Talmudic Storytelling: Timeless Lessons from the Ancient Sages

By Hershey Harry Friedman

Storytelling was used by the ancient Talmudic sages to teach us about ethics and morality. These stories involve God, Elijah the Prophet, Biblical figures such as Abraham and Moses, Satan, animals, nature and - even - each other. This book includes numerous Talmudic stories including the Oven of Akhnai, Choni the Circle-maker, Rabbi Shimon b. Yochai and the cave, Joseph-who-honors-the-Sabbath, and Kamtza and Bar Kamtza in order to see what lessons can be learned from them. What is clear from examining these stories is that they are as relevant today as they were almost 2,000 years ago.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hershey Harry Friedman
• Release date: Jul 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370584482

Hershey Harry Friedman

Hershey H. Friedman is professor of business management at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. His research and teaching interests include business statistics, marketing, humor studies, Jewish business ethics, Biblical leadership, and online education.Many of his papers are available at SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=638928and at Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hershey_Friedman/publicationsEmail him at [e-mail] these other titles by the author:God Laughed: Sources of Jewish Humor by Hershey H. Friedman and Linda Weiser Friedman, Transaction Press 2014.

Book preview

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support

Table of Contents

Copyright

Introduction to Talmudic Storytelling

The Oven of Akhnai

God and the Heavenly Academy Ask Rabbah b. Nachmeni to Decide

God Teaches Moses About the Importance of Compassion

Compassion for all of God’s Creations

God Teaches Moses Manners

God asks for Blessing from Yishmael b. Elisha

God Laughs at Humankind

Is God a Joker? God and Choni HaMagil

Choni: The Jewish Rip Van Winkle

Rabbi Yehoshua b. Chananiah: Advantage of Being Unattractive

Rabbi Yehoshua b. Chananiah Bested by Young Boy

Outsmarting Highwaymen

The Brilliance of Rabbi Bana’ah: Which is the True Son?

The Ethics of Abba Chilkiyah

God is a Matchmaker

Moses Asks God for a Legal System that is Cut and Dried

Moses Asks God Why Good People Suffer

Moses Teaches God

Moses and Og

Rabbah b. Shila Teaches God

Hillel’s Love for Learning

Learning Torah on One Foot

Hillel and the Bet

The Student, the Tzitzit, and the Harlot

Rebbi Wept: How a Harlot Made Someone Repent

Learning for Thirteen Years in a Cave

The Righteous Donkey of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair

Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon and the Ugly Person

Rabbi Yosi’s Prayer in a Ruin: Lessons from Elijah

Hurting Elijah’s Feelings by Calling him Hot Tempered

Plimo and Satan: Even Satan’s Feelings May be Hurt

Plimo’s Strange Question

Lessons About Humility from Satan

Four Entered Pardes: Story of Acher, Teacher of Rabbi Meir

Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Nosson Attempt to Depose the Nasi

Rabbi Meir: Most Brilliant Man in His Generation, but His Halachic Opinions are Rejected

Learning Under a Teacher’s Bed

Rabbi Kahana Jumps off Roof

The Fragrant Leaves of Paradise: Rabbah b. Avuhu and Elijah

Rabbi Yehoshua b. Levi and Elijah the Prophet

Why Jesters Get Into Paradise

Topsy Turvy World: The Vision of Rabbi Yosef, son of Rabbi Yehoshua b. Levi

Rebbi Wept: Some Achieve Eternity in a Single Hour

Abba: The Compassionate Surgeon

Never Telling a Lie

The Business Ethics of Shimon ben Shetach: The Hidden Jewel

Shimon ben Shetach and the 80 Sorceresses

King Yannai’s Advice to his Wife: Beware of the Hypocrites

King Yannai and Elazar b. Po’irah: Be Careful with Your Words

Mar Zutra the Pious: Simple Test of Honesty

Business Ethics: Story of the Porters and Rabbah bar Bar-Chana

Learning About Business Ethics from Rabbi Huna’s Wine that Became Vinegary

The Good Deeds of Rabbi Huna

Wisdom of Beruriah: Praying for the Wicked

Wisdom of Beruriah: Knowing how to Respond to a Sadducee

Wit of Beruriah

Beruriah: How to Study Properly

Allowing Someone to Spit in Your Eye for the Sake of Domestic Harmony

Rabbi Meir Rescues Sister-in-law from Brothel: O God of Meir Answer Me

Queen Cleopatra’s Question to Rabbi Meir

Importance of Marriage: Ulla’s Sarcastic Remark to Rabbi Yitzchak

Yalta and Ulla: Was Yalta a Feminist

The Death of Rabbi Rechumi for Neglecting His Wife

Rabbi Chiya bar Ashi and his Wife Disguised as a Prostitute

Rebbi’s Son: Study First or Get Married First?

Kamtza and Bar Kamtza: Why Jerusalem was Destroyed

The Punishment of Titus for Destroying the Second Temple

Danger of Religious Extremism: Ritual Purity More Important than Death of Son

You Can’t Escape Death: Appointment in Luz

How to Preserve One’s Wealth: Story of Nakdimon b. Gurion’s Daughter

Charity Can Change One’s Destiny: Story of Rabbi Akiva’s Daughter

How to Give Charity: Mar Ukva and his Wife

The Miracle Wheat of Elazar Ish Barta

Being Careful Not to Allow Someone to be Embarrassed

Shmuel and Avleit: Charity Saves from Death

Joseph-Who-Honors-the-Sabbath

Chaninah ben Dosa and the Table with Two Legs

Chaninah ben Dosa and the Lost Chickens

Chaninah ben Dosa and the Deadly Lizard

Chaninah ben Dosa and the Burning Vinegar

Chaninah ben Dosa and the Elongated Beams

Chaninah ben Dosa’s Wife and the Bad Neighbor

Nachum ish Gamzu, Eternal Optimist

Nachum ish Gamzu: Dreadful Punishment for Procrastinating with Charity

Foxes Prowling the Temple Mount: Rabbi Akiva’s Consolation

Rabbi Akiva’s Beginnings

Death of Rabbi Akiva

Death of Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon

Deeds of Lovingkindness Save Elazar ben Perata from Execution by the Romans

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi and Satan

Justice in Sodom and Gomorrah

Justice in Katzia

Love of Nature

Concern for the Environment

Rava and Bar Sheishach: Does Paradise Compare to Naked Harlots?

Rava and Chomah, Abaye’s Widow

Who Shall Recite the Blessing at God’s Feast

Right Amount of Time for Prayer

Constructive Arguing: Resh Lakish and Rabbi Yochanan

Destructive Arguing: Torah Scroll Torn in Heat of Argument

Ilfa and Rabbi Yochanan

Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta and the Meat from Heaven

Rabbi Zera and the Nasty Butcher

A Nasty Remark that Boomeranged: Your Neck is Loose

Shrouds of Rabbi Yannai

Proper Thanks for Public Service

The Wit of Rabbi Yirmiyah: Trying to Get his Teacher to Laugh

Be Careful What You Wish for: Rabbi Mani

Strange Way to Worship an Idol: Sabta b. Alas

Learning About Respect for Parents from Dama ben Nesina

Rabban Gamliel and Proclos in the Bathhouse of Aphrodite

Rabban Gamliel Describes Future in Messianic Times

How to Serve Guests: Rabban Gamliel Acting as Waiter at his Son’s Wedding

Concluding Remarks

References

About the Author

Introduction to Talmudic Storytelling

There is a great deal of interest in the Talmud today (Socken 2009), particularly in much of Asia (Kremer, 2013). South Koreans have developed a fascination with the Talmud and have made it part of their curriculum. Many Korean homes have a version of the Talmud and call it the Light of Knowledge; they feel that the secret of Jewish success is hidden in the pages of the Talmud (Savir, 2013). The Talmud is also popular in China; there is a belief that it can give one an edge in conducting business (Fish, 2010). Socken (2009) provides several reasons why the Talmud is relevant today. Friedman and Fischer (2014) demonstrate how Avos (Ethics of the Fathers), one of the 63 tractates of the Talmud, can be used to make the world a better place. The Talmud actually has a great deal to say about living an ethical, rewarding life (Friedman, 2012). What is especially fascinating about the Talmud is that it consists of thousands of arguments. The Talmudic scholars used adversarial collaboration as a way to argue in a productive manner. They recognized that the only way to arrive at the truth is to study with a partner and to argue in a respectful manner where the goal is to find the truth, not win the argument. The Talmudic style of arguing may have contributed to the ability of Jews to be creative thinkers in areas such as science, law, and business (Friedman, 2014).

First, let us examine what the Talmud is supposed to be. Jewish written law is contained in the Pentateuch (the Five Books of Moses, i.e., the Torah). The Talmud, Judaism’s Oral Law, is primarily a collection of rabbinical discussions and commentaries on the Torah’s written text. The Talmud, compiled separately in academies in Israel and Babylonia, explains, expounds, and elaborates on the Hebrew Bible and consists of the Mishna and Gemara. The Mishna, originally an old oral tradition, was compiled and redacted by Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (Nasi means President, he was the President of the Sanhedrin), known as Rebbi, about the year 189 C.E. The Gemara, which consists mainly of commentaries and discussions on the Mishna, was completed in approximately 500 C.E. The scholars of the Mishna are called Tannaim and the scholars of the Gemara are called Amoraim. The Amoraim analyzed, explained, and elaborated on the Mishna. By studying the Talmud, we are examining the wisdom of sages who lived during a 500-year period.

The Talmud, mainly concerned with halachah (Jewish law), also provides a detailed record of the beliefs of the Jewish people, their philosophy, traditions, culture, and folklore, i.e., the aggadah (homiletics) and is replete with legal, ethical, and moral questions. The Midrash, a separate scripture, records the views of the Talmudic sages and is mainly devoted to the exposition of Biblical verses. There are two versions of the Talmud: the Jerusalem Talmud, a product of the academies in Israel, and the Babylonian Talmud, a product of the academies in Babylon. The Babylonian Talmud, considerably larger than the Jerusalem Talmud, is more authoritative. Both often use a case-method type of approach to illustrate a particular problem or a proposed solution. The Midrash is essentially devoted to the exposition of Biblical verses. There are two types of Midrash: Halachic Midrash which is mainly concerned with Jewish law and Aggadic Midrash which is homiletic and mainly concerned with morality. The sages quoted and discussed in the Midrash are generally the same sages as in the Talmud.

Z. H. Chajes (2005:195) states that the aim of the homiletic portion of the Talmud (aggadah) was to inspire people to serve the Lord. Also, if the lecturer noticed that the audience was not paying attention or was dozing off, he might tell stories which sounded strange or terrifying or which went beyond the limits of the natural and so won the attention of his audience for his message. Maimonides (1135 - 1204) describes individuals who take the homiletics of the Talmud literally as simple-minded fools, since there are hidden inner meanings in the stories, riddles, parables, etc. used in aggadah (Maimonides, Sanhedrin, Introduction to the Mishna, Chapter 10). Eisen (2007) notes that many respected scholars viewed aggadah as a parable or rhetorical invention for an educational or ethical purpose. Thus, we see that the stories told in the Talmud and Midrash, many of which are cited here, were not necessarily meant to be taken literally. Literal or not, these stories have important messages.

Stories are an important way of teaching people lessons. According to Charlie Rose, What sets TED talks apart is that the big ideas are wrapped up in personal stories (Gallo, 2016: 63). This is why founding stories are used as a simple way to connect with stakeholders such as customers, investors, and employees (Bluestein, 2014).

The creation myth is not an asset just for startups. As those businesses grow into established firms and individual founders figure less prominently, the origin story can serve as both a road map and moral compass. Keeping that story alive, keeping it true, and keeping it relevant--these are the challenges more mature businesses must contend with (Bluestein, 2014).

Storytelling skills are important in the business world (Gallo, 2016). Peter Guber, CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, was once trying to convince the mayor of Las Vegas to provide funding to support a new baseball stadium. He realized that the PowerPoint presentations filled with numbers were not doing the trick. It occurred to him that if you want to persuade others, a good story is more effective. The trick is to aim for a person’s heart and soul, not brain. The following quote from Guber says it all: Stories have a unique power to move people’s hearts, minds, feet, and wallets in the storyteller’s intended direction (Gallo, 2016: 56-57). One firm that discovered how impactful storytelling can be in getting employees to be engaged was KPMG, one of the big four accounting firms that is also into consulting:

KPMG actually came up with a pretty extensive study not too long ago — they found that morale was declining somewhat. They were having all of those issues, especially around young people, that many global companies are having these days. And here’s where it saves us all a lot of work. They studied thousands of managers, and they sent out thousands of studies and surveys. And they came to the conclusion that people, young people, especially, wanted to be part of a bigger mission. A purpose. OK. We’re starting to understand that. That’s fine. Now, how do you teach them about the purpose of your company? Through storytelling.

So they literally took their managers, and helped transform them all into storytellers, so that the managers were constantly telling stories of the history of KPMG — how KPMG has shaped the world; how they continue to shape industries and lives, and make the world a better place. And they said as they got immersed in the storytelling culture, engagement scores went up substantially. Turnover was reduced substantially. And this is a study that is online. They’ve broken it down. They’re showing to you empirically how profits began to soar. So in all of those empirical models that we look at, storytelling helped transform that company in a big way (Knowledge@Wharton, 2016).

Xerox discovered that repair personnel used stories rather than information in manuals as a way of finding out what was wrong with a machine. These stories were collected and are now part of a database (Eureka) that is worth millions to Xerox (Pink, 2006: 108). Medical schools are teaching future physicians to listen empathetically to patients’ ailments. These ailments are told in narrative form and the ability to interpret and respond to the stories is crucial if a doctor wants to heal the patient (Pink: 2006: 112).

Friedman, Lynch & Herskovitz (2014) posit that ethics should be taught using a variety of tools ranging from YouTube videos to films to songs. They feel that cases, because they are limited to facts, generally lack the ability to arouse the passion of other approaches. Stories, even fiction, provide another method to teach ethics (Singer & Singer, 2005; Brawer, 1998; Kennedy & Lawton, 1992). Stories have the ability to arouse passion and teach important lessons. Aesop’s fables are often used by teachers to instruct disciples.

The sages of the Talmud were not historians; they told stories. These stories are an ideal way of communicating important truths ranging from ethics to theology. Rubenstein (2002) makes the point that:

The storytellers were not attempting to document what actually happened out of a dispassionate interest in the objective historical record, or to transmit biographical facts in order to provide pure data for posterity. This type of detached, impartial writing of a biography is a distinctly modern approach. Nowadays we distinguish biography from fiction…In pre-modern cultures, however, the distinction between biography and fiction was blurred. Ancient authors saw themselves as teachers, and they were more concerned with the didactic point than historical accuracy (Rubenstein, 2002:12).

Many of the Talmudic stories were redacted hundreds of years after the events in the story took place. There are stories in the Talmud about biblical figures; the Talmud has many stories about Abraham and Moses. Even stories of Tannaim told by Amoraim might have been redacted hundreds of years later. Rubenstein (2002: 14) stresses that the correct question to ask about a Talmudic story is What lesson did he [the storyteller] wish to impart to his audience? and What does the story teach us about rabbinic beliefs, virtues, and ethics? Those are more important questions than whether the story is completely true, partially true, or a metaphor.

To make it even more difficult to ascertain whether or not a story is literally true, some statements made by the sages were exaggerations. Thus, when Yehuda ben Beseira rises to his feet and makes the statement (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 92b) that I am one of the descendants of the dried bones resurrected by Ezekiel and these are the tefillin that my father’s father left me from them, this was an exaggerated statement made for effect (see commentary of ArtScroll). He was trying to make a point that the story in Ezekiel of the dry bones coming to life (Ezekiel 37) was not a parable, an opinion expressed by other sages. In any case, if his statement was literally true, his tefillin would have been several hundred years old.

This monograph relies heavily on translations by Soncino and ArtScroll. The Soncino translation of the Talmud is available for free on the Internet. They may be found at: http://www.halakhah.com/. Translations of the Talmud may also be found at the Sefaria website, http://www.sefaria.org/. There is a search engine at the Sefaria website that is extremely useful.

The names of the sages usually indicated the father’s name; the b. means ben (Hebrew) or bar (Aramaic) meaning son. For example, Eliezer b. Shimon is Eliezer the son of Shimon.

The Oven of Akhnai

The Oven of Akhnai is one of the great stories of the Talmud. It is one of six stories examined by Rubenstein (1999) in his book. Rubenstein (1999:34) states: Philosophers, psychologists, and legal theorists have explicated the story in terms of their disciplines—a rare example of a Talmudic passage entering the general discourse of Western culture. To fully understand this story, one needs to know some of the background. Rabbi Eliezer b. Hyrkanos, who was of the Shammai school, refused to go along with the majority in a dispute regarding an oven of Akhnai, as to whether it could become ritually unclean.

There were two schools of Pharisees: The School of Shammai and the School of Hillel. The disagreements between these schools seems to have eventually resulted in a religious war. The Talmud (Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 1:4) states that the Shammaites killed the Hillelites in order to ensure that they were in the majority when they were going to take a vote to decide who was in control. Some commentaries find it difficult to believe that Shammaites actually murdered Hillelites and translate the Talmudic statement as meaning that they only threatened to slaughter. Lau (2010: 223-224), however, cites evidence from the Cairo Geniza that there was an actual war between the two schools. The Shammaites successfully prevented many Hillelites from voting, became the majority, and passed 18 stringent measures.

Falk (1985: 124) says the Shammaites took control of the Jewish religion somewhere between 20 BCE and 10 BCE. According to Falk (1985: 125-127), all the attacks in the Christian Bible directed against Pharisees were meant for the extremist positions of the School of Shammai, not the School of Hillel. In fact, the early Hebrew Christians were great admirers of Hillel and his followers. The apostle Paul was one of Rabban Gamliel’s (Hillel’s grandson) disciples (Herford, 1962: 35; see Acts 22:3). These 18 measures passed by the Shammaites erected a ritualistic barrier between Jew and Gentile making it difficult for the two groups to socialize (Schmidt, 2001: 140-141).

The Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE. After the Temple’s destruction, the Hillelites took permanent control over the important institution of Nasi (President of the Sanhedrin). This was due to Yochanan ben Zakkai, one of Hillel’s disciples, who was smuggled out of Jerusalem in a coffin and was able to meet with Vespasian. Rabbi Yochanan was told that he would be allowed to establish an academy in Jabneh (Jamnia) and that the Gamliel family would be spared. Jabneh was controlled by the followers of Hillel (Adler & Friedman, 2016). Hillel and his descendants served as heads of the Sanhedrin for the next fifteen generations. They had little power but had a profound effect on Rabbinic Judaism and the direction it would take.

Friedman (2015) describes various enactments and ordinances used by the sages as legal remedies to protect society and promote the public welfare. Hillel himself introduced the Prosbul (a document that in effect transfers a loan to the court, which may collect the debt on behalf of the creditor) when he observed that people refused to lend poor people money before the Sabbatical year (Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 36a). According to Torah law (Deuteronomy 15), the creditor is not permitted to ask for his money after the Sabbatical year. A potential creditor who uses a Prosbul, no longer fearing that the debt would be canceled by the Sabbatical year, would therefore be willing to lend money to the needy. Other legal remedies that were instituted include: tikkun olam (using legal remedies to repair the world), darkei shalom (ways of peace), dracheha darkei noam (the ways of the Torah are pleasantness), and kvod habriot (human dignity); it is very unlikely that Shammaites would have approved of many of these legal remedies since they were much more text-based (Friedman, 2015).

There were still disciples of Shammai around who disagreed with the School of Hillel on many points. Rabbi Eliezer was among the foremost followers of Shammai. It was very important for the Hillelites to keep control over the Sanhedrin. Lau (2010: 222) explains the key philosophical difference between the schools. Both schools belonged to the Pharisees, but the differences in how law was decided became insurmountable because of an unwillingness to compromise on the part of the Shammaites.

Hillel’s rulings and teaching were based on the rules of logical