CONTEXT: Rabbis were arguing about what counts as an oven, one Rabbi (Eliezer) invoked many signs (described in the meme) to prove he was right, even invoking God. Then a voice from heaven said “Why are you arguing with this Rabbi (Eliezer) when he’s always right” and the other Rabbis said “The heavens don’t interpret the law, we do” and God laughed, replying “My children have defeated me”
QuitWhinging on
Four rabbis were having a debate over the true nature of God. One of them gets frustrated and calls to the heavens: “God, if I’m right, send us a sign!” Suddenly, rain clouds gathered overhead and it began to pour. One of the other three rabbis says, “so what? It was supposed to rain today.” The other rabbi gets more desperate and calls out, “God, if I’m right, send us a sign!” Out of nowhere, an earthquake rumbles beneath them, casting land and sea asunder. Another rabbi rebuts, “that doesn’t prove anything–it could have been random!” The other rabbi, at the end of his wits, cries out, “God, if I’m right, send us another sign!”
Finally, the heavens themselves open and a booming voice echoes from above, “HE’S RIGHT!!!” The rabbis look at each other for a few moments, flustered, before another says dismissingly, “so what? Now it’s two against three.”
* Not an original joke
Individual-Movie-183 on
Fellow orthodox jew (also finally a meme where I dont have to learn the context) here, the story ends up with him being in “Charem” or excommunicated for refusing to go against the dictum of the majority of all of his fellow Jewish sages.
Also there are some crazy stories in Jewish history.
mivohihito on
peak rabbinic authority just dropped
TheLastSilence on
This is from a Talmud story called “The Oven of Achnai”. In the story, the Rabbi’s are having an argument over a minor religious issue (does breaking up and transforming an oven makes it kosher or not). The importance of the story is not in the religious dispute but on the fundamental way in which these disputes are being settled. It is abundantly clear in the story that God believes that Rabbi Eliezer is right in this dispute and yet the majority of the Rabbi’s think that the Torra (Jewish bible) is saying that he isn’t and that Jewish law goes in accordance with the Torra as the majority of Rabbi’s understand it, so despite the many miracles Eliezer performs, the Rabbi’s don’t change their mind. After the argument is over and the law is dictated by the majority opinion against Rabbbi Eliezer the Rabbi’s discuss what to do with Rabbi Eliezer as both he almost destroyed the house in which the argument took place (by shaking the walls and foundation) and he refused to accept the majority opinion. The solution is excommunication, as the Rabbi’s think that they cannot accept the situation in which a religious argument destroys the community, a judgement that Rabbi Eliezer mostly accepts.
An interesting side note is that while on a different story God seemingly accepts the ruling of the Rabbi’s as the new law, he seems to have never forgiven Rabam Gamliel for excommunicating Rabbi Eliezer. In one story Rabam Gamliel gets stuck in a storm in the sea and he immediately knows that this is god’s way of punishing him for what he did to Rabbi Eliezer, so he says “God, you know I didn’t do what I did for my own sake but for yours, to reduce the amount of arguments in Israel” which is enough to calm the sea. In a different story the wife of Rabi Eliezer, which was also the sister of Raban Gamliel watched over her husband to make sure that he never prayed falling completely on the ground, believing that if he did her brother will die. One day she was distracted and he fell on the ground praying, to which she said “get up, you have already killed my brother”. This was then followed by a blowing of the shofar informing of the death of Raban Gamliel. When her husband asked her “why do you think it was my prayer that killed him” she said “it is a tradition from my fathers house (which was Halel the old, perhaps the greatest rabbi ever in Jewish tradition) that all the gates are closed except the one of public shaming”.
anihasenate on
Always thought the story of achnai’s oven was a parable to dispel the growing christian sect of judaism at that time. As jesus, by jewish traditions was a rogue tana(a rabbi with divinebpowers) who went against the halacha as a whole. And thar miracles don’t prove you’re right and the rabbinic consensus is wrong.
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One of my favorite stories ngl
Context plz
CONTEXT: Rabbis were arguing about what counts as an oven, one Rabbi (Eliezer) invoked many signs (described in the meme) to prove he was right, even invoking God. Then a voice from heaven said “Why are you arguing with this Rabbi (Eliezer) when he’s always right” and the other Rabbis said “The heavens don’t interpret the law, we do” and God laughed, replying “My children have defeated me”
Four rabbis were having a debate over the true nature of God. One of them gets frustrated and calls to the heavens: “God, if I’m right, send us a sign!” Suddenly, rain clouds gathered overhead and it began to pour. One of the other three rabbis says, “so what? It was supposed to rain today.” The other rabbi gets more desperate and calls out, “God, if I’m right, send us a sign!” Out of nowhere, an earthquake rumbles beneath them, casting land and sea asunder. Another rabbi rebuts, “that doesn’t prove anything–it could have been random!” The other rabbi, at the end of his wits, cries out, “God, if I’m right, send us another sign!”
Finally, the heavens themselves open and a booming voice echoes from above, “HE’S RIGHT!!!” The rabbis look at each other for a few moments, flustered, before another says dismissingly, “so what? Now it’s two against three.”
* Not an original joke
Fellow orthodox jew (also finally a meme where I dont have to learn the context) here, the story ends up with him being in “Charem” or excommunicated for refusing to go against the dictum of the majority of all of his fellow Jewish sages.
Also there are some crazy stories in Jewish history.
peak rabbinic authority just dropped
This is from a Talmud story called “The Oven of Achnai”. In the story, the Rabbi’s are having an argument over a minor religious issue (does breaking up and transforming an oven makes it kosher or not). The importance of the story is not in the religious dispute but on the fundamental way in which these disputes are being settled. It is abundantly clear in the story that God believes that Rabbi Eliezer is right in this dispute and yet the majority of the Rabbi’s think that the Torra (Jewish bible) is saying that he isn’t and that Jewish law goes in accordance with the Torra as the majority of Rabbi’s understand it, so despite the many miracles Eliezer performs, the Rabbi’s don’t change their mind. After the argument is over and the law is dictated by the majority opinion against Rabbbi Eliezer the Rabbi’s discuss what to do with Rabbi Eliezer as both he almost destroyed the house in which the argument took place (by shaking the walls and foundation) and he refused to accept the majority opinion. The solution is excommunication, as the Rabbi’s think that they cannot accept the situation in which a religious argument destroys the community, a judgement that Rabbi Eliezer mostly accepts.
An interesting side note is that while on a different story God seemingly accepts the ruling of the Rabbi’s as the new law, he seems to have never forgiven Rabam Gamliel for excommunicating Rabbi Eliezer. In one story Rabam Gamliel gets stuck in a storm in the sea and he immediately knows that this is god’s way of punishing him for what he did to Rabbi Eliezer, so he says “God, you know I didn’t do what I did for my own sake but for yours, to reduce the amount of arguments in Israel” which is enough to calm the sea. In a different story the wife of Rabi Eliezer, which was also the sister of Raban Gamliel watched over her husband to make sure that he never prayed falling completely on the ground, believing that if he did her brother will die. One day she was distracted and he fell on the ground praying, to which she said “get up, you have already killed my brother”. This was then followed by a blowing of the shofar informing of the death of Raban Gamliel. When her husband asked her “why do you think it was my prayer that killed him” she said “it is a tradition from my fathers house (which was Halel the old, perhaps the greatest rabbi ever in Jewish tradition) that all the gates are closed except the one of public shaming”.
Always thought the story of achnai’s oven was a parable to dispel the growing christian sect of judaism at that time. As jesus, by jewish traditions was a rogue tana(a rabbi with divinebpowers) who went against the halacha as a whole. And thar miracles don’t prove you’re right and the rabbinic consensus is wrong.