Episode Details
Back to Episodes
2 - The Most Jewish Business
Season 1
Episode 2
Published 4 years, 7 months ago
Description
In this episode we explore the importance education plays in Judaism and how Jewish education has shaped the world.
Check out the Dear Rabbi Podcast with Rabbi Lehrfield at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dear-rabbi/id1565016262
Episode Transcript:
Hi everybody, I'm Menachem Lehrfield, and this is Zero Percent, where we explore world changing ideas introduced by Judaism, ancient wisdom for modern living. In the last episode we mentioned in passing so many Jewish contributions and inventions, and in the 18 minutes that we had we barely even scratched the surface. And the truth is, we could spend an entire episode on each and every one, and one day maybe we will. But first I think it's so much more important, so much more crucial to understand what we mentioned last time, is the black box that produces that success. To me it's so much more interesting to understand what produces the success that we see in science and medicine and technology, in all these different arenas and areas, so much more so than just understanding the stories of the Jewish people who have contributed to those different areas.
So I want to begin our discussion trying to understand what are the pieces, what are the elements that contribute to and produce the success that we see around us in the world? The Jewish people have truly civilized the world, and we take so many of these ideas and ideals for granted. The very concept of basic human rights is a Jewish idea. The notion that the sick and the elderly shouldn't just be left to die or murdered, but they should be taken care of and cared for. The idea of a society assisting the poor and disadvantaged all come naturally to us, they seem like they make sense, but for so much of our history, before the Jewish people introduced those ideas, it wasn't the case. In the ancient world infanticide was commonplace, it was a normal way of ridding society of potentially burdensome or deformed members. Any baby that appeared weak or sickly at birth, or even had the smallest birth defect, like a cleft palate or a harelip or something, was just killed.
And it wasn't just children with birth defects. Aristotle, someone who we regard as one of the most enlightened intellectuals who ever lived, argued in his politics that sometimes killing children was essential to the functioning of society. He wrote, "There must be a law that no imperfect or maimed child shall be brought up, and to avoid an excess and population some children must be exposed, for a limit must be fixed to the population of the state." That was the way he saw fit to deal with the population issue, and unfortunately there are people today who still believe that. We have to understand that Jewish wisdom introduced so many of the concepts that we take for granted today, and so it's so crucial for us to explore that Jewish wisdom that led to those discoveries.
What's important to point out, though, is that when we look at these Jewish inventions, these Jewish ideals and concepts, they weren't just taught in an academic form, they were taught as a way of life. And so as we begin to explore, not just, again, the Jewish contribution to the world, but the ideas, ideals, concepts that led to that success, it's important to keep in mind that it's not just in the intellectual realm, in the academic realm, but the reason why it's been so successful at becoming part of a entire nation, entire people's DNA, is because it has been organically seeping into every aspect of our lives. Every aspect of Judaism, both in the ideas that we teach ourselves and our children, to the ways that we act on a regular basis, the ways that we mark time, the ways that we celebrate our holidays, all of these things combined together reinforce all of the things that we learn, all the things that we teach.
Most often, it's the nonverbal messages that we give over to our children, that we reinforce for ourselves, that are so much more p
Check out the Dear Rabbi Podcast with Rabbi Lehrfield at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dear-rabbi/id1565016262
Episode Transcript:
Hi everybody, I'm Menachem Lehrfield, and this is Zero Percent, where we explore world changing ideas introduced by Judaism, ancient wisdom for modern living. In the last episode we mentioned in passing so many Jewish contributions and inventions, and in the 18 minutes that we had we barely even scratched the surface. And the truth is, we could spend an entire episode on each and every one, and one day maybe we will. But first I think it's so much more important, so much more crucial to understand what we mentioned last time, is the black box that produces that success. To me it's so much more interesting to understand what produces the success that we see in science and medicine and technology, in all these different arenas and areas, so much more so than just understanding the stories of the Jewish people who have contributed to those different areas.
So I want to begin our discussion trying to understand what are the pieces, what are the elements that contribute to and produce the success that we see around us in the world? The Jewish people have truly civilized the world, and we take so many of these ideas and ideals for granted. The very concept of basic human rights is a Jewish idea. The notion that the sick and the elderly shouldn't just be left to die or murdered, but they should be taken care of and cared for. The idea of a society assisting the poor and disadvantaged all come naturally to us, they seem like they make sense, but for so much of our history, before the Jewish people introduced those ideas, it wasn't the case. In the ancient world infanticide was commonplace, it was a normal way of ridding society of potentially burdensome or deformed members. Any baby that appeared weak or sickly at birth, or even had the smallest birth defect, like a cleft palate or a harelip or something, was just killed.
And it wasn't just children with birth defects. Aristotle, someone who we regard as one of the most enlightened intellectuals who ever lived, argued in his politics that sometimes killing children was essential to the functioning of society. He wrote, "There must be a law that no imperfect or maimed child shall be brought up, and to avoid an excess and population some children must be exposed, for a limit must be fixed to the population of the state." That was the way he saw fit to deal with the population issue, and unfortunately there are people today who still believe that. We have to understand that Jewish wisdom introduced so many of the concepts that we take for granted today, and so it's so crucial for us to explore that Jewish wisdom that led to those discoveries.
What's important to point out, though, is that when we look at these Jewish inventions, these Jewish ideals and concepts, they weren't just taught in an academic form, they were taught as a way of life. And so as we begin to explore, not just, again, the Jewish contribution to the world, but the ideas, ideals, concepts that led to that success, it's important to keep in mind that it's not just in the intellectual realm, in the academic realm, but the reason why it's been so successful at becoming part of a entire nation, entire people's DNA, is because it has been organically seeping into every aspect of our lives. Every aspect of Judaism, both in the ideas that we teach ourselves and our children, to the ways that we act on a regular basis, the ways that we mark time, the ways that we celebrate our holidays, all of these things combined together reinforce all of the things that we learn, all the things that we teach.
Most often, it's the nonverbal messages that we give over to our children, that we reinforce for ourselves, that are so much more p