Torah

Last night we went to the Community Synagogue of Rye for the first in a series of talks entitled, "Won't You Be My Neighbor."

Rabbi Gropper gave a wonderful explanation of Judaism, and at the end of the talk, he removed a scroll from the Ark and unrolled it, giving all of us a chance to see and touch The Torah.

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. - Luke 4:16-20

Luke's account of Jesus in The Temple reads like a simple witness testimony of what sounds like a common event.

Jesus was in familiar territory.  He went as was his custom.

But seeing the scroll up close last night, I was taken by how difficult it is for anyone other than someone well schooled to read.

First, it has no page numbers or chapter and verse designations.  One needs to know how far to unroll the scroll to get to the spot one wants to read.

It has no vowels and punctuation, so even if you know where to read, knowing how to read it is an even bigger requirement.

So, in a few words, Luke paints a picture that would raise the eyebrows of anyone who grew up with this man, thinking him a simple laborer and nothing else.

In Jesus' day, a rabbi would have had another profession.  No one was a teacher by trade, but taught while having a day job.

So, it might not have been so unusual, but there is no discounting the fact that reading the scroll required training and experience, two things Luke fails to explain.

Perhaps that is what Jesus did from childhood until the start of his ministry some twenty hears later, but we don't know for sure.

What we do know is that Luke gave us something to think about, and he did it with a short story of a man reading text and sitting down, claiming what was written was about him.

More to come...


You can catch the next installment in the series, Won't You Be My Neighbor here:
https://patch.com/new-york/rye/won-t-you-be-my-neighbor