After years of reading and commenting, I want to share some of my thoughts about Jewish life and law.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Korach question
Why were the tests Moshe specified for Korach to participate in (the 12 staffs, the earthquake) not invalidated because of the principle of lo bashamayin hi?
Doesn't the issue of whether lo bashamayim hi was yet in force depend on the answer as to whether the TSBP was given on Sinai, or over the course of the 40 years in the desert? I find it difficult to believe that lo bashamayim hi is considered a rabbinic ordinance.
I incline more towards the "Torah was given in pieces across the wilderness" opinion. Especially considering that לא בשמים היא is part of Moshe's goodbye speech.
The idea of the written torah being given on Har Sinai leads to the marvelous image of it containing the 'intended' history of B'nai Yisrael. No golden calf, immediately after the spies return the tribes invade Canaan and conquer it without losing a man, etc.
I like the image of the bewildered Israelites behaving like the people in Foundation and Empire when Hari Seldon shows up when the Mule is attacking and talks about a completely different situation ...
having an "intended" history always strikes me as absurd — it's like people who claim that the entire contents of Torah Shebe‘al Peh were also given to Moshe at Sinai, as if one day in the beit midrash Ribbí Mei’ir stands up and says "wait, i'm supposed to say something today... there's a halakha, what was it again? Ribbí Mei’ir omeir...".
I like your image of Foundation bewilderment (althouhgh i've never read it), but i don't like the idea of great people being reduced to play-acting scriptreaders.
I like the idea of an 'intended' history where we are living in one of the alternate branches. Alternate history is a popular genre in contemporary fiction, with premises as simple as 'What if Mohammad became a monk instead of starting his own religion' to as silly as 'What if time travelers from South Africa went to the American Civil War and gave the South AK-47s?'
I'm interested in the fact that the rabbis played around with alternate history. I wonder if there are similar things for pagan cultures, now lost. Imagine if Paris had chosen to award the golden apple to Athena instead of Aphrodite - what would have happened then?
7 comments:
is this a trick question? the rule of לא בשמים היא hadn't yet been enacted
A: That principle came much later than the authors of the Torah.
What do I win?
Steg:
Doesn't the issue of whether lo bashamayim hi was yet in force depend on the answer as to whether the TSBP was given on Sinai, or over the course of the 40 years in the desert? I find it difficult to believe that lo bashamayim hi is considered a rabbinic ordinance.
I incline more towards the "Torah was given in pieces across the wilderness" opinion. Especially considering that לא בשמים היא is part of Moshe's goodbye speech.
Steg:
The idea of the written torah being given on Har Sinai leads to the marvelous image of it containing the 'intended' history of B'nai Yisrael. No golden calf, immediately after the spies return the tribes invade Canaan and conquer it without losing a man, etc.
I like the image of the bewildered Israelites behaving like the people in Foundation and Empire when Hari Seldon shows up when the Mule is attacking and talks about a completely different situation ...
having an "intended" history always strikes me as absurd — it's like people who claim that the entire contents of Torah Shebe‘al Peh were also given to Moshe at Sinai, as if one day in the beit midrash Ribbí Mei’ir stands up and says "wait, i'm supposed to say something today... there's a halakha, what was it again? Ribbí Mei’ir omeir...".
I like your image of Foundation bewilderment (althouhgh i've never read it), but i don't like the idea of great people being reduced to play-acting scriptreaders.
I like the idea of an 'intended' history where we are living in one of the alternate branches. Alternate history is a popular genre in contemporary fiction, with premises as simple as 'What if Mohammad became a monk instead of starting his own religion' to as silly as 'What if time travelers from South Africa went to the American Civil War and gave the South AK-47s?'
I'm interested in the fact that the rabbis played around with alternate history. I wonder if there are similar things for pagan cultures, now lost. Imagine if Paris had chosen to award the golden apple to Athena instead of Aphrodite - what would have happened then?
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