Thursday, May 15, 2008

What would Judaism look like if there was no Oral Law? Ask this guy!

I came across this fascinating video of a talk given by an author who tried to live life for a year following the Bible literally. To do so, he read through the whole Bible (and the Christian Bible), and came up with about 700 rules to live by.

It is pretty interesting how he tries to fulfill everything, and it is very insightful about how important the Oral Law really is. For instance, he tries to stone adulterers (with pebbles), does Kapparah to simulate a sacrifice, grows a huge beard, doesn't mix fabrics (of any kind), etc.

What is really interesting are the things he found the most difficult, such as refraining from Lashon Hara, lying, etc. He is a secular Jew, and joined a reform temple after his experiment. Although he does not espouse a Torah viewpoint in this interview, it is still very worthwhile to watch in my opinion, as he does find that by practicing the commandments and praying, that he experienced some kind of connection to Hashem, and how the acts of the commandments changed him for the better.