Comments (0)Real Punchlines
Parshat Netzavim
September 11, 2009Rabbi Gila C. Ruskin
Special to the Jewish Times
Who doesn’t love a good punchline? In this week’s parshah, there is a phrase that became a punchline and a happy ending in a Talmud passage: Lo BaShamayim Hee — “Torah is not found in Heaven” (Deut. 30:12).
When my father read me fairy tales, after he would read “and they lived happily ever after,” I would always ask, “And then what happened?” So let’s read the story that appears in the Babylonian Talmud, Baba Metzia 59 with the happy ending and the punchline. As I did as a child, I will ask, “And then what happened?” We will return to Baba Metzia for the rest of the story.
There was once a debate concerning an oven’s purity. Rabbi Eliezer maintained that the oven was pure, while the other Sages argued otherwise. To prove his viewpoint, Rabbi Eliezer said, “If the law agrees with me, let this carob tree prove it.” The tree suddenly uprooted itself. The Sages, unimpressed, commented that a proof of Jewish law cannot be determined by a carob tree.
Rabbi Eliezer continued, “If the law agrees with me, let this stream of water prove it,” at which point the stream began to flow uphill! Again, the Sages were unmoved and stated that Jewish law could not be verified by flowing water. So Rabbi Eliezer continued, “If the law is like me, let the walls of this study hall prove it.” Suddenly, the walls began to cave in.
The Sages stated that we do not bring proof for Jewish law through the walls of a Beit Midrash.
With the Sages still not persuaded, Rabbi Eliezer called to Heaven to prove his opinion correct. Immediately, a heavenly voice rang out, “Why do you argue with Rabbi Eliezer? The law agrees with him at all times!” To protest, Rabbi Yehoshua arose and cited the verse in this week’s portion, “Lo Bashamayim Hee — Torah is not found in Heaven.” Since God gave the Torah to the Jewish people, at Mount Sinai, authority over Torah matters is here on Earth, not in Heaven!
What a clever punchline. Rabbi Yehoshua quotes God’s very words from the Torah to prove that God no longer has authority over Torah law. “It is not in heaven,” Torah law is now decided here on Earth by majority rule of the Sages.
God actually laughed at the punchline. The story continues. Rabbi Nathan saw Elijah the Prophet and asked him how God had reacted to the oven debate. Elijah responded that God smiled and said, “My children have been victorious over Me!”
Happy ending, punchline, happily ever after. The Sages took a vote and excommunicated him. Said they, “Who shall go and inform him?” “I will go,” answered Rabbi Akiba. He wrapped himself in black. When Akiba told Rabbi Eliezer he was excommunicated, he tore his garments, took off his shoes and sat on the earth, tears streaming from his eyes. So great was his anger that the world was smitten: A third of the olive crop, a third of wheat, and a third of barley crop were destroyed. Some say the dough in women’s hands would not rise.
The rest of the story is that Rabbi Eliezer, whose interpretations were in line with God’s, is furious his colleagues have excommunicated him.
The story ends even more tragically with the death of the head of the academy, Rabban Gamliel. Ima Shalom, Rabbi Eliezer’s wife and Rabban Gamliel’s sister, proclaims, “All gates are locked, except the gates of wounded feelings.”
So this is the real punchline of the story: There are human consequences to legal rulings. Wounded feelings cut so deep and can result in great tragedy. As the Gates of Repentance open for us in this High Holiday season, let us be especially attuned to those who languish at the gates of wounded feelings.
Rabbi Gila Ruskin serves Temple Adas Shalom in Havre de Grace.