Monday, August 11, 2003

THE TALMUD is hard to find on the web, but I finally found it at the very useful site www.sacred-texts.com. Why is it so hard to find when Judaism is such a bookish religion, and one that esteems commentary so highly, compared to Christianity, which urges people to study the Bible but puts almost no emphasis on studying commentary? There is a huge number of Christian texts on the web. Is it that Christians mind translation less? But the Talmud is not even in the holy language of Hebrew; it is in Aramaic. Perhaps it is simply that there are so many more English-speaking serious Christians than English-speaking serious Jews, or that Christians care more about spreading their religion.

At any rate, my first dip into the Talmud, into the Tract Aboth which is supposed to be one of the more accessible parts, is disappointing. The opening seems to be typical of its style and quality:

CHAPTER I.

MISHNA A. Moses received the Law on Sinai and delivered it to Joshua; Joshua in turn handed it down to the Elders (not to the seventy Elders of Moses' time but to the later Elders who have ruled Israel, and each of them delivered it to his successor); from the Elders it descended to the prophets (beginning with Eli and Samuel), and each of them delivered it to his successors until it reached the men of the Great Assembly. The last, named originated three maxims: "Be not hasty in judgment; Bring up many disciples; and, Erect safe guards for the Law."

Tosephhta-- Aboth of R. Nathan.

  Moses was sanctified in the cloud, and received the Torah from Sinai, as it is written [Ex. xxiv. 16]: "And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai," which means on Moses (for what purpose?), to purify him; this occurred after the ten commandments had been given. So says R. Jose the Galilean; R. Aqiba, however, says: It is written: "And the cloud covered it six days." This refers to the mountain, before the ten commandments had been given, and this is what is written further on: "And he called unto Moses the seventh day out of the cloud" (for what purpose?--only) to confer honor upon him.

Said R. Nathan: Why did Moses stay the entire six days without communication from the Shekhina? To cleanse his body of all the food and drink it contained, that he might be like angels at the time of his consecration.

This reminds me of reading the apostolic fathers (the Christian writers of the first century after the New Testament, such as Clement and Polycarp); a huge decline from the quality of the Bible which serves to underline how special the Bible is. The apostolic fathers, though, while boring, at least make sense.

[ http://php.indiana.edu/~erasmuse/w/03.08.11a.htm ]

 

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