Studying God's Word
30/10/13 05:32
I hesitate to tell stories from someone else’s tradition. They aren’t my stories to tell. But sometimes even though the stories come from other traditions they help us to see ourselves.
So this is the way I remember the story. A man goes to a rabbi and ask if he can study the Talmud. The rabbi answers, I will teach you the Talmud, but first you have to answer three questions. The man agrees to do so, to the best of his ability.
“The first question is this,” says the rabbi, “If two men climb up on a roof and come down a chimney and one comes down dirty and one comes down clean, which one washes himself?” The man thinks for a moment and answers, “The one who is dirty.” The rabbi responds, “No the one who is clean. The two men come down, the one who is dirty sees the clean man and thinks that he also is clean so he doesn’t wash. The one who is clean sees the one who is dirty and thinks he is also dirty and so he washes himself.”
“The second question is this,” says the rabbi, “If two men climb up on a roof and come down a chimney and one comes down dirty and one comes down clean, which one washes himself?” The man responds, “You just told me. The one who is clean.” The rabbi responds, “No. The one who is dirty washes. They come down and the one who is dirty looks at himself and sees he is dirty and so he washes. The one who is clean sees that he is clean and does not need to wash.”
“The third question is this,” says the rabbi, “If two men climb up on a roof and come down a chimney and one comes down dirty and one comes down clean, which one washes himself?” “I don’t know, Rabbi,” the man responds. Depending on your point of view, it could be either one. The rabbi says, “No. If two men climb down through a chimney, how could one be clean? Since they are both dirty they both wash themselves.”
The confused man asks the rabbi, “What is this? Some kind of a joke? You ask the same question three times and then you give three different answers.”
“No,” says the rabbi. It isn’t a joke. It is the Talmud.”
Although it is sometimes called “the book, the Talmud is really 38 volumes of commentary on Jewish law. It is a compilation of generations and generations of sophisticated legal arguments that seek to interpret the basic laws of the Torah, known to Christians as the first five books of the Bible. Study of the Talmud has traditionally been the province of the ultra-orthodox who devote their lives to the complex arguments and different interpretations that can be drawn from its ten million words. Until recently only men were allowed to study the Talmud.
When someone asked Albert Einstein, shortly before his death, what he would do differently if he could live his life again, his answer was, “I would study the Talmud.”
Study of the Talmud is seen as the most complex and difficult of all intellectual challenges. No one masters the Talmud. The method of study is intense discussion and argument with one’s peers. There is always a different perspective, always another way of interpreting the words, always another way of understanding the requirements of the law.
Collect the arguments of thousands of scholars into a set of books, and you will have enough material for a thousand years of new arguments.
The Talmud is, for the faithful, not a collection of answers, but rather a series of prompts for further discussion and delving into the depths of the relationship between God and humans.
Over the centuries, there have been more than a few Christian ministers who have tried to simplify God’s law. They take a few words or a few phrases and claim to possess full understanding. The speak of Biblical laws as a simple list of Do’s and Don’ts. This tendency to simplify is in stark contrast with the Jewish tradition of always saying, “It is more complex than you think.”
It is certainly possible to skim along the surface of the Bible, extracting a few simple aphorisms and believing that you understand its meaning. Such a shallow encounter, however, seems to me to be disrespectful of the Bible. It is the result of a deep, loving and lasting relationship between God and the people of God that deserves more than a glance. It is worthy of a lifetime of study. And, when it is studied, it reveals depth upon depth, meaning upon meaning, possibility upon possibility. There is more than initially appears.
There is no parallel to The Talmud for the Christian Scriptures. While there are volumes and volumes of commentary on the Gospels, they have not been drawn into a single place, no one commentary has gained universal adherence as the primary source for the study of the New Testament. The lack of a single source, however, does not mean that Christians are somehow denied the same opportunities for in depth study of scripture that is offered by the Talmud.
These days the Talmud is accessible to non Jews and the study of the Talmud is a worthy pursuit for a Christian. But we would assert that the study of the Hebrew scriptures alone is insufficient for an understanding of our faith. We are called also to wrestling with Jesus’ parables and seeking meaning from the letters of Paul and the symbology of John’s Revelation. Our task is even more daunting than that of the man who started his study of God’s laws by discovering that there are at least three answers to what seems to be a simple question.
That is why we call ourselves disciples. We are followers. We are not the leader. We will not complete our studies in a single lifetime, but rather are participants in a process that is much bigger than ourselves - much bigger than a single generation.
Still, I agree with Einstein. There is no pursuit in this life that is more worthy of the best of our thought than considering our relationship with God. And, as pastor John Robinson said to the Pilgrims as they set of on their journey, “God has more truth and light to break forth from the Holy Word.”
I think I’ll keep studying.
So this is the way I remember the story. A man goes to a rabbi and ask if he can study the Talmud. The rabbi answers, I will teach you the Talmud, but first you have to answer three questions. The man agrees to do so, to the best of his ability.
“The first question is this,” says the rabbi, “If two men climb up on a roof and come down a chimney and one comes down dirty and one comes down clean, which one washes himself?” The man thinks for a moment and answers, “The one who is dirty.” The rabbi responds, “No the one who is clean. The two men come down, the one who is dirty sees the clean man and thinks that he also is clean so he doesn’t wash. The one who is clean sees the one who is dirty and thinks he is also dirty and so he washes himself.”
“The second question is this,” says the rabbi, “If two men climb up on a roof and come down a chimney and one comes down dirty and one comes down clean, which one washes himself?” The man responds, “You just told me. The one who is clean.” The rabbi responds, “No. The one who is dirty washes. They come down and the one who is dirty looks at himself and sees he is dirty and so he washes. The one who is clean sees that he is clean and does not need to wash.”
“The third question is this,” says the rabbi, “If two men climb up on a roof and come down a chimney and one comes down dirty and one comes down clean, which one washes himself?” “I don’t know, Rabbi,” the man responds. Depending on your point of view, it could be either one. The rabbi says, “No. If two men climb down through a chimney, how could one be clean? Since they are both dirty they both wash themselves.”
The confused man asks the rabbi, “What is this? Some kind of a joke? You ask the same question three times and then you give three different answers.”
“No,” says the rabbi. It isn’t a joke. It is the Talmud.”
Although it is sometimes called “the book, the Talmud is really 38 volumes of commentary on Jewish law. It is a compilation of generations and generations of sophisticated legal arguments that seek to interpret the basic laws of the Torah, known to Christians as the first five books of the Bible. Study of the Talmud has traditionally been the province of the ultra-orthodox who devote their lives to the complex arguments and different interpretations that can be drawn from its ten million words. Until recently only men were allowed to study the Talmud.
When someone asked Albert Einstein, shortly before his death, what he would do differently if he could live his life again, his answer was, “I would study the Talmud.”
Study of the Talmud is seen as the most complex and difficult of all intellectual challenges. No one masters the Talmud. The method of study is intense discussion and argument with one’s peers. There is always a different perspective, always another way of interpreting the words, always another way of understanding the requirements of the law.
Collect the arguments of thousands of scholars into a set of books, and you will have enough material for a thousand years of new arguments.
The Talmud is, for the faithful, not a collection of answers, but rather a series of prompts for further discussion and delving into the depths of the relationship between God and humans.
Over the centuries, there have been more than a few Christian ministers who have tried to simplify God’s law. They take a few words or a few phrases and claim to possess full understanding. The speak of Biblical laws as a simple list of Do’s and Don’ts. This tendency to simplify is in stark contrast with the Jewish tradition of always saying, “It is more complex than you think.”
It is certainly possible to skim along the surface of the Bible, extracting a few simple aphorisms and believing that you understand its meaning. Such a shallow encounter, however, seems to me to be disrespectful of the Bible. It is the result of a deep, loving and lasting relationship between God and the people of God that deserves more than a glance. It is worthy of a lifetime of study. And, when it is studied, it reveals depth upon depth, meaning upon meaning, possibility upon possibility. There is more than initially appears.
There is no parallel to The Talmud for the Christian Scriptures. While there are volumes and volumes of commentary on the Gospels, they have not been drawn into a single place, no one commentary has gained universal adherence as the primary source for the study of the New Testament. The lack of a single source, however, does not mean that Christians are somehow denied the same opportunities for in depth study of scripture that is offered by the Talmud.
These days the Talmud is accessible to non Jews and the study of the Talmud is a worthy pursuit for a Christian. But we would assert that the study of the Hebrew scriptures alone is insufficient for an understanding of our faith. We are called also to wrestling with Jesus’ parables and seeking meaning from the letters of Paul and the symbology of John’s Revelation. Our task is even more daunting than that of the man who started his study of God’s laws by discovering that there are at least three answers to what seems to be a simple question.
That is why we call ourselves disciples. We are followers. We are not the leader. We will not complete our studies in a single lifetime, but rather are participants in a process that is much bigger than ourselves - much bigger than a single generation.
Still, I agree with Einstein. There is no pursuit in this life that is more worthy of the best of our thought than considering our relationship with God. And, as pastor John Robinson said to the Pilgrims as they set of on their journey, “God has more truth and light to break forth from the Holy Word.”
I think I’ll keep studying.