ON LESSONS FROM LITERAL OBSERVANCE

WALK IN THEIR SHOES

This book title caught my eye, while browsing through the Amazon Kindle bookstore:

"The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (Kindle Edition)
by A. J. Jacobs"

Here's what the Publisher's Weekly had to say about the title:

"What would it require for a person to live all the commandments of the Bible for an entire year? That is the question that animates this hilarious, quixotic, thought-provoking memoir from Jacobs (The Know-It-All).
He didn't just keep the Bible's better-known moral laws (being honest, tithing to charity and trying to curb his lust), but also the obscure and unfathomable ones: not mixing wool with linen in his clothing; calling the days of the week by their ordinal numbers to avoid voicing the names of pagan gods; trying his hand at a 10-string harp; growing a ZZ Top beard; eating crickets; and paying the babysitter in cash at the end of each work day.
(He considered some rules, such as killing magicians, too legally questionable to uphold.) In his attempts at living the Bible to the letter, Jacobs hits the road in highly entertaining fashion to meet other literalists, including Samaritans in Israel, snake handlers in Appalachia, Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., and biblical creationists in Kentucky.
Throughout his journey, Jacobs comes across as a generous and thoughtful (and, yes, slightly neurotic) participant observer, lacing his story with absurdly funny cultural commentary as well as nuanced insights into the impossible task of biblical literalism. (Oct.)"

The book has over a 160 reader reviews and 4 1/2 star rating on Amazon.

Several thoughts occurred to me as I read this:

1.  Would this make a good reality show on TV?  Would it be popular in a mainstream context?
2.  What if we did a book and/or TV reality show on someone doing the same thing with the world's other major religions:  Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others.
3.  Would that exercise give us a better understanding of the role religion plays in our lives the world over?  What would it teach both grown-ups and kids?

Having read and enjoyed the author's earlier work "The Know-it-all", I knew this would be an interesting read.  So I did order the title for my Kindle, and look forward to thinking more about these questions.

Comments

[jon burg]

Orthodox Jews (myself included) follow all the laws of the bible everyday! We don't when clothes of linen and wool - but this one is pretty easy. Most casual clothes are linen free unless it states otherwise on the label. All suits, coats and formal attire are brought to "shatnez testers" who typically can tell the nature of the fibers in the materials under a microscope.

Additionally, the commandments of the bible are not all that difficult... if you live in NY. Keeping kosher takes care of all the dietary laws. Tithing your produce only applies in Israel, so that takes off many of the other laws. The biblical commentators address many of the other commandments in explaining how they work - for example, you don't have to pay the babysitter everyday because you will typically continue to use their service the next day. Rather, you must only pay them when they have completed their job. As their job is an ongoing one, you pay them on an ongoing basis based on a co-agreed upon agreement. I pay the babysitter every week. We pay the handyman however, as soon as he finishes the job - it's called a check.

You can be clean shaven and adhere to the biblical laws. The law is that you cannot round off the corners of your head (shave) with a razor. This means using a direct blade. If however, there is a seperation, such as is the case with an electric shaver, this is totally adherent to the laws of the bible.

Yes, this would make for an interesting reality show, but it would also be kind of rediculous as there is already a significant population working and living as part of the broader society that adheres to these laws.

[Alex Tolley]

jon burg: The rules you live by are those that are defined by consensus of the rabbis. A case in point about kosher rules. The rule states that you may only eat fish with fins and scales. When I was a child, my rabbi insisted that eels were not kosher - no scales. I brought him proof that eels had scales, just very small ones. He refused to believe that he was wrong and it was the first crack that lead me away to a rational life.

In a similar vein, the contortions that are used to justify the actions that are considered "work" or not for the Sabbath are almost laughable. My sense is that the rules are make so that the Sabbath rituals can be maintained.

As regards the idea of Jacobs' travels being an interesting topic of a documentary, maybe. I think what would be more interesting is to use an anthropological approach and show how many of our behaviors and beliefs are rooted in religious practices. Understanding that for different peoples around the world would be quite interesting to me.