What is Cubits?
Cubits is a broadcast on religious law, mostly Jewish (i.e.
halakhah), but not exclusively so. If all goes according to plan, I will post a short talk on this site every week or so, all relating in some way to the interface between our lives and religious law.
Why Cubits? Answering this will explain why I think religious law is so important for those of us who believe or want to:
(1) On the one hand, the
cubit is a natural unit of measure, since it is based on the length of the forearm. On the other hand, the cubit is far too rough to evaluate reality in all its intricacy. Religious law, too, is both a natural outgrowth of the human spirit and attempts to measure the unmeasurable universe.
(2) It calls to mind a passage in the Talmud (
Bavli Berakhot 8a): "R' Hiyya b. Ami said in the name of Ulla: From the day that the Temple was destroyed, God has nothing in this world but the four cubits of law." Religious law is, in some way, a manifestation of a higher power, but it is the most material of all manifestations. The paradox of finding God in such a strange place is a central issue behind much of what will appear here.
Why a podcast? Because there is already way too much to read and talk is cheaper. I believe that written words, like the
Written Law, should be taken more seriously than the spoken word. What one writes should be considerably ten times as carefully (this introduction post aside!).
I am involved in a large textual project as well, called
Adashot, and there is some commonality of thought behind the two efforts.
I will try to speak as I normally do in these broadcasts, which means that some jargon might creep in. I'll try to keep track of this and note terms and ideas in this blog.
With that, I encourage you to listen to the broadcasts; I hope they are useful to you.
