Why Would a Gentile Pastor Study Talmud??

Getting Started... Why would a Gentile Pastor study Talmud??

If you told me five years ago that I'd be blogging about my journey through the Talmud, I'd told you that you were crazy.

Not just because I didn't even know what the Talmud was but because I wasn't really connected with the people to whom it belongs.

Then six years ago my journey to this point began. I met a rabbi (Rabbi Ed) from Bozeman, Montana who gave me some advice. He set me to meeting Rabbi Barbara Block, the rabbi from Billings, Montana at the time. I spent a year learning from her, inviting her to speak at our church, and understanding what it meant to be a Jew.

Four years ago, I met Daniel Bogard, one of two rabbis with his wife Karen in Peoria. Daniel became to this Lutheran pastor not only a rabbi and teacher but also a dear and close friend. I can honestly say I've met few people who've inspired me and challenged me like he has.

A few months ago, while reading an excellent Jewish commentary on Genesis, I ran across a unique question:

Does the pattern of Jewish prayers(morning, afternoon, and evening) correspond with those once said in the Temple or to the patriarchs??

I asked this question of my friend, Daniel, and he set me on this quest of discovery into the Talmud.

We met three times and read from the book Baruch. We spent three hours together and read a total of three whole pages of Talmud.

Daniel has since moved to Cincinnati...but I hope to continue this journey with him through another book of the Talmud soon, perhaps online. Our journey together isn't yet complete.

Reading the Talmud, I have found it fascinating. No other religious document helps you understand why the Bible was written the way it was. Why do the New Testament writers quote from the Hebrew Bible as they do? Why do they use such obscure passages to prove their points? I found myself drawing parallel after parallel, looking and eventually finding so many connections with my own faith.

There's so much in those pages. Legal arguments. Crazy obscure questions that no one would ever dream of asking today. And then there's the stories! And the midrash! One rabbi contradicts another one who supports a third who points you to a fourth. You can almost get lost in the conversation that happens over hundreds and hundreds of years! It's really inspiring.

Reading the Talmud hasn't just helped me understand my own faith but it's also helped me appreciate and understand my Jewish neighbor too. My goal has been not to condemn them or criticize them or show them how I'm right and they're wrong, but to truly understand the faith that they live which is so like and yet so very different than my own.

I don't know many Jews who have read their Talmud and I have met no Christians who have either. But I invite you to join me on this journey. I don't know how long it will take or where it will take us, but I know there's guaranteed to be some exciting twists and turns up ahead!