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Conclusion

Gabriel Levy
Affiliation:
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
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Summary

In the film A Serious Man, which I noted in Chapter 1 is a key to understanding Judaic systems, Larry Gopnik goes to see three rabbis to try to find out “what HaShem is trying to tell him” by subjecting him to the struggles that frame the film (Coen and Coen 2009: 87). The second rabbi, rabbi Nachtner, begins their session together by answering Larry's question with another question: “How does God speak to us: it's a good question.”

I will return to his answer to this question below, but for now it is sufficient to say that he continually reminds Larry the physicist about the limits to our knowledge. Larry persists in wanting an answer, until finally:

RABBI NACHTNER: The answer! Sure! We all want the answer! But Hashem doesn't owe us the answer, Larry. Hashem doesn't owe us anything. The obligation runs the other way.

LARRY: Why does he make us feel the questions if he's not going to give us any answers?

Rabbi Nachtner smiles at Larry.

RABBI NACHTNER: He hasn't told me.

(Coen and Coen 2009: 89–90)

Like Rabbi Nachtner's parable, much of this book has been about the methodological limitations in studying minds with a mind. This limitation justifies the move we made away from “Platonic” magic languages that confuse us into thinking we know what we are talking about.

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Judaic Technologies of the Word
A Cognitive Analysis of Jewish Cultural Formation
, pp. 175 - 184
Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2012

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  • Conclusion
  • Gabriel Levy, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Book: Judaic Technologies of the Word
  • Online publication: 05 April 2014
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  • Conclusion
  • Gabriel Levy, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Book: Judaic Technologies of the Word
  • Online publication: 05 April 2014
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • Gabriel Levy, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Book: Judaic Technologies of the Word
  • Online publication: 05 April 2014
Available formats
×