I noticed Hillel's omission, leaving God and relationship to God out of his summary of the Torah, when I was reading an article by Karen Armstrong (who also wrote THE HISTORY OF GOD) in AARP magazine MODERN MATURITY 5 to 10 years ago. Her topic was compassion (and that pure compassion, devoid of rhetoric and dogma should be our goal. Maybe I don't remember it quite right. I may be biased against Karen's viewpoint.)
Anyway, Karen refered to Hillel, and the simple way he distilled down what was needed to live a good life. Maybe I was studying Jesus' words that were similar at that time. I think I had taught 3 or 4 year olds at vacation Bible school recently, and our theme for that week of VBS was Jesus giving the TWO great commandments: 'the first one is you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength'. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. (I remember the preacher's wife was teaching the music to the children; and she was teaching them hand movements to go with the song. It was so sweet to see her working with the little ones.) So when I read Hillel's summary, I really felt the void.
I tried to research Hillel more-his theology. I haven't found a source yet that can give me a more complete picture of his teachings. I need to go ahead and ASK a rabbi, I guess. Anyway, am I wrong? Did Hillel leave God out of his summary of the Torah? I suppose you could say that honoring God, putting God first, not taking His name in vain COULD fall under the catagory of "not doing to others what you yourself find oppressive", but I think we need to put God above others.
When I was reading all the places that Jesus said something similar to Hillel's summary and the "golden rule", I noted:
MARK 12:30(THE TWO, WITH THE SH'MAH)
MATTHEW 22:35-40(THE TWO)--------------------------------
LUKE 10:27 is different. This is where the story (parable) of the "Good Samaritan" is. It is actually a jewish expert in the law that is questioning Jesus who gives the summary in this scene. I will put the whole story up to the beginning of the parable here.
MATTHEW 19:16-26(RICH YOUNG MAN)--------
DEUTERONOMY6:5 and LEVITICUS19:18 are the two Old Testament verses that are the basis of Jesus' summary of the Torah into two commandments.
When I was comparing Hillel's summary with Jesus' summary, and comparing them both to the Ten Commandments, I noted in the Matthew19:16-26 passage that Jesus left out all four of the commandments about God (as well as the commandment about honoring our parents). I had always thought that Jesus just listed a few of the ten as a time-saving thing. But since I was pondering the difference between what Jesus said and Hillel said, I wanted to find a reason for Jesus leaving out the first 5 of the Ten Commandments. I kept reading that passage and came to the place where the young man Had to say "No. I can't make that level of commitment." and walked away sad. Jesus said (something like) "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."
Jesus' disciples asked "Who, then, can enter?" Jesus answered, "With man it is impossible. But with God all things are possible."
I think Jesus there was emphasizing that we need to make God the center, and that only by making God the center are we able to fulfill these other commandments.
I also think that Hillel's teachings of 100 years previously (or less) were still being discussed and He, Jesus, was pointing out that weakness or omission of Hillel's Torah summary.
MISSING YOU
8 years ago
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