September 23, 2023

Talmud Class: Is the Peretz Story an Adequate Response to the Pain in Our World?

31 minutes

For our Talmud class this week, we read the classic short story If Not Higher, written by the Yiddish writer I.L. Peretz (1852-1915). Dr. Stephen Greenblatt, a proud alum of the Temple Emanuel Hebrew School, and a University Professor at Harvard, where he is the world’s preeminent Shakespeare scholar, teaches us If Not Higher before Neilah on Monday night.

As you read this story, consider these questions:

What is the theory of goodness, decency, menschlikeit that the rabbi in the story embodies?

Do you consider the rabbi’s posture an adequate response to the pain in our world? When we read Unetaneh Tokef this year, there is so much pain: who by fire (Maui), who by water (Libya), who an untimely end (the victims of Russia’s evil war against Ukraine). The list goes on. If that is our world, and it is, sadly, does Peretz offer us a response that is commensurate to the problem?

What is the role of ritual, halakhah, Jewish law, in the rabbi’s life, and how does it relate to how he acts? What is the relationship between his piety and his decency?

What is not included, not covered, not addressed, by this rabbi’s example? How does the rabbi’s move affect systemic problems like poverty (the problem he addresses in the story). Consider this text from Deuteronomy 15 that aspires to a world without poverty but concludes that poverty will always exist.

This story is iconic. Does it speak to you?

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By Temple Emanuel in Newton

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