Torah! Torah! Torah!

The highlight of a recent religious service that I attended occurred when the Rabbi switched to English for about 5 minutes of the five hour total. This was a highlight mainly because I understand English. A couple of things he said caught my attention, but the first was a story about Hillel be asked to explain the Torah while standing on one leg. He is reported to have said that the message of the Torah was "Do unto your neighbor as you would have him do unto you. The rest is commentary."

This is a wonderful ethical principle, but a lousy summary of the Torah. My (admittedly weak) biblical scholarship suggests that there is at least as much "do unto your neighbor before he does unto you," not to mention assorted genocides, other forms of mass murder, the odd human sacrifice and a very long list of mostly absurd rules for living. I do think that Hillel picked out the part worth saving - but I'm less impressed with the commentary.

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