How is this shiur different? Usually, we talk about the giving of the law, the joys of following Torah, and manifestations of the law and Torah morality in our daily lives. Tonight we are going to explore the opposite - the undercurrent of trangression - breaking the law - through some pretty crazy stories, from the Talmud to Larry David, in his hit show Curb Your Enthusiasm. The more I dive into this, the more I realize how subversive the Talmud and it's characters can be, and, surprisingly, how traditionally Jewish Larry turns out to be, when viewed through this lens.
So this will be a shiur in five acts, each one a story of transgression. Let's get started with Curb
Act 1: Larry David, the Pragmatist
So to set the scene, Larry David is hosting an Orthodox man and his daughter in a ski. lodge, in a hare brained attempt to move his friend Richard Lewis (olov hashalom) up the list to receive a kidney transplant by ingratiating himself with the head of the kidney donation program, who happens to be frum....
Larry is on a ski lift with the daughter of the man, an Orthodox woman, it's cold, the sun is setting, and the lift gets stuck. In true Larry David fashion, he has an "unorthodox" snack in his pocket...
Shkiyas HaChamah (Curb 5:8)
Larry: Oh, you've gotta be kidding me.
Woman: What's going on?
Larry: Don't worry. It happens all the time. Should only be a few minutes.
Woman: It's been 15 minutes already.
Larry: What's going on?
Woman: Shkiyas hachama. That's what's going on here.
Larry: What?
Woman: Shkiyas hachama. Sundown. I can't be here alone with you after sundown.
Larry: Why not?
Woman: Because you're a man and I'm a single woman.
L: So?
W: So it's not allowed.
L: Who says so?
W: The law, the Torah says so. Hashem says so.
L: Hashem?
W: Do you know anything?
L: No, Hashem, I know. Anyway, it's okay. There's extenuating circumstances here.
W: No such thing as extenuating circumstances.
L: Well, you got another half hour.
W: 5:41. Shkiyas hachama is at 5:41.
L: All right well, that's a half hour. Fine. They'll fix it. Freezing! I'm hungry too. You hungry?
W: Yes, I'm very hungry.
L: What the heck is this? Hey! Edible underwear! I must... the private investigator... when I went... Unreal! They're not bad. How much time do we have left... Want some?
W: No, thank you.
L: Take a bite.
W: I'm fine please.
L: Take a bite.
W: Move that away from me. Just tell me how much time we have left.
L: Well, I think you got about two minutes.
W: Oh. Somebody's gonna have to jump.
L: Oh, stop.
W: Stop what? I can't be here with you after sundown! There's no other way. Somebody's gonna have to jump! You're gonna have to jump! Are you gonna jump?
L: What, are you fսck¡ng nuts? What? What are you doing? No, no!
W: Hold my phone.
L: Are you crazy? Are you insane?
So, a few questions to start the discussion:
1. What is the transgression?
2. Who is the transgressor?
3. Who, or what, are they transgressing against?
4. What injustice or hypocrisy is the transgressor exposing?
5. What additional layers of understanding does the context add?
5. Why is this a Jewish moment?
Act 2: Rami Bar Tamrei, the Contrarian
Eating udders is problematic halachically, because they are meat, but may also contain milk (and besides, who really wants to eat an udder - just the thoiught provokes udder disgust...). Our next transgressor / hero, Rami bar Tamrei happen upon a pile of udders disposed from preparations for the pre Yom Kippur feast in Sura, where they don't eat udders. He sees this as his big chance to really shake things up, and drop some Pumbedita wisdom....
For some context, Sura and Pumbedita were rival academies in the period of the creation of the Talmud. Sura, one of the largest cities in Babylon was known to be more cosmopolitan, and it's inhabitants were known for chicanery and sharp business dealings. Pumbedita, modern day Fallujah, was better known for highly intellectual debate, and hair splitting logic.
So Rami bar Tamrei strikes me as the Talmud's Larry David. He argues for the sake of argument. He questions not so much authority, as convention. Rami was very intentional in his choice of which mitzvot to transgress. He clearly had a point to prove about the supremacy of Pumbedita, and his unwillingness to conform with local tradition. But was he rebelling against something more personal? Was he saying to Hisda - stop judging me. Was he trying to expose the hypocrisy of those who would flog a man for disrespecting elders? Was he disrespecting elders? Or was he a prototypical secular Talmud scholar, struggling to live with a dissonance between his love for Torah study and his lack of personal observance? Is he making a point how scholarship can trump observance? And is that a good thing?
Act 3: Elisha ben Abuyah, the Other
Elisha was the original heretic. He entered the PARDES with three other sages, to observe the deepest secrets of the creation. Of the four, Ben Azzai "peeked and died". Ben Zoma lost his mind. Elisha ben Abuyah "cut down the saplings", - i.e. became a heretic, and only Rabbi Akiva came out in peace. So what did Elisha see, and what did it do to his spiritual world? And did he want to repent?
For context, Elisha be Abuyah lived in a time of great upheaval and tragedy for the Jewish people. His contemporary, R. Akiva, went on to support the Bar Kochba revolt. Elisha himself , according to some sources, was complicit in the Roman persecution of the Jews.
Notice the poignant interaction between Elisha and the prostitute. Two transgressors, two "others". Does Elisha really "enjoy" the material world the way he intended to? What system was he critiquing? Did he have an alternate vision? Why did he tell R. Meir to turn back? What could have made Elisha's heresy so profound that all others could repent except for him? Are some transgressions unforgivable?
Act 4: Larry David, Tradition!
In the next source, Larry David is walking out of the optometrist, and can't see well because he had his pupils dilated for the exam. He inadvertantly bumps into a white supremacist carrying a coffee, and causes the coffee to spill on the Klansman's white robe....
Klansman: Son of a... Geez! ...b¡tch!
Larry David: Oh, my gosh.
K: Dude, what are you doing man?
LD: Sorry. I'm so sorry. So sorry.
K: Look at this. Come on, dude.
LD: I'm so sorry. I just came from the eye doctor. They dilated my pupils. And everything's kinda-- I didn't see you.
K: Well, look at that. This is totally ruined. I can't believe this is happening. I'm screwed for today. What am I supposed to do?
LD: You can't wear that anymore!
K: Would you go to an event like this?
LD: Oh, yeah. You got the rally.
K: Yeah. I got the rally today.
LD: You can't wear that to a rally.
K: No, I can't. Are you kidding? No. No way.
LD: Can't you just get a sheet?
K: No, I don't wanna wear a fսck¡ng sheet. It's not a sheet anyway. This is a robe. Feel it.
I can't afford to go get another one of these.
LD: But what about just temporarily? Put a sheet on just for today.
K: No, I'm not gonna wear a sheet!
LD: It's like a spare tire, you know.
K: No, I can't do that. That's total amateur, man.
LD: Yeah. Yeah. You gotta get that cleaned. It's really a shame. Yeah. I'll tell you what I could do. Take it to the dry cleaners, they can get that out.
K: But I've got a rally in Tucson and one in Santa Fe coming up. And those things are the real deal. They're the big ones.
LD: Okay. So when do you need it by?
K: Two days.
LD: How about this, you know? For the rally today, you know, you go robe-less, it's not the end of the world. And then, um, you'll have that robe spanking clean in two days.
K: You promise?
LD: I don't know, why do they make these white anyway? They stain so easily, you guys, you're out all the time in the fields, with the burning, and the ashes, you must spend a lot of money at the cleaners for this thing.
K: Well, it's tradition. You know tradition?
LD: Of course. "Who, day and night, must scramble for a living, feed the wife and children, say his daily prayers?"
K: Yes.
LD: "Who has the right, as master of the house, to have the final word at home? The papa! Tradition."
K: Tradition. Yeah, exactly.
LD: If I was starting your organization, I would've opted for a black robe.
K: You can't see black in the middle of the night.
LD: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right. You wanna see the white. Got you. I'll give you my phone, you write your number in here.
K: Okay.
LD: Just put it in there.
Rally Attendee: Hurrah! Hurrah!
K: Stay strong! Stay strong, brother.
K: White is right!
LD: You should call me—
K: Great. Thank you so much.
LD: Okay. Sure. Yeah. Let's get this, uh, taken care of. Again, I-- My apologies. And you have my word, on my honor. You will have this robe for your hate rallies in Tucson and Santa Fe.
K: All right. Hey, thanks. I really appreciate it.
LD: Yeah. Sure.
K: I really appreciate it.
LD: Yeah.
K: And hey, uh, no starch, no crease, please.
LD: No starch in the robe?
K: Right.
So here Larry turns the Klansman into the ultimate straight man. He is clearly. messing with his head, and the Klansman is too sincere, too Not - Jewish to pick up on the fact that Larry is making fun of him. But does Larry actually try to find common ground? Is he doing "hafuch al hafuch", as they say in Hebrew, and sending up our fealty to tradition? What vision of Jewishness is Larry poking holes in? Is he possibly pointing to an alternative?
A much more disturbing reading - is he trying to contain the Klansman's racist towards black people, and trying to assimilate into whiteness? Or is he pointing out that tendency?
Act 5: R' Hiya Bar Ashi in a Case of Mistaken Identity
There are two parallel stories here - Hiyya is fighting this spiritual battle with his Yetzer, his religious framework, and his God. His wife, on the other hand, feels ignored. She just wants her Hiyya, who has been ignoring her for years. Is a transgression the only way to shake up both their worlds? Why is there no repentance? Did Hiyya really transgress? Or was he such a nebech that he was consumed with guilt for a sin that was fake?
Summary
I don't want anyone to leave this shiur thinking that it's a good idea to go out and transgress. However - sometimes there really isn't a better way to probe the deeper levels of why we do what we do, and why we believe what we believe. When that voice inside of you wants to transgress - give it some space.Listen to it. What is your inner Larry David, Rami bar Tamrei, Elisha ben Abuyah or Haruta trying to tell you?