of understanding to receive insight, when we study the Bible. Like in Rev 3:18 when scripture speaks of buying Gold refined in the fire,thats spending time in the Pure word, (time is money). Spending time in the word makes us rich spiritually, Clothes our selves in white raiment, (take off dirty, remove, seperate you self to G-d) then we can stand before Him unashamed. Apply eyesalve=the healing power, anointing power of the pure word. Eyes are the window of the soul, they need healing, too much time spent looking a idol words damages our eyes. Eyes are the window of our Hearts. Seek guidance from the word, your understanding will be open with this type of salve on your eyes. Hope that does not sound too preachy, it's not ment that way. It is what the word means to me. It has power to change us, move our hearts closer to G-d, direct our lives. It is alive.
Michelle
Michelle,
Good stuff!!
Someone recommended I add the book Scripting Jesus by L Michael White to my reading list.
From the Product Description:
In Scripting Jesus, famed scholar of early Christianity L. Michael White challenges us to read the gospels as they were originally intended—as performed stories of faith rather than factual histories. White demonstrates that each of the four gospel writers had a specific audience in mind and a specific theological agenda to push, and consequently wrote and rewrote their lives of Jesus accordingly—in effect, scripting Jesus.
"I'm discovering that it's not necessarily unusual to have this sort of revelation somewhere along the journey. While I've said in the past that a life of faith isn't always a life of ease, I truly wasn't prepared for the detours and rough conditions along the path I've chosen (or the one God has chosen for me, I still can't figure out which is which)."
You're not alone here my friend. In the past couple years I became so engrossed in study that all the information came in so fast that I reached tipping points. I'd wonder what the point to all the study was. Isn't G-d great enough to just accept me? The more I study the less I realize I know. A couple times it got so bad that I didn't want to study or read the bible at all, I always wondered "what good is all this anyways?". But after those moods pass (sometimes they last for weeks) G-d is still there and can't be ignored, eventually you must just realize that we as humans are weak minded no matter how put-together we think we are. This applies for everyone, some people can either embrace it and move on, or try to ignore it and blind themselves.
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