Humble Opinions

Today, my friends, is a great day. You might think I say so because today is Nov 4th, 2008, a US presidential election day. Today, American citizens will vote to select an individual to lead the most powerful country on planet earth for at least the next 4 years. It also marks the beginning of a massive change, and new direction for America from the last 8 years. Contrary to this, I do not speak of today in that spirit. Today is a great day because when I walked into the bagel store on my way to work, one of the workers saw me, and prepared my usual daily order before my ordering. I didn’t even have to wait on line.

It seems strange that I would ascribe greatness to such an historic day due to an order of bagels for breakfast. But the implications run far deeper. This bagel store is the busiest, in a town full of bagel eaters, and breakfast is a popular time for bagels. Why did this guy remember my order, and why did he prepare it before the people standing in front of me in line ordered?

I believe the answer is because of how careful I try to be when talking to people, especially those that provide me a service. In my daily orders, I never forget to greet everyone with a good morning. I never forget the words please, and thank you. I never forget to smile when paying the cashier, and I never talk down to anyone, or complain. I make sure to put money in the tip jar, and I always make sure I am not causing any problems for the other people waiting on line, whether that be taking unnecessarily long with my order, or any other of the potential nuances of behavior I am sure everyone is aware of.

So why do I do all this? The answer is not in hope of getting better pricing or service. If I had my ideal preference, I would have preferred to wait in line this morning, until it was my turn to order. Rather, my goal is to help set a good example, make a regular interaction more pleasant, and try to help the person that prepares my bagel like his job a little more (or hate it a little less depending on the person).

When dealing with another person, it’s important to put yourself in their shoes. They’re just trying to get through their day without crazy incidents or problems, the same way you are. Everyone has their own goals, likes, and dislikes in life. It’s important to be respectful of others, and their situations.

This touches upon two, much larger subjects: Ethical behavior, and what a person wants to accomplish in their lifetime. I am 24 years old. If I would G-d forbid die tomorrow, I must say, I’d be pretty upset. Not because I’d be missing coffee and guitar playing (though I surely would), but rather because I have nothing to show for my life. I’ve studied music, software development, read a few cool books, met a few cool people. I even used to lift weights. Great… so what? I have yet to give back to the world, to influence anyone or anything, to help improve any aspect of this world, etc.

Life is but a fleeting moment. It is not uncommon for people to wake up 50 years old, and wonder what they’ve done for the last 50 years. That’s not what I want to happen to me. When I’m gone, I want people to have fond memories of me. I want my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren to have something I left behind that they can learn from. I want people to think differently because of something I said or did. That is what I believe ethical behavior is about.

Rabbi Yisrael Salanter started a movement in Eastern Europe in the late 19th century called the Mussar movement. He began it in response to the Haskalah movement (the Jewish enlightenment movement). In Czarist Russia, a group of Jews known as the Maskilim began the Jewish enlightenment movement in hope to ease Russian oppression and anti-semitism. Their hope was that if Jews broke their connections to traditional Jewish life, study, and thought, they could become more Russian, secular, and thus more likable by the Russian public.

Regardless of the fact that their movement actually caused an opposite effect, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, an intellectual giant unmatched in today’s time, began the Mussar movement to help Jews improve their behavior, in hope of removing the claims of the Haskalah that traditional Jews were not ethical or enjoyable people to be around. His movement still has massive reverberations in today’s time, and has produced amazingly refined human beings.

The Mussar movement preached honesty, politeness, empathy, and being a generally nice person. It worked to produce individuals that would be able to leave a significant stamp on Jewish history, and world history. It produced people that would think before they spoke. People that would try to avoid sitting around, and aimlessly discussing others’ personal lives and deeds. People that might be inclined to more clearly define their goals and mission in life.

I highly recommend reading more on this subject, and doing some introspection on one’s life. What would people say about you behind closed doors? Would they bash you, or would they want to make your bagels for you before anyone else? Let us hope the latter.

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Mass Jewish Grave
Berlin 1945

“Never Again” is the powerful response the Jewish people proclaimed after the Nazi Holocaust took 6 million of its brothers, sisters, parents, and cousins. Although it appears a statement of determination, I would argue that at this point, it is merely a paperweight.

When the Jews were expelled from France in 1182, from England in 1290, from Spain in 1492, from Portugal in 1497, and when the Communist revolution masacred 250,000 Jews between 1917 - 1922, ever wonder what their responses were?

For the last 6 months, the world has been twiddling its thumbs as Iran has been actively developing a nuclear bomb. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said it is for peaceful purposes. I’m glad the Islamic Republic with the world’s 2^nd largest oil reserves has flagrantly ignored the world’s 7 most powerful nations’ demands to halt its development, in order to make earth a more peaceful place. Phew! I suppose his statements that Israel is a “stinking corpse” and that “Soon this stain of disgrace will be cleaned from the garment of the world” were also said for the purpose of peace.

No one seems to be doing anything about it, few seem to really care, and a lot of people actually think Iran should possess a nuclear weapon. American Jewry is too busy supporting movie stars, bars, and vacation spots to worry about Israel.

At this rate, what will the world look like in 2090? Many people already claim the holocaust is a Jewish myth (such as Mel Gibson’s father), and revisionist historians have already rewritten the Zionist immigration to Israel and founding of the State of Israel as an imperialist Jewish plot to drive the Arabs out of Palestine. Nothing could be further from the truth. By 2090, I’m sure the existence of Jews in Eastern Europe will be a myth as well. Some Jewish cemeteries have already been plowed over, and just last week, vandals desecrated a Jewish cemetery in Bucharest.

Actually, while we’re on the subject… In hope that the World Wide Web is still around by that time, I would like to go on record saying: I swear to G-d that I have met, and spoken with multiple holocaust survivors. My friend’s grandmother was the 48^th Jew into Auschwitz, and she has the tattoo on her arm to prove it. I ate lunch with her.

My grandparents lived in Germany, and were rich. They fled to America in the early 1930’s, forced to leave everything behind, and start from scratch again. That’s how scared they were. If you are Jewish, I ask: What will YOU say if G-d forbid, Iran succeeds in developing a nuclear weapon, and bombs Tel Aviv with it? “Whoops, okay we meant only one more time… now it’s Never Again for real!!!”

When will Jews and the rest of the world open their eyes?!

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Jews are often referred to as “the people of The Book.” Which book is this phrase talking about, and how is an entire nation of people, living all over the world, with sometimes vastly different lifestyles and life outlooks all clumped together with some book? The obvious answer to my first question would likely be The Bible, aka the Torah, aka the five books of Moses, aka the Old Testament - however, I think it goes far deeper than that.

As I have discussed in previous posts, Jews have not had such an easy past. They’ve been enslaved, attacked, beaten, pillaged, raped, pogromed, crusaded, burned at the stake, burned in ovens, gassed to death, and exploited an almost countless number of times. Yet, despite all this, Jews have arguably the largest accumulated wealth of information, books, and writings, vastly exceeding any group of people in all of human history.

Jews throughout the ages have had a higher rate of literacy than literally anyone. This was illustrated quite clearly in the Middle Ages, when literacy in Europe was close to 0%, while Jews maintained at least majority literacy, if not more. So, why is this, and what is behind all of this?

The Jewish people have an unbroken chain of authors, books, and writings that currently spans from 1312 BCE - 2008 CE, a remarkable 3+ millenia of authorship. Not only that, but the power with which the Jewish people disseminated said information and writings amongst its own has been nothing short of miraculous. The earliest copies of known Jewish writings are the Dead Sea Scrolls which date to slightly before 100 CE.

Printing Press in 1725

The printing press was invented in 1439 by Johannes Gutenberg (surprise, surprise, a Jew). I think this invention is greatly under appreciated. However great you think the computer, and the Internet are as inventions, I would say the printing press was greater than both, combined. The knowledge it took to later invent the computer was due solely to the widespread availability of information, made possible by the printing press. This dissemination of knowledge that followed changed the face of the world in drastic, unrecognizable ways. People could now duplicate books with around 1/1000^th the effort, and probably 1/100^th the cost (wait, did they even have money back then?!).

I need not describe to you what it took to create a book before 1439, let alone before 439. Just to gather and prepare enough papyrus, ink, and writing utensils was a daunting task, let alone to find and afford to pay a scribe to record one’s dictation. All the more difficult was it to duplicate an already existing book, as even the most talented of human beings are prone to error (even I have made two or three mistakes in my lifetime!!).

All this taken into account, let’s review the history of Jewish writing:

In 1312 BCE, the Jewish people received The Ten Commandments, authored by G-d Himself, coupled with an explosive, ever-lasting oral tradition of deep, inner knowledge and understanding of how the world works and its purpose. As an aside, it is said that when G-d spoke the first commandment to the Jewish people, everyone instantly died on impact. G-d resurrected them, spoke the second, and they all died again, to be again resurrected by G-d. Taking that into account, the oral law given to the Jewish people through Moses took a remarkable 40 day and 40 night face-to-face between G-d and Moses to be fully transmitted. Shocking.

Throughout their 40 year sojourn in the desert between the years 1312 BCE and 1272 BCE, Moses transcribed the words of the Torah, as dictated by G-d. The Jewish people entered the Land of Israel in 1272 BCE under the leadership of Joshua, and inhabited the land until 70 CE. Throughout that period of time, 19 additional books were authored which describe the Jewish conquest of the land, division of the land, subsequent ongoing warfare and outside attacks, the establishment of its monarchy and Holy Temples, and the Jewish people’s unfortunate downward spiral and eventual defeat by the Romans in 70 CE.

These 24 books are commonly referred to as Tanach, which is a Hebrew acronym for Torah (the five books of Moses), Neviim (the writings of the Prophets), and Ketuvim (writings). Throughout this period of time, the Jewish people did not record a single word of the powerful oral tradition, as it was forbidden. The reasons for this are many, which I will not go into here. In addition to these 24 holy books, much other writing occurred. We have the books of the Maccabees, which describe in great detail the battles of the Hasmonean revolt against the Seleucid Greeks, the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, and more.

After their defeat, the Jewish people stepped up the proliferation of their writing. The great rabbis of the time decided that because of the extreme persecution that was going on, there was a great need to write down the oral law, lest it be completely forgotten, and all their trials and tribulations would be for naught. A great man named Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi wrote the Mishnah which was 6 orders of writings that, in a very cryptic, and terse manner, encompassed the oral tradition. He selected his words precisely and carefully, to be able to imply many things by saying one, and so on. It is truly a work of genius, in my humble and correct opinion.

In the several hundred years that proceeded, Jewish scholars and students spent their days studying, memorizing, and debating the works of the Mishnah. They would sit around tables in large groups and try to discern exactly what Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi meant, and to disprove each other using quotes from other parts of the Mishnah, as well as from the 24 holy books. In addition, they also told many stories, jokes, and allegories related to the subjects. Their discussions make up the infamous monster-of-a-work known as the Talmud, aka the Gemara. The subjects that the Talmud touch upon include: human behavior, ethics, morality, prayer, math, astrology, Jewish laws, biology, guidelines of conducting business, guidelines of human interaction, family life, marriage, raising children, and much much more.

Folks, let me just say right now, the Talmud is probably the most monstrous work ever written in human history - I kid you not. Sporting a devastating 2300+ pages, the Talmud takes 7 years to complete at a pace of 1 page per day, and let me say - one page per day is a pace only for masters. The Talmud is exceedingly difficult to comprehend, and takes an unbelievable effort and toll on a person to learn.

First, before even cracking it, the Talmud assumes that the reader knows the 24 holy books, and 6 tractates of the Mishnah by heart. For someone to explain the Talmud to a beginner, 1 - 2 lines could literally take hours to explain - no exaggeration. Second, the degree of intellect that the rabbis in the Talmud possessed is simply not understandable by 21st century Western man. I am a computer programmer, and think through complex math and logic almost on a daily basis. That being said, I am no match for the difficultly of logic found in the Talmud. I’m in over my head almost right away.

The Talmud was completed by around the year 500 CE, give or take 50 years. From that point, there are many letters and books rabbis and other great men wrote, which we still have today. Throughout the exile, it was not uncommon for all the Jewish books in the town to be gathered, and burned. In the 13th century, there was a book burning of 26 copies of the Talmud, which was every copy in France. Let’s see, 26 copies x 2300 pages would mean 59,800 pages were burned that day. The thought of how long it took to write those pages is frightening. How did the Jews respond? They moved to England and began to rewrite them from the copies there.

This blog post is getting quite long, and I haven’t even come close to the great writings of the Middles Ages, and Modern Ages. I could go on and on about the works and great authorship of the Jewish people. I’m just hitting the tip of the iceberg, seriously. In conclusion, I implore every Jew to look into their past, and into the unbroken chain of Jewish literature, to see what makes his/her heritage fascinatingly unique.

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