Every volume of Talmud begins on page 2. The final page of Tractate Yevamot is 122B, but that daunting tome comprises only 121 folios. One who masters its contents must nevertheless concede not ever having finished page 1. American naval hero John Paul Jones declared, “I have not yet begun to fight!” – though that was not literally true. The curious pagination of the Talmud is a subtle reminder to even the most accomplished scholar that “I have not yet begun to learn!”
The same lesson is inherent in the fact that the name of God is unknown to us. Even after lifetimes of piety and theological speculation, Jewish Tradition compels us to admit we do not know the first thing about God. Not even God’s name. Thus the wistful divine appellation “Hashem” – meaning simply “The Name.
Daniel Krauthammer, son of syndicated columnist (and patron of Jewish learning) Charles Krauthammer, eulogized his father, extolling “his most firmly held belief: that the very nature of human understanding is limited, that we must have not only humility, but also reverence in the face of the great unknowns that lie before us and that we will never know.
Let’s make sure we’re all on the same page: true scholarship, wisdom, and faith reside in acknowledging how little we know.
(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)
Every volume of Talmud begins on page 2. The final page of Tractate Yevamot is 122B, but that daunting tome comprises only 121 folios. One who masters its contents must nevertheless concede not ever having finished page 1. American naval hero John Paul Jones declared, “I have not yet begun to fight!” – though that was not literally true. The curious pagination of the Talmud is a subtle reminder to even the most accomplished scholar that “I have not yet begun to learn!”