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Friday, July 27, 2007

Answering (Rabbi) Alderstan [*]

What follows are my notes, comments and insights to RYA's critique of Noah Feldman's piece from last Sunday's NYT Magazine. (Long time readers may notice I've adopted a tone of measured politeness. I can't explain it either)

First, RYA attempts to explain some of the anti-Jesus remarks found in the Talmud. After confessing that the passages may not, in fact, be about Jesus (1), he says:

RYA: "... the disparaging [Talmudic] remarks – if in fact directed against Yeshu – must be understood in the context of struggle between mainstream Judaism and early Jewish-Christians"

This is an important insight, which applies equally to the anti-Jewish passages in the New Testament. Those were written by first century Jews, about other first century Jews, also in the context of a struggle between two competing Jewish sects, against the backdrop of a brutal war with Rome. The Talmud's anti-Christian remarks are different though, perhaps in degree, perhaps in kind (that's an old argument) because the so called "parting of the ways" had already occurred. When the NT was written it was ethnic Jew vs ethnic Jew. When the Talmud was written, the differences between Jew and Christian were more obvious and pronounced.

RYA: "My point is that for most Americans, actions are far more important than theology. They really don't care what other people believe, as long as they act appropriately. If they are good, caring citizens, their beliefs – and claims of specialness in the eyes of the Lord, are just not so important. Jews should listen up. Be a good neighbor, and you can sing a three part harmonic ode to R. Yehuda Halevi's special Jewish soul, and most non-Jews will not hold it against you. Parts of certain Chassidic communities are hardly the leaders of the pack in pushing for intergroup connection and acceptance. But tens of thousands of New Yorkers will remember them as the group that set up tables on 9/11 to provide drinks for the dazed and thirsty who fled across the bridge to Brooklyn."

Sorry, but this is humanistic, kumbaya, we're all God's children clap-trap. And yes, I am very much in favor of humanistic clap-trap and often mouth it myself. The difference is I recognize it. I know when I do it and do it deliberately. Does RYA see what he just did, or is he obfuscating?

RYA: "There is one final argument. Part of what goes through our heads every time we encounter a Gemara that emphasizes some Jewish-Gentile difference is that non-Jews will sense a slippery slope, at the base of which wait crusading Jews ready to behead all of them and impale their remains on sharpened Mogen Davids. We must confidently know ourselves – and then convey to others – an overarching reality about traditional Jews. We are a legal community. Hostile attitudes can go only so far without hitting a firm halachic roadblock. No matter what animus some Jews might have for outsiders, they don't murder, rape or maim. They cannot steal, lie or deceive without running afoul of clear-cut halacha."

Bad, bad argument. (1) Jews run affoul of halacha ALL the time - hasn't RYA heard of Yom Kippur? Why does he think it was instituted? Hasn't he been to a minimum security prison? Why does he think many serve kosher food?; and (2) "Slippery slope" means the changes happen slowly, not overnight, and that often the change is not just in behavior, but also in how we understand our rules and laws. Going from the posuk about milk and goat mothers to our modern kosher kitchens took the route of the slippery slope and there are countless other examples. Saying it wont happen to us -because we "confidently know ourselves" - is to deny or to confess ignorance of what a slippery slope actually is.

[*] No disrespect intended. I just like alliteration
(1) I say the name. Sorry if this makes your skin crawl. (I also say Voldermort, and not "he who must not be named")

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