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A few days ago I began responding to a post on William Lane Craig's website where someone wrote asking him about R' Tovia Singer and his two volume set "Let's Get Biblical." Craig had an apostate Jew named "Drew" reply -- and we're now 4 days examining his response which is full of errors.
Apostate "Drew" wrote: "I also wouldn't recommend Judaism if one wants to be faithful to the Bible. The key passage in the Talmud which defines the rabbis' view of the Bible is the Akhnai Oven story in Bava Metzia 59b. In it, Rabbi Eliezer brings many proofs from the Bible for his position, but the sages were not persuaded. He invoked miracles, but the sages did not listen to miracles. Finally he said "If the Law is with me, let a voice come from heaven and say it." God spoke from heaven that Rabbi Eliezer was right, and the sages said "We do not listen to a voice from heaven, since long ago we learned that the Torah is not in heaven. After the majority one must incline." The kicker here is that the prooftext comes from Exodus 23:2, which according to the Artscroll translation states: “Do not be a follower of the majority for evil; and do not respond to a grievance by yielding to the majority to pervert the law.” The passage plainly states not to go with the majority, and the rabbis interpret it to say “go with the majority.” Missionaries, who are usually ignorant as to what the Talmud is and is not, often cite things out of context and claim the Jews have changed Judaism based on their ignorance. By misusing Jewish sources they do not understand missionaries will "paint the picture" that:
First one must know what the Talmud "is" and what part of the Talmud one can find this story (and it IS a story, not fact or law). The Talmud (there are actually two Talmuds -- Jerusalem and Babylonian) consists of two main concepts: the מִשְׁנָה / Mishna -- which was created to be a "cheat sheet" for a learned person -- the writing was kept to a minimum and meant only to serve as a aid to faltering memories who were taught to memorize the oral mitzvot. The second part of the Talmud are discussions around the Mishna's teachings. These discussions may discuss the finer points of Jewish law (מִדְךְשׁי הֲלָכָה / Midrash Halacha), but there are also stories and humor as well. This מִדְרַשׁ־אַגָּדָה / Midrash Aggadah -- which means telling a story. מִדְרַשׁ־אַגָּדָה / Midrash Aggadah is not prophecy or meant to be taken literally. . . a word or sentence is lifted from the bible to make a moral point. However, prophecy is NEVER based on these flights of fancy. Prophecy is always plain and clear -- no shadows, types or hints. Judaism has a rich history of stories and "tall tales" -- but those are not literal and are not meant to be taken literally. A principle of the Talmud that Rashi quotes several times states that אֵין מִקְרָא יוֹצֵא מִידֵי פְשׁוּטוֹ -- in English this would be "A verse cannot depart from its plain meaning." (Treatise Shabbat 63a, Treatise Y'vamot 11b, 24a; quoted by Rashi at B'réshıt / Genesis 15:10, 37:19, Sh'mot / Exodus 12:2). So guess what "Drew" is doing by referencing the oven of Akhnai? You guessed it, Bava Metzia 59a and 59b known as תנור של עכנאי / "the oven of Akhnai" was a story -- מִדְרַשׁ־אַגָּדָה / Midrash Aggadah. The story is not something to be taken literally -- which is how the missionaries present it to their unlearned (in Torah and Talmud) audience. This is wrong, and it is deceitful. Whether or not the missionaries misusing this passage realize they are distorting it is open to question. Most of them probably do not know anything about the Talmud or Judaism let alone מִדְרַשׁ־אַגָּדָה / Midrash Aggadah. The point of the story is to make the moral point that judges have been given the authority to make judicial rulings. The Talmudic story re-enforces what we’ve already been told in the Torah – that we are to appoint judges from all the tribes and then to listen to their rulings! D'varim / Deuteronomy 17:8-12. G-d has told us in the Torah to establish courts and to listen to the decisions made by the judges. G-d put the authority of deciding legal issues in the hands of mortal man -- judges because the Torah was made for us in this world and we are co-creators -- that is the entire reason G-d created us. In Bava Metzia 59b G-d is speaking (in מִדְרַשׁ־אַגָּדָה / Midrash Aggadah, so not meant to be taken literally) and saying proudly ‘My sons have defeated Me, My sons have defeated Me." -- the judges He put in place are not afraid of making decisions. In a nutshell:
"Appoint yourselves judges and police for your tribes in all your settlements that G-d your L-rd is giving you, and make sure that they administer honest judgment for the people. Do not bend justice and do not give special consideration [to anyone]. Do not take bribes, since bribery makes the wise blind and perverts the words of the righteous. Pursue perfect honesty, so that you will live and occupy the land that G-d your L-rd is giving you." D'varim / Deuteronomy 16:18-20. The Torah was given to us as an instruction book -- follow its instructions and you will become better people, holier people. If people don't use the instructions to learn and grow what good are they? This is why we are taught that the Torah is here on earth -- not in heaven. "It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?" D'varim / Deuteronomy 30:12. The written Torah tells us:
In the story of the oven of akhnai (and it IS a story) in the Talmud G-d agrees with R' Eliezer on a question of halacha (Jewish law) -- but the majority of the Rabbis have a different ruling. Since Torah was given to us humans as our instruction book and our guide we are commanded to follow its rules and to apply laws that help us do so. The Rabbis argue (in the story) that in a court of law "majority rules." -- and this is G-d's own ruling. Jewish courts are comprised of odd numbers of judges (no juries). A majority opinion "rules." Far from showing the Jews are more powerful than G-d, the Rabbis prove to G-d that they are obeying His mitzvot by coming to a majority judicial ruling as He decreed. The missionaries distort the idea that to follow G-d we must use the brains He gave us -- not to disobey Him, but to follow His instructions. Drew on Craig's website wrote: "The kicker here is that the prooftext comes from Exodus 23:2, which according to the Artscroll translation states: “Do not be a follower of the majority for evil; and do not respond to a grievance by yielding to the majority to pervert the law.” The passage plainly states not to go with the majority, and the rabbis interpret it to say “go with the majority.” Yet again Apostate "Drew" is distorting the teachings -- making them the opposite of what they truly are. Sh'mot / Exodus 23:2 in the bible tells us that we are to rule according to the majority, and be careful to be just. The missionary is keying on the word "majority" when the key here is "for evil." Do not follow the majority for evil. This does not mean "do not follow the majority when they are honest"! The footnote, which the missionary ignored in Artscroll, explains: "Several laws are derived from this verse by means of Talmudic exegesis...A judge must voice his opinion according to his understanding of the law and the evidence. Even if he is heavily outnumbered by others, he must not change his opinion to agree with them, if he considers them to be mistaken or intentionally perverting the law." Paints quite a different picture from the one presented by the missionary, doesn't it? Even in the story in Bava Metzia 59a and 59b we have a judge disagreeing with the majority - which is right in line with Sh'mot / Exodus 23:2. Jewish law is very, very careful to adhere to Torah mitzvot, the opposite of the missionary claim. If there is total agreement (for example) of a death penalty the person is NOT put to death. Let's discuss the Jewish legal system. Jewish courts do not use juries -- each court has multiple judges. Today Jewish courts (בית דין / Beit Din / House of Judgement) are comprised of three judges. Rabbis are judges -- this is one of their primary responsibilities and roles. Why three judges? “You should not judge alone, for there is none qualified to judge alone, only the One.” Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 4:8. It must be more than two (at least 3) judges because the Torah tells us: "Do not follow the majority to do evil. Do not speak up in a trial to pervert justice. A case must be decided on the basis of the majority." Sh'mot / Exodus 23:2. A super majority of three from a court of 23 was required to pass a death penalty. At least three had to be "for" on the majority side – in a court of 23 that meant that it had to be 13 - 10 in favor of the death penalty for it to be passed. Two judges are not enough to have a majority (one might have a "tie"). This is why all Jewish courts (including the minor Sanhedrins and Great Sanhedrin) were uneven numbers of 23 and 71. . . The smallest courts have three judges, and our sages tell us that, a Jewish court can not rule against a defendant by a majority created by one judge. In death penalty cases a court had to have at least 23 Judges. The appellate court was the Great Sanhedrin of 71 sitting in the לִשְׁכַּת הַגָּזִית lishkat hagazit (“Chamber of Carved Stone”) in the Temple. If all the judges voted "guilty" or even all but one voted "guilty" the accused was set free. There had to be a super majority of three judges voting for innocent for a man to actually be condemned to death. (again, referencing back to Sh'mot / Exodus 23:2). Missionaries make claims that are simply unsupportable based both on Jewish law and Jewish history. That in itself is explicit proof that in the case of the oven the law was in accordance with the consensus of Sages. In the story the rabbis argue with G-d as to who is right on a judicial ruling (arguing with G-d is an old, respected Jewish tradition dating back to B'reshit / Genesis 18 where Abraham argues with G-d to save the people of Sodom). . . in the STORY G-d eventually agrees with the majority debating the ruling. Got that? G-d AGREES with them. Yet this missionary "Drew" wants to point to the story as how Jews ignore G-d's commandments???? How is this story proof of the Jews changing something G-d dictated when G-d agrees with the sages, going so far as to JOKE about it ("my children have bested me!")? G-d can take a joke, but apparently missionaries can not!
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