The Orchard

“We knew that Rabbi Akiva’s method of interpretation was making prophecy superfluous, which is why we called it midrash – inquiry. But we dared not take the next step and recognize what Rabbi Eliezer forced Rabbi Joshua to say openly today. Midrash frees us from God. We can interpret the Torah as we see fit. We don’t care what God meant to say. He

the visions they foresaw remain valid forever – a city of God that becomes a city of wickedness cannot endure.

“The gentiles have already forgotten that there ever were Sadducees. They make no distinction between Sadducees and Pharisees. They don’t even know that Jesus was a Pharisee. All the Jews are to blame in their eyes.”

“Success is no sin,” she sighs. “It is the way of the world. The wheel of life turns for us all – at times we rise to the highest of highs, and at times we descend to the lowest of lows.”

History repeats itself. The deeds of the sages serve as signs for their students.

It is human nature: people forced to uproot themselves painfully at a young age are able to retain flexible attitudes later in life, while those who remain in the same surroundings all their lives develop ossified attitudes and icy souls, and they hold the same opinions all their lives. Sometimes, they appear to have changed, but these are not real

What can he say to him? That the Children of Israel grew weary of the Temple? That the God of Israel despised it? That the prophets of Israel opposed it ferociously? That the sages of Israel established the beit midrash in its place and will never give up the sublime study of Torah in exchange for the blood of slaughtered animals? That every time t

“You yourself are creating a new basis for loathing the nation of Israel. The gentiles will hate us.”

as sages are wont to do, each thinks differently, feels differently, and draws his own conclusions. After all, consensus is for the simple folk.