Sermons & Stories

This week’s Torah portion includes some of my favorite verses. Moses tells the people:

Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it. (Deut 30:11-14)

I love the imagery. It’s a beautiful statement of how accessible Jewish learning is for all of us. But when our rabbis look at Torah, since everything is viewed as God’s word, any word or phrase can be taken out of context to prove a point, which leads to the story of the oven of achnai.

In the Talmud (Bava Metzia 59a-b), Rabbi Eliezer argued that a certain oven was kosher, but the other rabbis disagreed. Rabbi Eliezer tried to convince them in every way, but they didn’t accept his teachings. Having failed using logic, Rabbi Eliezer tried to convince them using a little more creativity.

He said that if halacha – Jewish law – on the issue agreed with his ruling, then the carob tree will prove it. If you can imagine it, the carob tree he pointed to uprooted itself, moved across the ground on its roots, and then replanted itself hundreds of feet away. The miracle didn’t phase the rabbis – they responded back that we don’t prove halacha from a carob tree.

Rabbi Eliezer tried again – he said that if halacha agrees with his opinion, the stream will prove it. And the water in the stream miraculously stopped and then started flowing back the other way. Not impressed, the other rabbis said that we don’t prove halacha from a stream.

Next, Rabbi Eliezer tried the walls of the study hall. And they started to lean, but before they could fall, Rabbi Yehoshua scolded them and they stopped, but they didn’t go back to the way they were before. They were a little off kilter. A little explanation here – our rabbis saw the outcome of this debate as so important that the whole system of Torah learning could have collapsed. It was only shaken.

Finally, Rabbi Eliezer said to his colleagues that if halacha is in accordance with his opinion, Heaven itself will prove it. And at that moment a Bat Kol – a Divine Voice could be heard from Heaven and said, “Why do you disagree with Rabbi Eliezer? Halacha always agrees with his opinion.”

All the other miracles were pretty impressive, but that one blew them away. And yet without batting an eye, Rabbi Yehoshua quoted this week’s Torah portion. He said, “Lo Bashamayim He,” meaning – the Torah is not in Heaven. And what he meant was that God spoke and gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai and now, it’s up to us. And for us to live together, we have to go along with the majority. We’re going to have disagreements, but we need to find a way to resolve them peacefully – we can’t count on miracles. We have to find a way to lose sometimes and still be a community – even when we care a great deal.

And that’s not the end of the story. Years later, Rabbi Natan ran into Elijah the prophet, because, you know, that happens. And out of all the things he could have asked, Rabbi Natan wanted to know about how God reacted to Rabbi Yehoshua’s statement. And Elijah said that God smiled and said, “My children have triumphed over me. My children have triumphed over me.”

Entertaining, filled with chutzpah, and with lots of lessons to think about and unpack… that makes for great Jewish storytelling!

Shabbat Shalom!