(Caveat: I am a gentile. Anything I say here about Jewish practice, theology, or terminology should be read with that understanding. If I get anything wrong, I hope one of our Jewish Prophets will correct me!)

He began by telling a story about a shepherd boy in Bosnia who got bored out in the field by himself day after day, so one day he cried Wolf! and got lots of company....

After he finished the story, he asked: Was it historically accurate? Was it a true story? Does it matter?

The lesson is true whether or not it ever really happened, and this is the kind of truth that he is interested in. He doesn't seek The Truth; in fact, if God is Truth, then we can never understand The Truth.

He seeks truths. Truths can be found in many places, with many faces; one of those places are the texts we call sacred, where we encounter God's nature and desire for us. The community creates the canon of sacred scripture: not by authoring it, but by deciding what is most important. Belonging to a community gives us a lens through which we see the world.

The "most important verse" of the Torah is Leviticus 19:1: "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." That "You" is plural: holiness only makes sense in the context of the community. Religion is corporate by nature, and this is especially true of Judaism: the initial revelation at Sinai was received communally, by all the people at once. The ideal is "Holy Israel".

"Holiness" means "separateness" from what is around them. It structures the world into holy   or  profane, Israel  or  the nations.

How does God create? By separating one thing from the other.

Why is separateness important? Because if you are like everyone else, then you vanish, and your values vanish - then what good are you?

The canon of the Torah was fixed around 444 B.C.E. Before the canon was fixed, if you want to know what to do, you ask God. "She went to seek the Lord", and God answers you.

Once you have a canon, prophecy has to cease, becasue it would damage the sacred scripture.

Once the canon is fixed, if you want to know what to do, you seek God's revelation: you seek the answer through the study of sacred scripture.

Midrash assumes:

• the Torah is accurate, complete, public record, direct revelation of God, and everything in it matters
• Everything in the bible is related because it's all part of God's revelation
• There's always more than one possible explanation. There's often no resolution. Midrash doesn't seek truth; it seeks to teach lessons and life choices.
• Reason unaided by Revelation is fallible. This implies that scripture always trumps reason.
• Midrash is religious, God-centered; its purpose is to enlarge sacred scripture, to expand the text. Its truths are multiple.

Through midrash, in the Mishnah and the Talmud, dialogue can occur among sages across generations.

Once scripture is set, in order to apply it to modern life, you need a method: midrash is that method. It seeks either moral edification, or guidance for life choices.

Judaism's clearcut idea is that people who are pious and who study can divine God's will out of scripture. That's what "continuous revelation" means in Judaism.  The rabbinic myth is that God gave two tovot (torahs?) at Sinai: one written, that ended, and one oral, that is continuous. This is how it can be said that Torah interprets itself: the Torah at Sinai continues.

Rabbi Zaiman says, "I embrace modern scholarship & don't insist on history." Historical accuracy is irrelevant.  The Torah contains moral and ethical lessons; it also contains dietary laws, rituals, hints for behaviors -- things that have to do with being a community, in relationship with each other and with God. Relationships involve responsibilities and commitments; and they are what life is about. Life is a trust, not a gift; you can't refuse it, and it implies commitments.

The Torah is full of stories. Stories are open-ended, and have multiple interpretations. Stories shape a people, who shape the stories.

We did a fascinating exercise with a text from Genesis: the Cain and Abel story. There is actually an omission in the Hebrew text at Gen 4:8:

   The man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD."
2
   Next she bore his brother Abel. Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.
3
   In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the soil,
4
   while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
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   but on Cain and his offering he did not. Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.
6
   So the LORD said to Cain: "Why are you so resentful and crestfallen?
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   2 If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master."
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   Cain said to his brother Abel ... When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Those dots are an actual omission in the text.
So the question is, What did Cain say to Abel?

I asked Rabbi Zaiman about that afterwards: Was this understood as something that was missing, something that had been lost as the Torah was passed down? Or was it a deliberate omission by the original scribes, a sort of "this dialogue intentionally left blank"?

He said, it could have been lost, that's possible; but the point is, it doesn't matter, because God intended  for us to have the Torah we have, including the omission.