joshua0 | (Reply)

From:

I don't think I disagree with any of that. And one of the things I appreciate about Judaism is its very long history of exegesis and interpretation. But what I struggle with is the baseline regressiveness of so much of the text. There's plenty of examples, but to use a recent concrete example, I was at a Shabbat a few months ago, and since the parsha was from Deuteronomy, and listed various mitzvot, the host thought it would be fun to use that as inspiration to make up our mitzvot. Which was fun and very in the sprit of the Judaism I was raised in. But I went to go look at the actual commandments and part of it was stuff like the proper forms for stoning your rebellious son. I don't need to be convinced that analysis and discussion and bringing into our own contexts is generally a good. But I would say why this book, why the concrete Torah and not the abstract concept of discussion, besides "we have always done it this way" which is a terrible reason to do something? And what is the priority? I choose to study less and help more, in moderation at least, that seems much better than studying more and helping less.

In typical Jewish tradition, I am not asking for answers, just sharing my own thoughts.