The Dust of Your Rabbi

If you're looking for Rob Bell's NOOMA video "Dust" in which he talks about the Jewish rabbinical tradition, go here.

In ancient Israel (Jesus' time, and probably awhile before that) every decent rabbi had at least one disciple. Some had a lot more. Jesus had hundreds, but he was probably an exception. From what I understand, to become a rabbi's disciple you had to prove that you were worthy by memorizing most of the scriptures and studying rabbinical writings enough to satisfy the rabbi's questions in a sort of interview. Once you were accepted by a rabbi you followed him around and tried to mimic everything he did and learn to be just like him. There was a sort of blessing at that time that translates (roughly I'm sure) to, "May you be covered by the dust of your rabbi." This was meant to say that you followed your rabbi so closely that you were covered in the dust his sandals kicked up. Basically, you learned what it meant to be a rabbi and a true follower of God by learning to be exactly like your rabbi in every way. You emulated him completely. You literally learned by following his example. And when the rabbi felt like a disciple could correctly mimic him and carry on his semi-unique personal theology (the word for which translates to "yoke," as in "my yoke is easy and my burden is light") that disciple became a rabbi himself.

This contrasts sharply with today's practice of pastors teaching exclusively through sermons. Sometimes these sermons are about theology, sometimes about practical living. Often they are forgotten quickly and no one ever makes sure that anyone pays attention or learns from these sermons. In fact, I bet that most people don't take away anything from most sermons most of the time. Jesus did preach to his disciples sometimes. But he also taught like a rabbi teaches -- by having his disciples follow him around and learn to be like him. There is a reason that rabbis felt it was necessary to teach by example to such an extreme -- if you don't teach someone expressly what to do in every situation you can't know that they are going to do what you think is right in any given situation. However, times have changed and we no longer believe that it is necessary, or even best, for everyone to have the exact same theology and life style as their pastor. But most of us still believe that our pastors should be leaders and teachers -- otherwise they wouldn't even qualify to preach sermons. Some may argue that all Christians are equal under Christ and so no one should be over another. However, the apostle Paul encourages us to find Christians who are more mature and live better than us to emulate, in a similar way, although not necessarily as extreme, as disciples followed their rabbis. Paul does make sure to say that no one should claim to be following him or another leader, but that everyone should follow Jesus. But in that we should follow the example of those who are closer to following Jesus perfectly to help us follow him better.

So, how many pastors today would be comfortable with some members of their congregation following them around, emulating their actions in order to learn the right way to live? How many pastors are confident that the way they interact with other members of the congregation, relatives, and friends is good and healthy? How many feel that they handle responsibility in work, finances, and home life correctly? I think not many. I think that some level of hands-on experiential teaching, rather than abstract preaching, not only helps teach the "disciple" better, but it also holds the teacher to a higher standard. Now, I think there was probably some arrogance among rabbis in Jesus' day that believed they really had everything right. There should be some middle ground, however, where mature Christians can lead by example even through their faults and mistakes. And I believe that doing so would be better for everyone involved. Everyone knows that pastors today are notorious for preaching one thing and living another, and this would help cure that. Furthermore, most church members today suffer from learning nothing at church and trying to figure out everything about life themselves, leading to isolation, bad choices and theology, and churches made up of individuals feeling totally independent from one another. Disciple-type learning would help those issues as well. I'm not advocating going back to the rabbinical method, but maybe even a few hours a week of learning by example would change the face of the Church in America as a whole as well as the lives of individuals for the better almost across the board. So this is a challenge and a plea to anyone in a position to do so -- please take initiative to teach others through your actions rather than just your words. Find them, don't wait for them to find you -- there are few people who wouldn't love some one to take this type of interest in them, but almost none of us will ask for it.