PANDEMIC DIARY

Part 1 : “THE PROMISE”

September 7, 2020

I have just completed reading, for the second time, the novel by Chaim Potok, “The Promise”. Originally published in 1969, it is the second of two novels following the lives of friends, Reuven and Danny, religious Jews growing up in an orthodox Brooklyn community. They are both the children of Jewish scholars. Danny, belonging to the more traditional, ultra-religious Hasidic household, chooses to become a psychologist, breaking with the strict fundamentalism of his Hasidic community and its laws. Reuven, a brilliant student of Talmud, chooses to study for the rabbinic, oddly electing a more traditional path given his more liberal, contemporary orthodox upbringing.

From the earliest of school ages, these sects of Jews study Talmud. The Talmud is the comprehensive written version of the Jewish oral law and the subsequent commentaries on it written in two parts ... The Mishnah is the original written version of the oral law and the Gemora is the record of the rabbinic analysis and discussions over the Mishnah, known as the Commentaries. Exegetic in nature, these annotations, historically written on the margins of the page on which the Mishnah or law appears [like a university student might do], attempt to elucidate or provide further dimension to the complexities and sometimes seeming contradictions of the law. Oftentimes, they merely produce further discussion in the form of debates around a single phrase or even a single word’s meaning. These “discussions” can be sufficiently animated as to cause rifts among the various sects.

A Page from Talmud showing the Mishnah [boxed in red], the oldest portion of Gemora below and the Commentaries encircling the center.

There is a beautiful segment in the book in which Reuven’s teacher, Rav Kalman, a great and revered Jewish scholar and Talmud expert, asks Reuven to help him understand a complex series of texts and commentaries on Jewish law. Reuven is asked because the segments of Mishna and their interpretations are from a newly published book written by Reuven’s father, Rabbi Malter. Rav Kalman is exhorting Reuven to explain to him his father’s method of arriving at his understandings of the law and subsequent commentaries.

Reuven obliges having assisted in the editing and proof-reading of his father’ book and himself becoming highly familiar with and proficient at the total body of research. At issue is Rav Kalman’s claim that the Mishnah is the word of God, and therefore cannot be changed. Reuven explains that the Mishnah was written about the 4th century, two centuries following the oral tradition. As well, the Greek philosophers who lived in the 2nd century BC are known to have highly influenced the writers of the original oral tradition. Passages were cited that effectively were literal translations from the Greek sources, including Aristotle and Plato. “The similarities between the Mishnah and these Greek sources are palpable…the Mishnah offers a reasonably accurate reflection of the Platonic or Aristotelian teaching, suggesting some kind of influence. [Greek Philosophy and the Mishnah: On the History of Love that Does Not Depend on a Thing. Gabriel Danzig]

In many instances the Mishnah passages are nearly literal translations from the Greek, originally transcribed in Aramaic then written in Hebrew where the letters are merely transliterated from the Greek. Of course this will cause confusion as to original meaning. But, let’s not distract ourselves with truth. Like many ‘originalists’ today, Rav Kalman would not be swayed. The Aramaic of our people is the true word.

“I will no longer mutilate and destroy myself in order to find a secret behind the ruins.”
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Rather, he instructed Reuven, “Do you know yourself? You must know yourself first.” This is the Conservative Rabbi telling his student that in order to receive his degree and final ordination as a Rabbi, he must demonstrate his adherence to ‘Yiddishkeit’ or the whole of the Jewish way of life. This not so veiled threat is a demand that Reuven, no matter his intelligence, his openness to deeper understanding of original texts, or regard for modernity, fully accept what is written and, worse than ignore, actually reject vociferously his new insights and their implications. He must become a ‘faithful’, an uncompromising disciple of what he knows not to be true.

So, why did I go to this length to relate a segment of this wonderful book? (And, if you are interested in reading this, please read “The Chosen” first.) This is an example, a meager, small-scale example of “cult of personality”. By dint of his credentials, by the impression of his knowledge, by the force of his arguments, and by the staunchness of his commitment, Rav Kalman has divided his community into those who affirm or, at least and cowardly, accede to his positions and are therefore disciples and true to the word of god; or, you are intellectual dilettantes who feels at any time can interpret the writing of ancient books and scribes to your liking and to fit into an altering modernity.

This is not so described in the book as I am now interpreting it, written those many years ago. Nonetheless, from the inception of religious thought, among the obedient of all faiths the world over, it is our differences that are the hallmark of our lives and not our shared experiences and commonalities; not our love of country and commitment to a way of life; not shared human rights and the dignity belonging to us all. Oh yes, Jewish and Christian (and all other) scriptures advance a ‘lip-service’-style unity of humankind message while really envisioning a world in their “fold” — ardent followers who live a committed life of conviction to their truth, their belief…and no other.

Part 2 : “THE PROMISE” - I sincerely hope to get that out for publication tomorrow.