In Australian rules football there is a shtick that takes place every summer (over the off season). ‘They’ (whoever ‘they’ are) tinker with the rules of the game. Every year the radio waves and dedicated TV shows resurrect the annual conversation that lasts the first three months of the football season about leaving the game alone. Then comes the counter discussion about too many knocks to the head, knees or stomach and how much more that can be done for the future wellbeing of the players. Right on cue come the tough nuts who argue that it’s a rough sport and people make choices to play and they get paid well. And then the parallel discussions about what the fans like to watch, do the changes make the game more watchable, faster, fair etc. etc. etc.
And then, right at the end comes the all-time classic grumpy old fogie who calls the sporting radio show to declare: “I hardly even recognise the game any more, back in my day…..”.
This week I was listening to this type of banter and quickly I found myself siding with the “oh gosh just leave it alone” camp. Suddenly I wasn’t listening to the radio anymore, my mind had decided that now was the perfect time to do some comparative religious thinking and I was thinking about this weeks torah portion. No jokes.
This weeks parshah section (Mishpatim) announces many civic laws, each of which have large sections of Talmudic discussion, argument and interpretation on them (spanning over 500 years). In my thoughts I was wondering what it would be like if Moses walked into a Jewish community today. Would he scratch his head wondering what was going on? Would he be old and grumpy or happy?
As an observant Jew and believer in the transmission methods of our traditions I found myself strangely conservative when it came to football but comfortable with the evolution of Judaism and the Torah method for reapplication as things change. I didn’t understand how I could have such different opinions about two different religions- Football and Judaism.
My conclusion was that the game isn’t changing, its evolving as new realities come to be. Long term impact of head knocks wasn’t a thing that anyone thought about or even considered one hundred years ago and similarly in a world of more finite entertainment people went to watch what was available. As things changed the game evolved. It wasn’t overhauled or revolutionised. You still need to be strong and fit (in fact you need to be even stronger today), you still need to kick the ball in a particular way to count and you need to handball the ball otherwise it’s a throw and ultimately you need to score off the boot. There isn’t a revolution going on, just adaptation within the framework of the game and the changes are necessary.
When I think about Judaism, indeed it has evolved. In fact the Torah itself has a built in system for its evolution so that as things change and new realities on earth are born, we can still live with the intention and purpose of the Torah.
It is most likely that Moses would find some things we do today as odd but I think he would applaud us for discovering how the Torah relates to things he never imagined. He would see how the Torah of his day is in fact a living document that is still being written. Moses would probably love to sit and learn with a 21st century Torah scholar and discover how the game hasn’t changed, it has been developed.