The warp and the Woof

warp and woof

The essential foundation or base of any structure or organization; from weaving, in which the warp — the threads that run lengthwise — and the woof — the threads that run across — make up the fabric: “The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the warp and woof of the American nation.”

warp and woof. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/warp and woof (accessed: April 01, 2009).

I had an interesting conversation with my friend Yael today and it got me thinking about the warp and the woof of Judaism. The background is that I have been thinking (again) about going to rabbinical school and coming to the conclusion (again) that it's probably not the best place for me. As a friend said a long time ago: "I think you wouldn't learn what you are looking for in Rabbinical school, and the teachers wouldn't know how to teach you." I guess there are not many places to go to school to learn to be a Rabbi-healer, so I've decided I need to figure out what I think a rabbi should know and then put together a plan for learning it.

There are two aspects of my Judaism that make it difficult for me to fit into a standard program. The first is the shamanic way I experience Judaism and texts, as I've written about on this blog. The second is that I tend to approach things from the heart. Jews, especially the Yeshivot here in Jerusalem, tend to hyperfocus on the Talmud. I tend to think of the Talmud as Jewish Koan study and the result is critical thinkers who excel at dissecting texts and arguments in a relatively cold way.

I tend to approach things from my heart which means that I'm more interested in how to connect with the text, if it has power, and how it interacts with my life and thoughts. Talmud study, as I've experienced it so far, is very intellectual by it's nature, so the difficulty is learning to understand the complexity of it without getting lost in the abstract nature of the arguments.

In thinking of what to study, I came up with a list of the major texts: Tanach, Mishnah, Talmud, Shulchan Aruch, Zohar, and Hassidut. I thought to pick a starting point then just start going through the texts. The warp.

Yael looked at it and remarked, well that about covers Judaism. She was right, I had a simple list in which each could be a lifetime's study. She suggested that I pick topics and then follow them across the texts, learning each text as it arose in the context of the issue. The woof.

They are basically two different approaches to the texts. One focuses on how to understand and learn the texts, the other focuses on how to explore issues through the texts. I think they are both valuable, and the question is how to balance them to maximize learning.

I think there are certain texts, like the Mishnah and the Tanach, that are foundational to the whole tradition and need to be read from start to finish. But the Talmud is probably best done by topic.

I need a method for learning texts that results in a compassionate, heart-centered person, rather than a hyper-focusing one. If people have thoughts on how to do that, please let me know.