The Talmud relates that during the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai escaped from the city to meet the conqueror Vespasian, the soon-to-be emperor of Rome. Recognizing that Jerusalem was doomed for destruction, Yochanan pleaded for the opportunity to spare the town of Yavneh and its leadership. This pragmatic request allowed the rabbis to rebuild Judaism after the destruction of the Temple (B.T. Gittin 56).
It is from this narrative that Rabbi Marc Katz of Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey builds the argument of his newest book, Yochanan’s Gamble. Katz asserts that the rabbis were the ultimate pragmatists. His review of rabbinic pragmatism is unique, because while most books on the subject rely on the stories of the Talmud as proof texts, Katz mines both rabbinic narratives and law. His conclusion suggests that the “rabbis privileged compromise and subtlety over intransigence and stridency.” Yochanan’s Gamble “recasts the pragmatic strain of rabbinic thought as an authentic Jewish strategy we too can employ to add nuance to our moral decision making.” Katz’s argument evolves in nine chapters, each of which draws on examples from rabbinic sources to demonstrate how the rabbis navigated the world with pragmatism — while also recognizing the danger of its misuse.
In chapter three, Katz considers a kind of pragmatism that should guide us in matters of rebuke. While the Torah demands that we “not hate your kinsman in your heart. Reprove your kinsman but incur no guilt on their account” (Leviticus 19:17), an interchange between Rabbis Zeira and Shimon suggests that this commandment is flexible. When Rabbi Zeira confronts his teacher, Rabbi Shimon, about rebuking the Exilarch, the leader of the Jewish community in Babylonia, Rabbi Shimon refuses, fearing that such an act would cause more damage than good (B.T. Shabbat 55a). In a later passage, despite the Torah commandment, and in agreement with Rabbi Shimon, the rabbis state that “just as it is a mitzvah for a person to say that which will be heeded, so is it a mitzvah for a person not to say that which will not be heeded” (B.T. Yevamot 65b).
How the rabbis balance the sanctity of the Torah and innovative interpretation that remains “authentic and authoritative” is the focus of chapter seven. Katz explains that the rabbis often employed “creative mis-readings” of biblical texts. When Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah were lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem, and Rabbi Joshua emphasized that atonement was now impossible, Rabbi Yochanan performed a non-contextual reading of Hosea chapter 6, verse 6 to prove that acts of gemilut hasadim, lovingkindness, can still bring atonement (Avot D’Rabbi Natan 4:5).
Yochanan’s Gamble offers readers a valuable window into rabbinic innovation. It allows us to see the ways in which traditional Jewish thought is committed to ensuring that the Jewish people can adequately respond to the demands of a given moment. Katz’s book is simultaneously valuable to readers with prior knowledge of Jewish texts and accessible to beginners who are willing to take a deep dive into the world of the rabbis.
