andrewducker | (Reply)

From:

(I knew what the talmud link was going to be before looking. :-) Well, not the exact version, but the passage. It's famous.)

I, I suspect like many others, learned that story in stages.

The famous argument with miracles proving that R' Eliezer is right, confirmed by the heavenly voice, ends with humor -- the rabbis say "the torah is not in heaven" and God laughs. (Ok, that comes from Eliyahu later, but it was part of the telling I first learned.) That sounds light and funny.

Later I learned the next part: that the rabbis excommunicated and shamed R' Eliezer, pretty much ruining his life. People don't teach that part enough, especially to kids. Actions have consequences; be mindful of how you disagree with people.

Then I learned the next part, about the destruction that Eliezer's heartfelt prayers caused.

And then, much later, I learned that all of this discussion in the talmud was in response to a teaching about how to treat other people -- specifically, about (not) embarrassing and shaming people. And it all clicked into place.

There's a lot there beyond the punch line. It's important.

Oh, right. After writing all that, I remembered that I posted about a lecture I attended on this. Sharing in case it's interesting to anyone else.