Two Rabbis

Isidor Kaufmann, Rosh Hashanah – The New Year

The beautiful thing about the Internet (besides the phenomenon of RickRolling, of course) is that every now and then I encounter amazing art that was previously unknown to me. That was happened this week when I stumbled upon Artinconnu.com and the art of Isidor Kaufmann. Artinconnu.com is an artblog that focuses on artists that have been lost to history. But the more that I researched Isidor Kaufmann I discovered that he wasn't lost to history at all. He was just lost to a majority of the art viewing population. Isidor Kaufmann definitely has a following on and offline. There are auctions that are held just for Isidor Kaufmann artwork. Then there are auctions for artwork that could be Isidor Kaufmann or just look a lot like Isidor Kaufmann's paintings. This late 19th century Austro-Hungarian oil painter has a key demographic that keeps interest in his paintings alive and owning his work desirable. That small demographic of the populace is the same group that he spent his career painting portraits of. It is also the religious and ethnic group that he belonged to: Eastern European, Orthodox Jews. Kaufmann was the go-to-guy for painting all sorts of Judaica but his specialty was beautifully rendered depictions of rabbis. Kaufmann's portraits are peculiar in their intimacy because they take the vantage point of an insider. They are painted by the caring hands of a brother. The multicolored strokes that gathered to produce these portraits were composed by a brush that loved the individual beauty of each sitting rabbi. This artist knew that no two rabbis are the same. Judaism is a movement of diversity with a myriad of rabbinical opinions. It has been that way since the foundation of the Rabbinic period. Rabbinic Judaism is not just an era but rather a movement that the majority of contemporary Judaism finds itself within. The diversity of the Rabbinic Tradition goes back to its foundational days with opposing views like the School of Hillel and the School of Shammai. Hillel and Shammai were both what we know as Pharisees. The generations of scribes and Pharisees right before the ones we find in the New Testament basically invented the institutions of the rabbinate and the synagogue. So when we encounter stories of Jesus and the Pharisees, we are reading about the generation (or two) after Hillel and Shammai. The opposition between Jesus and his disciples and the Pharisees and their disciples is another case of two opposing rabbinical schools. In today's Liturgical readings there are actually two Gospel readings to choose from. They both deal with two very different interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees. So just to make things complicated today's post will not only focus on one of these readings but both of them. To help us understand their significance, we will also squeeze a Talmudic story about Hillel in the middle. Today we will share in three stories that illuminate the paintings of Isidor Kaufmann and illustrate the world of Jesus. 

Isidor Kaufmann, Portrait of a rabbi wearing a kittel and tallith

First we start off with a story from the New Testament Gospels about Rabbi Jesus and his ongoing debate between other Pharisaic rabbis concerning his continual breaking of the Sabbath to perform healing miracles. It is a debate between two rabbinical schools (the disciples of Jesus and the disciples of the Pharisees).

John 9:1-41

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him,“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”(which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me,‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

Then they said to him, “Where is He?”

He said, “I do not know.”

They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

Isidor Kaufmann, Rabbi with prayer shawl.

Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?”He said, “He is a prophet.”But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

Isidor Kaufmann, Portrait of a Rabbi 

Next we will read a story from the The Talmud (The Yerushalmi or Jerusalem Version) surrounding one of the greatest rabbis in Judaism history, Hillel. He was one of the early sages of the Pharisees and therefore a forefather of the Rabbinic Judaism. He died around the time that Jesus was born and was fortunate enough to escape Herod the Great's massacre of rabbis and religious leaders by being out of the country (just like the infant Jesus escaped Herod's slaughter of newborns by a similar means), When he became the leader of the Sanhedrin council (and of Jerusalem, through the office of the Nasi) Hillel was known for his debates with his polar opposite, Rabbi Shammai (and his disciples, The House of Hillel, with Shammai's disciples, The House of Shammai). The following story tells how Hillel was chosen to be Nasi after advising the Sanhedrin on whether they should break the Sabbath to perform the Passover sacrifice.

Tosefta Pesachim 4:13–14 (The Talmud)

Once the fourteenth [day of Nisan] fell on the Sabbath, and they did not know whether the Passover supersedes the Sabbath or not. They said, "There is here a certain Babylonian named Hillel, who served Shemaya and Avtalion. He knows whether the Passover supersedes the Sabbath or not. Perhaps something good will come from him."
They sent and called for him. They said to him: Have you ever heard that when the fourteenth falls on the Sabbath whether it supersedes the Sabbath or not?

Isidor Kaufmann | Portrait of a Man with Streimel

He said to them, "Do we have but one Passover alone throughout the whole year that supersedes the Sabbath? Do not many Passovers throughout the year supersede the Sabbath?
Some tannaim teach "one hundred" [Passovers]. Some tannaim teach "two hundred." Some tannaim teach "three hundred."
They said, "Thus we thought that something good would come from you."
He started to expound [the law] for them based on a heqesh [topical analogy], a qal va-homer [inference], and a gezeira shava.
[1] "From a heqesh [topical analogy]: Since the regular sacrifice is a communal sacrifice that supersedes the Sabbath, so too the Passover is a communal sacrifice that supersedes the Sabbath.
[2] "From a qal va-homer: If the regular sacrifice, for which one is not subject [to the punishment of] excision, supersedes the Sabbath, then the Passover, for which one is [subject to the punishment] of excision,—is it not logical that it supersede the Sabbath?
[3] "From a gezeira shava: Just as the regular sacrifice, in connection with which it says At its appointed time (Num. 28:2), supersedes the Sabbath, so too the Passover, in connection with which it says At its appointed time (Num. 9:3), supersedes the Sabbath.

Isidor Kaufmann, The Rabbi

They said to him, "Did we think that something good would come from a Babylonian?
"The heqesh [topical analogy] that you stated can be refuted: What you say of the regular sacrifice, which has a limit [of two per day], you cannot say of [=apply to] the Passover, which has no limit [in the number that may be offered].
"The qal va-homer that you stated can be refuted: What you say of the regular sacrifice, which is of the Most Holy [class of] sacrifices, you cannot say of the Passover, which is of the Lesser Holy sacrifices.
"The gezeira shava that you stated—one may not create a gezeira shava from his own study [but only if he received it as a tradition from his masters]. ..."
Even though he [Hillel] was sitting and expounding for them the whole day, they did not accept it [the ruling] from him until he said to them, "May [harm] befall me if I did not learn thus from Shemaya and Avtalion." As soon as they heard that from him, they rose and appointed him nasi over them.
As soon as they appointed him nasi over them he began to rebuke them with words saying, "What caused your need for this Babylonian [=me]? Is it not that you did not serve the two great men of the world, Shemaya and Avtalion, who were dwelling with you?"
As soon as he rebuked them with words the law was concealed from him.
They said to him, "What will we do for the people—they did not bring their knives?"
He said to them, "This law I heard and forgot. But leave Israel be. If they are not prophets, they are the sons of prophets."
Immediately, he whose Passover was a lamb stuck it [the knife] in its hair. He whose Passover was a kid tied it between its horns. It turned out that their Passovers brought their knives with them.
As soon as he saw the event, he remembered the law. He said, "Thus I learned from Shemaya and Avtalion. 

Isidor Kaufmann, Untitled 

Our final story is also from the New Testament Gospels. Once again it is a story of two rabbis from opposing schools (Jesus and the Pharisees). The Pharisee, Rabbi Nicodemus comes to Rabbi Jesus acknowledging that his miracles (many that had broken the Sabbath) testified to the Divine source of his teaching. This leads to Jesus revealing what he believed the essence of religion to be. Jesus shares his thoughts on what God does for Mankind and what Mankind must do for God. In the following story two rabbis discuss how God chose to show Himself in Scripture past and our present lives.

John 3:1-21

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Isidor Kaufmann, Young Rabbi from N

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Reading Rabbi in the Courts of the Temple, Isidor Kaufmann

In the gospels of Jesus Christ, the talmudim of the ancient Sages and the paintings Isidor Kaufmann we encounter a perspective rarely appreciated by a mass, contemporary audience. Some would say that it has been lost to history. But it has been there throughout the ages waiting to be discovered by spiritual seekers. It waits for seekers like the man blind from birth who grow tired of stumbling through the spiritual darkness. Those who long for God to act in a mighty and healing way, even if it were on the Sabbath. It waits for seekers like Hillel who spend their days and nights diligently searching the Scriptures in search of answers. Those who understand that applying God's word often calls for sacrifice. It waits for seekers like Nicodemus who pursue Jesus Christ as the source of Godly wisdom. Those who discover that God's Spirit is making a new creation through the death of God the Son. As we discovered in Isidor Kaufmann's masterful oil paintings, no two rabbis are the same. The strength of the Rabbinic tradition is the wisdom that emerges from study, debate and discussion. Yet nearly two thousand years ago two rabbis within this tradition but from differing schools of thought came away from a late night conversation believing the same thing. After that evening both Rabbi Jesus and Rabbi Nicodemus understood that the Sabbath and all religious obligations had been made to enhance Mankind's life and not to restrict it. Both rabbis believed that the Messiah had not come to judge Mankind but to save it from judgment. Both understood that this Messiah was Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. So the challenge to us, the readers and viewers, is to read, study, debate, discuss and decide if we too have discovered this long lost treasure that few find.