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at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
May 30, 2012
Professor Wiesel tells the strange and troubling story of one of the greatest Talmudic students and teachers, Rabbi Eliezer, who, in a debate at the academy of Yavneh over the purity of an oven, fought alone, lost his arguments and was thereafter excommunicated. Professor Wiesel explains his puzzlement and embarrassment: “Isn’t the entire riches and nobility of the Talmud based on dialogue or words of respect for the other side?” Why then was Rabbi Eliezer, excommunicated for his opinion, such an exception? Professor Wiesel explains that Rabbi Eliezer was so loyal to the traditional teachings of the law that he never said anything he had not heard from his teachers. When he spoke on the purity of the oven, he spoke on his predecessors’ behalf, teachers who numbered in the thousands linking him to Moses, the first teacher. Even God sided and agreed with Rabbi Eliezer. This, however, was Rabbi Eliezer’s mistake: to invoke God and His miracles in a Talmudic debate. His method, and not his views, angered his colleagues because Torah interpretation is a human endeavour and Rabbi Eliezer’s claim to derive his interpretation from heaven was regarded as fanatical.
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