The Oven of Akhnai

A traditional Jewish story from the Talmud, retold by Maggid Jim Brulé.
Told as part of the Artists Standing Strong Together (ASST) Sacred Storytelling for October, 2021.
For more information visit transformationalstorytelling.org

[@hva22]

Jim, don’t we agree our Creator is the One who is Exalted, the Almighty, the Master of the Day of Judgement?
If so, then how can it make sense that our Creator admits defeat to creation, weeping in doing so? This is something that seems insulting to our Creator.

[@JimBrule]

Thank you for your comment and question!
It is the beauty of this tradition that we are invited - many say obligated - to hold these apparent contradictions simultaneously, and to find the greater truth that lays above / beneath / around them.
How can one - Creator or otherwise - be both victor and victim? How can one - Creator or otherwise - be filled with joy and pain?
If we are truly b'tzelem elokhim - made in the Divine Image - then understanding how these apparent contradictions can be simultaneously true gives us great insight into our lives, and Divine Love.
❤