Who is Nehemia Gordon?
Nehemia Gordon was born in Chicago in 1972 to an Orthodox Jewish family. He tells the story that he learned to refuse the authority of the rabbis when he realized that they tried to put the authority of God behind their religious prescriptions. For example, the blessing for lighting candles on Chanukah is given the expression Blessed are you, Lord our God, who... commanded us to light Chanukah candles בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה אֱלֹהֵ֫ינוּ מֶ֫לֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר... צִוָּ֫נוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל חֲנֻכָּה. Since Chanukah was not in the Bible, it wasn’t part of the commandments that Moses received on Sinai; therefore, there is no commandment in the Bible to light Chanukah candles. Why would we say a blessing that claims that God himself commanded us to do such a thing? This type of thinking led Gordon to abandon what he calls “modern Phariseeism,” and he became a Karaite Jew.
The term “Karaite” is from Hebrew קָרָאִי (Qārāʾî), based on the root ק.ר.א (quf-resh-alef) that bears the meaning of “reading.” The Hebrew word for “Scripture” is מִקְרָא (miqrāʾ), which is also based on this root. Therefore, Karaite essentially means that they believe sola Scriptura, like the Christian reformers claimed to believe. Karaites believe only in the written text of the Bible. They reject the Oral Torah and say that the whole revelation of God is contained in the books of the Tanach (“the Old Testament”).
This is not a bad thing on its own. I have no problem with someone declaring that they do not believe in Oral Torah. I find his argument on this matter convincing enough. We should all understand the development of rabbinic law and that it wasn’t really the ancient way that people understood their Jewish identity.
It seems to me, though, that Gordon exaggerates his experience with observant Judaism. He says that he was raised in a religious family, but on his Matthew 23 video, he demonstrates handwashing as an example of תַּקָּנוֹת (taqqānôṯ), religious institutions of the rabbis. The problem is that he doesn’t even perform the handwashing ritual properly according to Orthodox Judaism. When you wash your hands, you always begin by washing the right hand. This is written in all instances of discussion of handwashing within Jewish law. The Kitsur Shulchan Aruch (§2.2) says it this way:
נְטִילַת יָדַיִם שַׁחֲרִית הוּא בְּדֶרֶךְ זֶה: נוֹטֵל אֶת הַכְּלִי בְּיַד יְמִינוֹ וְנוֹתְנוֹ לִשְׂמֹאלוֹ וְשׁוֹפֵךְ תְּחִלָּה עַל יַד יְמִין וְאַחַר כָּךְ נוֹטֵל אֶת הַכְּלִי בִּימִינוֹ וְשׁוֹפֵךְ עַל יַד שְׂמֹאל וְכֵן יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלֹשׁ פְּעָמִים.
“The morning handwashing ritual is done in this way: You take the vessel with your right hand, pass it to your left and pour it first on the right hand. Afterwards you take it with your right hand and pour it on your left. You do this three times.”
In his one demonstration of how to perform religious rituals according to rabbinic order, Nehemia Gordon clearly stated that you wash your left hand first. This is a ritual that is done in Orthodox households when you wake up in the morning and before any meal at which bread is served. At least three times a day, every Orthodox Jew washes his hands according to this ritual (with a slight variation between the morning ritual and the pre-meal ritual). There is no way that someone who lived according to Orthodox law and understood it would demonstrate the ritual incorrectly. This calls part of his personal story into question. To what extent did he ever live according to Orthodox law? At what early age did he decide that the tradition wasn’t right? It’s fine for him to take any position that he wishes on the issues, but he should be clearer about the level of observance he once kept.
This is really a minor issue, but it is related to the lack of precision that we see throughout his arguments. Nehemia Gordon is a Karaite Jew who writes books and gives lectures that are mostly read/attended by Messianics who are interested in getting some kind of historical Jewish perspective on the life and teachings of Jesus [or Yeshua יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēšûaʿ)]. I have no problem with the idea of writing for lay audiences. Some of the best science writing is aimed at non-scientific audiences, and the ability to simplify complex ideas into palatable truths is worthy of praise. However, what Nehemia Gordon is telling people about the name יהוה is more sensationalist than academic. Some of what he says is correct, which makes the other parts believable. My interest is to present what is correct and what is incorrect in what he presents.
Who Am I and Why Am I Ranting?
Like Nehemia Gordon, I am not a traditionalist Jew. In fact, my interest in Judaism is mostly related to the language of the Bible. I do rituals that I find meaningful to my life. I celebrate the Jewish holidays and light Shabbat candles – because these things bring structure and meaning to my life. I do not say daily prayers, though I participate in communal prayers when I feel the desire to do so. I do not feel obligated to observe religious strictures, and I don’t believe that revealed religions are true. I identify as a Jew (who lives in Israel) from a secular point of view.
I have named this blog “Jehovah Rants” because I imagine that I will come across as harping on minutiae by the average reader. I will appear to be ranting against the name Jehovah as I try to show why Nehemia Gordon’s arguments are incorrect and why he doesn’t take everything into account when he makes his pronouncements.
Pragmatic Pronunciation of the Letter ו Vav
Note that I use modern Hebrew pronunciation when I read and speak Hebrew, so I will use v for the letter ו vav in any academic style transcriptions that I do. Just as I say mitzvah for מִצְוָה (miṣvâ), for example, even though I understand that the letter was pronounced as a w in the earlier periods of the language. I’m convinced that it had become a v sound by the Second Temple period, since the name דָּוִד (Dāvīḏ) appears in Septuagint (LXX) and New Testament (NT) Greek as Δαυίδ and Δαβίδ, both of which have a v sound in the middle. Even if I am wrong, my pronunciation is consistent.
