Sages , Students, and Rebels: How to Tell the Difference

Our Sages said explicitly, "Between [honoring] his father and his teacher, his teacher comes first. "The Sages have already explained that it is forbidden for a student to dispute his teacher, i.e. to reject his authority, to give separate interpretations, and to teach or issue rulings without his permission. It is forbidden for him to argue with him, or speak angrily to him, or to judge him harshly, i.e. to give any kind of [non-literal] explanation to his action or speech, since it is possible that this was not his intention.

Sefer Hamitzvot in English
Respecting the Sages
Positive Commandment 209
Chabad.org

I can agree with that as far as it goes. When you agree to come under the authority of a Rebbe or a Sage, you agree to "the rules of conduct", so to speak, including the Sage's right to issue rulings, and your responsibility to treat him with the respect and honor that is his due. It would be foolish of a student or disciple to make such an agreement and then dispute and argue against the Rebbe at every turn. It would be (to use an extreme example) as if Peter, John, and other members of Yeshua's (Jesus's) inner circle were to get in his face and disagree with his directives and his commandments. Why bother becoming a Rebbe's disciple if you aren't there to learn from him?

However, this also means you should do your homework on the Sage and his teachings before hand. I can't speak to the nature and character of the teachers operating in 1st century "Roman Judea", but I know for certain that today in both the "Messianic" and "Christian" movements (and in the places where they overlap), there are many so-called "teachers", Pastors, leaders, and self-styled "Rabbis" who are not reliable or honest scholars, and who have assumed positions of authority over groups, not to sanctify the Name of God and to teach others of His ways, but to glorify themselves, create a personal power base and, in some situations, to make money off the deal.

Sadly, many of these "teachers" will misuse the commandments to try and make themselves "criticism-proof". I've seen it happen more than once:

Our Sages said in the Talmudic chapter "HaChelek", "Anyone who goes against his teacher is as if he went against the Divine Presence., as it is written [regarding Korach], 'when they rebelled against G-d,'"; "Anyone who makes a dispute against his teacher is as if he made a dispute against the Divine Presence, as it is written, 'These are the Waters of Dispute where the Israelites disputed with G-d'"...

We have sections of the Torah (Deuteronomy 13:1-5, Deuteronomy 18:20-22) that teach about a false prophet, but what do you do about a false teacher? We see in both the Torah and the Apostolic Scriptures that we are to revere a Sage and to treat a leader with respect:

Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people. -Exodus 22:28

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. -1 Timothy 5:1-2

The commentary of Paul in 1 Timothy 5 can be applied to Sages and teachers since the Talmud interprets respecting the aged person (Leviticus 19:32) in the same manner. But while I cannot find (at least in this limited study) a Torah or Talmudic provision for dealing with a less-than-sincere leader or teacher, Paul offers one to the Messianic community:

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” (Deuteronomy 25:4) and “The worker deserves his wages.” (Luke 10:7) Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning. I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism. -1 Timothy 5:17-21

Here, Paul continues the general theme of honoring a teacher and a leader, but he also acknowledges that a leader can sin, and offers the congregation the ability to respond when a leader strays outside of behaving in accordance to the position of authority they have been granted by God.

In our modern, western culture, we have a strong history of defending the rights of the individual and questioning authority figures, sometimes to an extreme. Human beings tend towards abusing power when they acquire it (just look at the arena of politics) and even entering leadership with the best possible motives, an honest person can be seduced by the allure of self-gratification and thus abuse their authority and the people they are to be serving.

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” -Mark 9:35

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. -John 13:12-17

More so than any other teacher who has ever walked, the great Rebbe Yeshua of Nazareth deserves high honors and authority and his teaching is not to be questioned. Yet he humbled himself to wash the feet of his own disciples (and humbled himself even to death for the sake of many) to illustrate to them, and to us, the proper role of the teacher.

As a mentioned before, we are used to, as a culture, questioning and disobeying rightful authority and to "having our say" and "standing our ground". While this is sometimes necessary, our "rights" can easily become a barrier to obeying the example of the Jewish Messiah in humbling ourselves before God and before His Sages (and remember what Paul said about not showing favoritism to one person as leader over another), so that we might learn his good and upright ways. Be a responsible student. Choose a teacher wisely. If you discover you've come under the authority of one not fit to teach or lead, Paul has provided a method of addressing such a person. Beyond that, if you've selected your teacher carefully, then obey the commandment and do not rebel. Most of all, do not rebel against the Rebbe to whom we are all disciples.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Teaching Women

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’ -Luke 10:38-42 (NRSV)

I used this text during last Shabbat's teaching at my congregation as part of a discussion of gifts, giving, and motivation, but something a little unusual happened. It wasn't that I learned something new during the lesson. I often learn something new from what the class says when I teach, but I heard an interpretation, well a "hint" anyway, of something I'd absolutely never considered before.

We were discussing the differences between Mary (Miriam) and Martha (Marta) during this sequence of events and, while Martha was correctly expressing middle eastern hospitality (which particularly in ancient times was a much bigger deal than in modern American homes), the Master was pointing out that learning the things of God contains a greater and more lasting value.

First let's address the issue of hospitality just to get it out of the way. I'll use a classic example:

The Lord appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground, he said, "My lords, if it please you, do not go on past your servant. Let a little water be brought; bathe your feet and recline under the tree. And let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves; then go on—seeing that you have come your servant's way." They replied, "Do as you have said."

Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quick, three seahs of choice flour! Knead and make cakes!" Then Abraham ran to the herd, took a calf, tender and choice, and gave it to a servant-boy, who hastened to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree as they ate. -Genesis 18:1-8 (JPS Tanakh)

As you'll recall from Genesis 17:26, Abraham, and every male in his household, had just recently been circumcised, so running around to make sure that the needs of the three strangers (there's no reason to believe Abraham knew they were angelic beings at this point) was undoubtedly really "uncomfortable" for him. Nevertheless, he would have been severely remiss as a host if he had neglected his guests, no matter what the reason.

Also, there's this:

And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. -Luke 11:5-8 (NRSV)

In this case, Jesus is using an example of hospitality that would have been very familiar to his audience and which not only mirrors Abraham's example, but explains why Martha was so distressed that Mary wasn't helping out in serving the guests. Jesus wasn't undoing the custom and duty of hospitality when he spoke to Martha, he was explaining that there are things even more important, and Mary was doing them.

But besides breaching social etiquette, what's so special about Mary sitting at the Master's feet and learning from him? She was a woman.

Think about it. Although Jesus had many disciples who were women, in almost all "important" transactions, he is speaking to and teaching men. All of his inner circle; the twelve disciples, were men. There is a long tradition in the Tanakh, the Apostolic Scriptures, and in historic Judaism and Christianity that tends to favor men over women.

Does that mean Judaism and Christianity is sexist?

Besides all of that, I don't think that Christianity would exist today if it were not for sexism. If Mary didn't face getting stoned to death for getting knocked up before marriage, there would have been no need for the cockamamie immaculate conception story anyhow. Odds are, Joseph pressured her to have sex before marriage and told her nothing bad was going to happen. But, I guess I'm biased.

From an article at Think Atheist

However, there are numerous areas of the Bible where we see that women are not treated poorly, as the above writer suggests:

The daughters of Zelophehad, of Manassite family—son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh son of Joseph—came forward. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and they said, "Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of the faction, Korah's faction, which banded together against the Lord, but died for his own sin; and he has left no sons. Let not our father's name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father's kinsmen!"

Moses brought their case before the Lord.

And the Lord said to Moses, "The plea of Zelophehad's daughters is just: you should give them a hereditary holding among their father's kinsmen; transfer their father's share to them. -Numbers 27:1-7 (JPS Tanakh)

On the one hand, Moses had to bring this case before God because it wasn't obvious that Zelophehad's daughters should inherit, but on the hand, Moses didn't dismiss their case out of hand because it wasn't obvious that they shouldn't have such rights.

There are numerous examples of how women are valued and esteemed in the ancient Jewish (Proverbs 31:10-31) and Christian worlds, but in Christianity, the most obvious example is this:

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. -Galatians 3:27-29 (NRSV)

"No longer male and female" doesn't mean Paul is saying that the differences between sexes were eliminated, but that access to God and our value in the eyes of the Jewish Messiah isn't affected by our gender. For men and women (and Jews, Gentiles, masters, and slaves) the playing field is completely level in that regard.

While the message of wives submitting to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-24) is often seen as sexist and oppressive, critics usually don't read far enough to see that husbands are commanded to care for their wives to the same standard that they care for themselves (Ephesians 5:25-33), and that the relationship of love and respect in marriage goes both ways.

But having said all that, did women in ancient (and not so ancient) times, have equal access to Religious and Spiritual learning?

If you've seen the 1983 Barbra Streisand film Yentl, then you might be tempted to say "no". After all, Streisand's character in the film must disguise herself as a young man to be allowed to attend a Yeshiva in Poland in 1903. This is a relatively accurate understanding of women and Jewish Yeshiva education at that time.

Traditionally in Judaism, women are "exempted" from a number of time related mitzvot as they would interfere with their duties as mothers and wives (which can certainly sound sexist). Christianity must admit to the same historical responsibility in favoring men over women in the areas of education and ministry.

While the majority of "key players" in the Bible are undeniably men, perhaps this is more of a reflection of cultural bias rather than God's intent. We see some exceptional women in the Bible (the Judge Deborah) and we notice in a number of Paul's letters that he commends a significant group of faithful women in the fledgling Messianic community. While Jesus didn't seem to assign leadership roles to any women among his inner circle, his treatment of Mary seems to show that he didn't object to (and perhaps instead respected) Mary sitting at his feet and learning the same lessons as the men. Holiness is after all, an equal opportunity affair if we can believe Paul's letter to the Galatians, and if both men and women are to have equal access to God, they certainly must be afforded an equal opportunity to learn.

While "equality" is considered more or less the norm in religious practice today (adjusted for practices in different Christian denominations and in the different branches of Judaism), we tend to think of the ancient record as showing that women were held to a lesser standard or denied equal opportunities for study and ministry. I don't believe this is true, or at least I don't believe this is true because of God's intent. If we can trust how Jesus interacted with Mary and Martha (and I admit, I'm piling on a tremendous amount of meaning onto a single part of the book of Luke), then the modern practice of admitting both men and women to Bible and Talmud study (again, adjusting for customs in different expressions of Christianity and Judaism), means we are finally catching up to a teaching of the Master that has been historically ignored.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

But I Can Cook!

As I'm sure you've realized by now, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the entire question of the Messianic Judaism and One Law movements. What is the relationship between believing Gentiles and Jews? What is God's plan for each people group? Are we eternally locked into our own separate worlds or does God intend for us to be one flock with one shepherd?
I've also been considering my options for worship and service as defined by the MJ/BE movement. I basically have two choices:

1. I can attend an MJ congregation with the understanding that I really have no contribution to make, at least in terms of a formal "ministry".
2. I can attend a Sunday-keeping church, where my "ministry" options can be tailored to my skill sets but I have to keep rather mum on my knowledge and perspective on the Torah, the Jewish people, and Israel.

Then I started thinking about what I do in my own congregation that matches my personal skill sets...what you might call my "spiritual gifts" in a more traditional church setting. Essentially, I'm trying to answer the question, "what am I good for?" Here's what I do right now.

1. I designed and maintain the congregation's website.
2. I created and maintain the congregation's blog including researching and writing all of the blog content.
3. I research and teach most of the classes offered by the congregation, including the Shabbat teaching and any other Bible classes we offer.
4. As a board member, I participate in the overall planning and guidance of the congregation's vision, mission, and organization.

Of course, this is a very small congregation; not much larger than a home fellowship, but we've been around in the Treasure Valley for about 10 or 12 years, which makes us the oldest, continually operating Messianic/One Law congregation in Idaho. Doesn't sound incredibly impressive by human standards, but we strive to be one of God's lights shining in the darkness of a fallen world.

Being human, I have my faults and probably pride is one of those faults. I'm an introvert, but I do enjoy teaching. I particularly enjoy the research and learning aspects (I have two bachelors degrees and a masters degree, so I guess I'm a good student). I also enjoy the discussion process in the teachings; the exchange of ideas, the passion of expression of faith, watching the Spirit of God move among us as we seek greater intimacy and understanding.

I also enjoy writing. I guess that shouldn't be much of a shock. I work as a technical writer for a software company by day and write books by night and on Sundays. I also write articles, essays, book reviews, and blog incessantly (this blog is only one of several). For me, the writing and teaching aspects of my personality and my contribution to my congregation are more or less interchangeable.

NOTE: I should comment at this point that when I say "my congregation", I don't say it from a position of leadership or ownership so much as from a position of belonging and fellowship. I don't mean to say that the congregation is "mine" in the sense that I'm a boss or a leader or a big shot of any kind, but in the sense of being a part of a whole as in "my family" or "my community" or "my hometown".

Now let's return to my options as listed above. In an MJ/BE congregation, I wouldn't be qualified to perform any of the roles I do now because I'm not Jewish. In a Jewish congregation, only Jewish people teach, lead, write, build and maintain web content, discuss, contribute, and add value, at least as it has been explained to me. My "role" as such, would be to pray (omitting certain prayers that pertain just to the Jewish people), worship God, attend classes (being a notorious loudmouth, I'd probably ask questions and even offer opinions) and...and... What else? Oh, as a Gentile member of the congregation, just like the Jewish members, I would contribute financially. In other congregations, I've mopped floors, washed dishes, and pulled weeds, and those tasks are generic enough to where I would be qualified to perform them in an MJ/BE congregation. Is it just vanity that I feel a little deflated here?

My other option, as defined by MJ/BE, is to return to the traditional Christian church. Depending on the size of the church and the roles already occupied, I wouldn't necessarily be barred from most or all of the roles I now perform, at least not because of ethnicity. I can only imagine, if I were allowed to teach and write, I would either have to severely censor myself so as not to go against the grain of traditional theology, or just not enter those positions at all (or get criticized, edited, or tossed out on my ear for refuting replacement theology, the Sunday "sabbath", and the church being "spiritual Israel"). I could also mop floors, wash dishes, and pull weeds, and like I said, I've done that in church settings in the past and even occasionally in my current setting. In a small congregation, if you see a need, fulfill it.

So what really is my problem? Put another way, what really is the problem? Out of all the reasons that MJ/BE gives for the separation of roles between Jews and Gentiles in the MJ/BE context, I realized that one really big reason is historical. Look at what happened the first time Jews and Gentiles got together as branches on the olive tree (natural and grafted) and worshiped together.

The latest statistics I can find tell me that the worldwide Jewish population is 13.3 million people. That's roughly 0.2% of the overall human population of the planet. Kind of outnumbered. That's what happened to the early Messianic movement as far as history goes. As more and more Gentiles entered the Messianic Jewish movement in the early centuries of the Common Era, they (we Gentiles) displaced the Jews and eventually replaced them as leaders, teachers, and finally, we rewrote the theology and history of "the church" to favor Gentile Christians and disfavor Messianic Jews. This worked so well that eventually all Jewish people left the movement and totally denied the Christian Jesus as having any claim to Messiahship.

Here we are again. I mentioned that only about 0.2% of the world's population is Jewish. My best guess is only a very tiny percentage of that 0.2% are openly Messianic (I have a theory that some Jews are very quietly Messianic in Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox synagogues, but except for a few anecdotal tales, I have no hard evidence). So there are a tiny cluster of Messianic Jews in MJ synagogues and a horde of Gentiles clamoring to get in. Yeah, if I were a Messianic Jew, I'd be nervous, too. One of the lessons we all tend to accept is that history repeats itself.

I really think this is the answer to the issue of Gentiles in MJ. Jews are few and Gentiles are many. We have a tendency to enter into an environment, take over, consume all available resources, and then move on. I'm vaguely quoting Agent Smith (played by Hugo Weaving) delivering his comparison of human beings as a virus to a captive Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) from the film The Matrix (1999). Actually, when I was pondering these questions earlier while getting ready to go to work, my first thought was of the character Remy in the film Ratatouille (2007). If you've seen this rather charming Pixar film, you know that Remy is a rat. He comes from a family of rats and lives in a community of rats. All of Remy's family and friends are typical rats; hungry and dirty and thieving...however Remy is unique.

Of all of the rats anywhere, only Remy doesn't see human beings as the enemy. He admires human beings. He wants to be like human beings. He reads, walks upright, and understands spoken human languages...well, at least French. What he does best, like what even few human beings are able to do, is he can cook...and cook very well. But he's got a problem. He's a rat.

It doesn't matter how well Remy can cook, and what incredible delicacies he can make, and how clean and well behaved he is, and how much he admires and respects human beings, almost every human around him, when they see him, especially in a kitchen, tries to kill him.

He has to fight and fight hard, just to get one or two people to understand who he really is and what he's actually capable of, and to finally accept that he can cook very, very well. He has a unique skill set that is trapped in a rat's body. He can cook, but the overwhelming percentage of the human population would rather see him poisoned or die in a trap then live out his dream.

Gentiles aren't rats (most of the time) but there are a lot of us. We can behave rather poorly (well, that's true of all humans). Historically, we have entered into a Jewish worship form (by invitation, if we are to believe Peter, Paul, Yeshua, and God) and we've completely mucked it up. We've made life hell on wheels for the Jews who originally invited us into the club and now they don't really trust us. Who could blame them? How can they protect themselves from "the rats"?

The easiest way for a smaller people group to protect themselves from a much larger people group is isolation. We have seen that across the long expanse of history and not just as applied to Jews. Visit one of America's older cities such as Chicago or New York. You'll find neighborhoods that are strictly divided by people groups. Within those neighborhoods, all (or most) of the businesses, resources, and activities are organized around that one, specific people group. While I can go into most of those neighborhoods as a "non-resident" (let's say I want to visit a Japanese market in the Japan Town area of San Francisco), everyone will be friendly and I'll be able to do business, but it would be exceedingly rare for me to actually try to live there.

You can look at Jewish communities this way. You can look at Messianic Jewish communities this way but MJ communities have a built-in wrinkle. By mandate, they are supposed to invite Gentiles into the club. Read the end of Matthew 28 and you'll see that Yeshua directed his Jewish disciples to make disciples of the Gentiles, too. This means Jews had to teach Gentiles to be students of the Jewish Messiah by imitation, and you can only teach by imitation if you let people see you and interact with you. Hard to do by remote control.

Given all that, how do MJ communities fulfill their mandate and at the same time protect themselves from the dangers that history so specifically illustrates? By not letting us "cook". This makes sense. Listen.

This is just a guess, but it's probably a good one. Let's say that, as the first century Gentile population grew in the Messianic movement, we started doing things like teaching and leading. This would have been necessary in congregations that were mostly or exclusively Gentile, in parts of the then civilized world that didn't have a large Jewish population. I can imagine Paul coming into a town or an area with few Jews. He'd go to those Jews first with the message of the Good News of the Messiah, and then move on to the Gentiles. The Apostolic Scriptures record that many Gentiles were hungry for the message and eager to accept it. While monotheism and faith in the One God was historically common to Israel, it was unique, fresh, and invigorating to Gentiles who had been trapped in the darkness of pagan polytheism. Gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit and be saved, too. Even Peter was amazed.

However, as more and more Gentiles streamed in (Yeshua did say "all the nations"), they learned more, started leading local congregations, started teaching, and eventually took over. Maybe they resented their Jewish mentors and their "chosen" status. I don't know what they thought. I do know that as human beings, we have a tendency to rewrite what God gives us and to recreate it into our own image. It took less than three centuries for "the church" to replace "the Messianic Congregation" (though if you examine that history, "the church", though exclusively Gentile, was far from united and probably far from God).

If I were a Messianic Jew, aware of the overall history of Jewish people in relation to Gentiles, I'd be cautious of even those Gentiles who seemed benign and friendly. One way to avoid repeating history is to recognize the "mistakes" of previous encounters and avoid them. If allowing Gentiles to teach and lead results in Gentiles taking over the show and either marginalizing or kicking Jews out of their own synagogues, then don't let Gentiles teach and lead. You may have to graft the alien branches onto your native root, but you can choose where and how to do the grafting, to minimize the danger to the health of the natural branches.

While all this sounds reasonable and has the support of the historical record, this perspective also has to admit that the vast majority of Gentiles are "rats" who can't be trusted. This may be something of an exaggeration and perhaps I'm being unfair in my depiction, but when you look at the core statements and desired results of MJ/BE, I think it can be supported. Sure, MJ may contain the occasional "Remy" who is jumping up and down in the back screaming, "But I can cook!" but how do you know you can trust him (or her)? Will MJ even recognize that one small voice crying out among the choir of the other Gentiles?

From this perspective, it doesn't matter if I can "cook". It would be just too dangerous to let me do so. Maybe as an individual I would do little damage, but when other Gentiles saw what I was doing, they'd want to do the same thing...first a few, then more, then more, then more, and more and more and... You get the idea.

If I want to "cook" I either have to do so within the context of my current OL congregation and be willing to accept the perpetual criticism of my MJ "neighbors" for (supposedly) being anti-Church, a replacement theologist, and all of the other horrible assumptions that are made about anyone wearing my label, or I can retreat into the church where paradoxically, Messianic Jews will feel safe from me while I participate in a worship form that almost always preaches replacement theology.

Yes, I've been more than a little "tongue-in-cheek" and probably kind of rude in my blog today, but I wanted to illustrate what MJ/BE looks like from Remy's point of view. While in the Pixar universe, Remy is one-of-a-kind (and in the real world, as far as we know, all rats are vermin, dangerous, and worthy of extermination), there may be more than one "Remy" among the Gentiles seeking God's Word and God's way. When Yeshua gave the directive to make disciples of the Gentiles, I believe he didn't expect he was automatically dooming the Jews in the Messianic movement to displacement by Gentiles nor condemning Gentiles perpetually to the "cheap seats" in the Kingdom's "opera house".

So far, I've been looking at all of this from a historical and human perspective. I think we're missing something. If I'm just a rat, why did God wire me to "cook"?

Afterword: Actually, one of the things I can't do is cook, at least not well. I'm really good a barbecuing (charcoal only...no gas) and making omelets, but that's about the best I can do. In all other areas of cooking, I'm so-so (I do know how to iron, however).  Let's face it, I'm no Remy.