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Mainstream rabbinic Judaism has traditionally focused on inculcating strict adherence to the laws and commandments handed down from the time of Moses through the written and oral ‘Torah’. As a consequence, Jewish scholars as in the case of Rabbi Simeon appear to have neglected the essence of compassion and of other relevant spiritual attributes associated with establishing a deeper relationship with God.
For Rabbi Simeon, the teachings regarding the covenant with God must have hardened his heart in effect so that instead of becoming spirit-filled, the godliness which he has come to discover and adopt for himself is one that shields with purity in terms of severe criticisms. This story reflects how Judaism responds to disability with respect to the influence of the overall view of the community. In Jewish societies, the collective public, apparently, possesses the power to classify the position or status of an individual with disability.
Bearing the central text of conventional Judaism which highly accounts for the rabbinic discourse of Jewish law, philosophy, and ethics comprising the heart of its religious customs, the ‘Talmud’ necessitates how the rabbinic substance is translated from the principle at the thought and study into actualization.
Hence, it is of profound significance to illustrate physical descriptions of the Rabbis, for their appearance would normally testify to the sacred difference it makes to live a life of struggle with physical sufferings at depth, believing that it primarily transforms the worldly nature of man into a spiritual character. The similar trait which manifests in the inflictions of Nahum upon himself evidently complies with this chief aspect of ‘The Talmud’ that rests on the principle of prophetic enlightenment where the intended function of Judaism is to purge the weak human nature and achieve a divine state of being by means of undergoing miseries or corporal pain as perceived through the physical deformations in Rabbis.
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