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10/28/2006: "Jewish Truths"

Song of the Day: Delerium - Underwater (feat. Rani Kamal)

I don't usually venture into the Totally Serious And Thought Provoking realm here, but while reading for my Intro to Judaism class tonight, I came across a passage that reminded me why I chose Judaism over the This Is The One True Way And Everyone Who Believes Otherwise Is Seriously Screwed mentality of so many Christians I've come across in my life (please note: "so many" =/= "all", but ~ "a scarily large number, including the closed-minded young man who I dated and then dumped").

(For those not in the matzoh ball way of life, "Torah" is the name of the first book of the Jewish Bible (aka "Tanak"), and is made up of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy)

"Rabbi Akiva, the great second century interpreter of Torah, taught that 'there are seventy faces to the Torah.' He meant that every verse of the Torah could be interpreted seventy different ways, and each one of these ways would reveal a truth that is an aspect of God's message. Akiva compared the words of Torah to cut gemstones. A gem reveals a different light through every different facet, and yet is a single stone with a single light from within. There is a unity to God's message, even when many different and even conflicting interpretations may reveal an aspect of God's truth.

Consider that when a mediocre novelist writes a novel, there is no meaning beyond that of the story itself. When a great writer creates a piece of literature, there are many levels of meaning. Consider how many messages have been discovered in Shakespeare's Hamlet or in Melville's Moby Dick. When God, the greatest of all authors beyond all comparison, writes a book, one would expect it to have a multitude of meanings and levels of meaning beyond our capacity to ever unfold them all."

-- Settings of Silver by Stephen M. Wylen

So, Fundamental Christians, you're basically calling God a shitty writer. And I thought ya'll were, you know, pious?

PositivelySomewhere.com will return to its more frivolous ways tomorrow. Unless, of course, I find another scholarly way to butt-kick people I don't agree with.

Replies: 1 Comment

Wow! I love those quotes! Thank you for sharing them! But I can't stand Melville. Stick with Shakespeare. :-)

Mermade, Saturday, October 28th