Rabbi's Message

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman
Read about the Rabbi
January 2004

Dispute for God's Sake or "How to have a good Jewish fight."

You all know the joke: Ask two Jews, get three opinions. Or the other one about the Jew, marooned alone on the island, who shows his rescuers the two synagogues: the one he belongs to and the one he used to belong to but now won't step foot into. What is it with Jews and arguing? We ask. Is this just some cultural oddity, some idiosyncratic stereotype? Or is it something deeper? Something related to the tradition of talmudic discourse and legal pilpul (detail-picking) that is at the heart of our relationship with Torah, and therefore, religious discourse?

I tend to think it is the latter. At least, I'd like to hope it is. But I know full well that disagreements between people can easily get out of hand. We can easily fall prey to anger, jealousy, distrust and suspicion, turning the good argument into one where all parties suffer; an argument that brings neither enlightenment nor truth, but rather hurt and isolation.

Here at Agudas Achim, the opportunities for disagreements abound (think: Kashrut policy, dues policy, solving the roof crisis, to name just a relevant few). The question isn't will we have arguments and disagreements. In a place filled with passionate, caring individuals and families, we can only expect them. The question for us is how will we have those disagreements and by what rules will we engage in argumentation?

For a model, I'd like to turn to the two most famous arguers in Jewish rabbinic tradition: Rabbis Hillel and Shammai. Hillel and Shammai lived before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (shortly before Jesus). As teachers, they each headed schools to explicate their interpretations of Torah and the laws of Judaism. They frequently disagreed.

In one of the most famous stories, each is asked by a non-Jew to explain the entire Torah on one foot. Shammai, who was asked first, responds by hitting the questioner over the head with a stick and sending him away. Hillel responds by saying: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your brother. All the rest is commentary. Now go and study."

Two very different approaches indicating two very different styles of thought and teaching. Where Shammai was strict, exacting, and disciplined, Hillel was generous, compassionate and kindhearted. Their approach to Torah reflected their personalities, their rulings on matters of law often at odds.

And yet, we are explicitly told in the Talmud that the students of Shammai married the daughters of the house of Hillel, ate in their houses, etc. And visa versa. The two houses fought bitterly for their viewpoints on the law and on Jewish tradition (matters of life and death to them). And yet, at the end of the day, they saw themselves as members of the same community of worship, the same collective of mutual support, the same household of Israel. As we are told in reference to another set of arguing rabbis, the words of Hillel and Shammai both were "deverim Elohim chaim, words of the living God."

The matters of law were frequently, although not always, ruled according to the teachings of Hillel. But the teachings of Shammai, as holy arguments, are preserved in our texts reflecting the belief that someday in the future, his arguments might be the ones to hold sway and that arguing for God's sake (l'shem shamayim, for the sake of heaven, literally), in an attempt to elucidate and uncover God's will for the people, is never an argument in vain.

So what is an argument for God's sake? How do Jews disagree and yet remain friends, colleagues and peers - fellow community members?

When we see our discussions and disagreements as sincere attempts to uncover God's word, our struggles with one another as passionate desires to build meaningful lives, our conflicts as part of the ongoing chain of building the Jewish endeavor, we are engaged in arguments l'shem shamayim - for God's sake - a holy endeavor indeed.

B'Shalom.
Rabbi Elyse

Note from the Rabbi:

Please remember to look at the upcoming opportunities we have for adult learning and discovery. Our adult B'nai Mitzvah class has been meeting for two months, but new students can speak to the rabbi about joining. Teen Torah Talk starts in January and Rabbi Elyse's new monthly sermons begin this month (see calendar for topic and details).

In addition, the new Lunch and Learn topic will be announced each month and the Meditation Circle continues.

All are welcome to join Rabbi Elyse for Thursday morning Torah study at 9:30 am for a discussion of the weekly parsha.

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