Rogerian Similarities And Differences In Judaism

Evolution is an interesting process that can be observed as it happens. As the winds of change sweep across time, practices, beliefs and understandings evolve and mature into more complex ideas and traditions. In class we were introduced to the group of people that Jews today share a common ancestry with, the Israelites. The Hebrew Bible tells the early history of the Gods chosen people; it also lays out certain biblical laws and practices that, like the Israelites evolve as time moves forward. One can see this evolution in later rabbinic literature and texts. The practices of rabbinic Judaism differ from biblical religion due to the evolution of understanding and interpretation that came from later rabbinic scholars. Taking a deeper look at passages from both biblical religion and rabbinic literature and seeing the evolution first hand the claim that both of these things differ from each other can be assessed. There are many ways to interpret the Hebrew Bible when it comes to rabbinic literature and this is where we find some base differences between the rabbinic literature and biblical religion. An interesting point to mention here is that
In the bible it says, “If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey…He is a glutton and a drunkard, and the men of the town must stone him to death.” (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) Looking into the rabbinic discussion there is a very different outlook that comes about. “Why then was this law written? It never happened and never will happen.” (Babylonian Talmud: Sanhedrin 71a) The rabbis completely throw out the law written in Deuteronomy. They do this because not only does the law make little sense but also it seems that there is no need for such violence when it comes to a drunken son. This is another case where we see a split from biblical religion and rabbinic literature. There is no way to say there is not a dramatic change in this