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Jan. 22nd, 2009 10:39 pmI have not been following The Great Cultural Appropriation Debate, round whatever this is, already, but you should all read this post, by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nextian:
What we have are, essentially, four books. We have the Nevi'im and the Ketuvim, our prophets and our poetry and the history we remember. We have the Talmud -- the Mishnah and the Gemarah -- and the commentary that sprung up around it, those footnotes that pile on footnotes and ideas that pile on ideas, divinely inspired or not. And we have the Torah, our beating heart.
Out of four books, you call three of them your own.
* * *
Every now and then, a well-meaning student or colleague will invite me to a Christian service -- evensong for the music, for example. And I will make some kind of excuse, which is nicer than saying what I really think, which is that sitting through a Christian service (for me) is like meeting someone who is wearing jewellery that belonged to your mother or grandmother, and was stolen years ago. Because that would make people uncomfortable, even though it's true: that history is there, it isn't dead.
nextian:What we have are, essentially, four books. We have the Nevi'im and the Ketuvim, our prophets and our poetry and the history we remember. We have the Talmud -- the Mishnah and the Gemarah -- and the commentary that sprung up around it, those footnotes that pile on footnotes and ideas that pile on ideas, divinely inspired or not. And we have the Torah, our beating heart.
Out of four books, you call three of them your own.
* * *
Every now and then, a well-meaning student or colleague will invite me to a Christian service -- evensong for the music, for example. And I will make some kind of excuse, which is nicer than saying what I really think, which is that sitting through a Christian service (for me) is like meeting someone who is wearing jewellery that belonged to your mother or grandmother, and was stolen years ago. Because that would make people uncomfortable, even though it's true: that history is there, it isn't dead.
