[reuven]

Actually, there's a famous story in the Talmud of a rabbinical debate in which the rabbis argue about whether a certain oven is kosher or not. At the end of the story, one of the rabbis is told that God's reaction to this debate is, "My children have defeated me."

The Jewish attitude is that God wants us to debate these laws, and that if we come up with interpretations that seem counter to the literal verses in the Bible, then that's totally OK. The rules were given to people to interpret, and now it's up to us to do that as accurately as possible.

[cssmoo]

Actually that's really interesting. Thanks for the detailed reply.

[ZanyProgrammer]

Except for Karaites...

[reuven]

Ya know, we were always taught about Karaites in school, but I didn't realize that they still existed until about 20 years ago, when a friend mentioned that he knew one.

There is a Karaite community in Israel, and I've read some fascinating newspaper articles about them. Claiming that they only accept the literal word of the Bible, without any interpretation, is a bit far-fetched, given that the Bible is so ambiguous and self-contradictory. But some of their interpretations, such as the date of the Shavuot holiday, are pretty reasonable -- except that Jews have basically voted with their feet to reject those interpretations.

I think that Karaites are pretty cool, even if (or perhaps because) they're not mainstream. And they demonstrate, I think, Judaism's penchant for pluralism.

[ZanyProgrammer]

There's one nearby in Daly City, CA. Though alas being LGBT I don't think there's any analogue to Reform Karaism!