[Avodah] Fables and Lies

[Harry Maryles]

"kennethgmiller at juno.com" <kennethgmiller at juno.com> wrote: 
  At this time of year, it is common for American Christian families to teach their children a particular such "fable and lie", in order to motivate those children to good behavior. This is so widespread, in fact, that it is a rite of passage when those children come to learn the truth of this fiction.

For many years, I was particularly proud that all of the Midrashim, legends, and stories which we tell our children are true. And even if an occasional story might appear with different details in different versions, the main thrust is generally accepted as genuine. Torah Truth has no need for fiction.

And then, one Yom Kippur, during Ayleh Ezk'rah, I chanced upon a comment by ArtScroll. The same who is so often derided on these pages for taking a sanitized version of history, and passing it off as true. And even Rabbi Scroll had to admit:

> that while all ten of these righteous men were murdered by the
> Romans, their executions did not take place simultaneously, as
> described here, nor could they have, since two of the ten did
> not even live in the same generation as the other eight.
> ...
> The liturgical accounts of the martyrdom were not meant as
> historical records, but as dramatic accounts of the story, in
> order to evoke feelings of loss and repentance on the part of
> the congregation.

So it's not just the Christians. We too have fables, fictions, and lies. Perhaps it is only this one solitary example. But one is not zero.

My heart is still not fully healed from the pain of this disillusionment.   ---------------------------------
   
  According to the great medieval commentator Nachmanides, we are not required to believe in Midrashim. In his public disputation with Pablo Christiani, an apostate Jew who had become a Christian monk challenged him in public debate about Judaism versus Christianity, Nachmanides was asked by Christiani about a specific Midrash ( I forget the exact one and exactly what the challenge was. But at the very least it made Judaism look bad.) Nachmanides responded that Christiani’s proof was from a Midrash and we don’t have to believe Midrashim. This point was recorded by Nachmanides himself (in the Vikuach).
   
  In my view there is nothing wrong in using Midrashim to make a Hashkafic point, as long as one realizes that, unlike the Talmud the Midrash may not be true. It seems to me, the Midrash is more of an Hashkafic tool than an accurate representation of truth.
   
  HM
   
   
  
 


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