Rabbi Jonathan Duker, Talmudic Scholars and Jewish History

Pushing Boundaries with Dr. Thomas R Verny

Rabbi Jonathan Duker grew up near Philadelphia, attended Yehivat Reishit Yerushalayim in the Old City of Jerusalem, earned his BA and MA from Yeshiva University, was ordained as rabbi by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York. In 2004 he emigrated to Israel and subsequently received a degree in Education from Herzog College. He currently serves as an Israel Studies Educator at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, Rabbinic Guide for Camp Yavneh in New Hampshire, and volunteers for the Jewish Marriage department for the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization. Rabbi Duker lives in Beit Shemesh with his wife Susan and their 4 children. He the author of The Spirits Behind the Law: The Talmudic Scholars (2007, Urim Publications) as well as other Talmud based writing.
We started our dialogue by familiarizing us with the terms Talmud and Midrash since in the introduction to his book, Jon states that the scholars of the Talmud and Midrash had an immeasurable impact on Judaism. Jon provides a detailed description of the work that went into writing a biography of the 15 scholars he chose for his book. The Talmud is 2,000 pages long and written in Arameic. It contains a hodgepodge of commentaries on observance, hygiene, legal issues, marriage and even jokes. There are discussions of discussions of discussions. There is no punctuation and often no reference as to who is being quoted. So, his book represents a Herculien achievement.
Rabbi Akiba, originally a simple shepherd, attended school with his son and became one of the foremost Rabbis of antiquity. As an outsider coming to it late in the game, he had something to contribute that the establishment could not.
We also learn that a lot of Jewish ideas spread to much of the world through the teachings of Jesus and Mohamed.
Talking about the different way men and women approach the study of Talmud. Jon tells me that there has been a sociological study done recently about women's Talmud study. The finding was that when men are reading the text together, and they're difficult texts, so you have to really parse out the words, they tend to be more competitive with one another, while women, when they're studying together tend to be more collaborative. Jon’s own experience supports these findings.
Jon also teaches Jewish history to students visiting Israel students from outside of Israel. It's a combination of classroom learning, and on site learning. They visit all sorts of archaeological sites and historical sites, and teach them about the story of the Jewish people. A component of this program is to take certain groups to Poland as there was a lot of Jewish life in Poland, before ghettoes, concentration and extermination camps. I ask him, “How do you keep your face in a benevolent God after Auschwitz?” Hear his most illuminating answer.
My next guest will be Dr. Dean Radin, Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences founded by Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell 50 years ago after the Apollo-14 mission. We shall explore with him consciousness, “presentiment” and psychic espionage and related subjects.
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