Learning about Ourselves from Our Differences

By Alex Howie
KOC Assistant Editor
Miami University of Ohio

There is a story in the Talmud of Rabbi Meir and his teacher, Elisha ben Abuyah, who has lost his faith. In the story, Elisha ben Abuyah is publicly desecrating the Sabbath by riding a horse. But Rabbi Meir does not shun him, nor does he rebuke him. Instead he chases after Elisha ben Abuyah in order to "learn words of Torah from his mouth." Even though ben Abuyah is consider a wayward Jew – in fact he is not even referred to by his name in the Talmud after he loses faith, but merely called aher (other) – Rabbi Meir craves to learn from him.

From this story, I believe we can all learn a lesson about learning.

This lesson is one that may also impact us more now, as college students, than it will in the future. From my observations, it seems that college campuses provide the best – and for some, the only – opportunity for Jews across the spectrum to interact. On college campuses, people from all different backgrounds come together to form one community. On some campuses, we all pray together in one Shabbat minyan, while on others, we have three or more minyanim that are housed under one roof, after which the entire Jewish community comes together for dinner. In any case, we are bound to come into contact with Jews who were raised differently than ourselves; they will have a different level of observance, a different level of knowledge about Judaism, and place greater emphasis on Jewish values that may seem more or less important to us.

For many of us, we may be inclined not to interact with these people or consider them "wrong" in their approach to Judaism. But I would urge you to not do so. Like Rabbi Meir, we must seek to learn from all different groups of Jews we encounter. As Conservative Jews, I believe that we have a lot to learn from the other denominations, just as I believe the other denominations can learn a lot from us. At Miami University, we have organized a three-week session during which our Hillel will be visited by an Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Humanist rabbi in order to learn about their styles of observance, their approach to Judaism, and the Jewish values they find most important to their lives. Through dialogues such as these, we hope to broaden the horizons of the many Jewish students who have not been exposed to various forms of Judaism and are therefore ignorant about them.

By learning from each other and experiencing each other's way of practicing Judaism, we as Conservative Jews can also strengthen our own beliefs. Learning about Orthodox Judaism can make us ask: How does our approach to halakhah differ from theirs, and why? Or, do I also view the Torah as the word of God? Interacting with Reform Jews, we may be asked to think about: why is keeping Kosher important to me? Or, what is the reason we don't use musical instruments in our Shabbat services?

We can also challenge Reform and Orthodox Jews to consider questions that were never raised to them during their Jewish education such as: what is the reason you don't keep the Sabbath? Or, to what extent do you view the Torah as literal?

If we are challenged to find answers to these questions – and challenge others to answer our questions – then we will strengthen our belief in our actions and assure ourselves that we don't go through them blindly.

In a time when there was only one main form of Judaism and if you didn't follow it you were an outcast, Rabbi Meir realized that just because someone has a different way of life, it does not mean you cannot learn from them. How much more so, in our day and age where we have many different strands of Judaism, should we be able to learn from each other? If we do not, we may be missing out on a lot that Judaism has to offer.

N.B. For a great read on the story of Aher, see As A Driven Leaf, by Milton Steinberg.

[Posted 2/4/11]