Reading 1

• Seven voices: Announcer, Yeshua, Ariel, Rachel, Samuel, Jake and Naomi
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matt.5:3)

Announcer. Good morning and shalom, listeners to GAL Radio, transmitting from our new studios on Beatitude Heights. From where I’m sitting, there’s an enchanting view of the water, vivid blue in this morning sunlight. We welcome again for his weekly talk-back program the distinguished rabbi from Nazareth, Yeshua ben-Yosef. Over to you, Rabbi.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. And shalom to listeners, especially any who are afflicted by ill-health or some other ill-fortune. Our thoughts are certainly with you. Yesterday at the open air meeting we talked about being humble-minded. ‘Poor in spirit’ is not a good rendering of what I was talking about. Oh, looks like we have a caller. This is Ariel, ‘phoning from Joppa, down on the coast. Good morning, Ariel. What’s it like in Joppa?

Ariel from Joppa. Wet and windy, Rabbi . . . and up your way?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Balmy, Ariel, balmy. Makes a person glad to be alive. Go ahead, now.

Ariel from Joppa. I saw in the TV news that you were talking up some quality you called ‘humble-mindedness’. You’re not encouraging our people to be even more submissive to foreign rule, I would hope.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. No, not really talking about that, Ariel. Our relationship with Caesar is an awkward one; everybody knows that. I wasn’t talking yesterday about social/political stuff. I had in mind a kind of inner disposition.

Ariel from Joppa. Not sure I get you; it sounds a bit wimpy to me.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. On the contrary. Let me tell you a story. When I was a kid growing up in Nazareth, an elderly lady called Miriam used to do all sorts of stuff for people. Some of us thought she should be honoured in some way. When she heard about this, she said, “I don’t do this to be noticed. If I get some kind of recognition for it, that will spoil the whole thing. Don’t you understand?” That lady (she has since passed on) was an object lesson to me in being totally free of self-importance . . . not needing to big-note herself like some of our religious leaders. I wish more were like her.

Ariel from Joppa. Ah, some lady, eh?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Indeed, she was, Ariel. My mother used to ask me at bed-time what I wanted of the Lord, and sometimes I would say, “Lord, make me like old Miriam.” Any how, thanks for calling. We have another call waiting. Ah, this is Rachel – from Nazareth, my home town. Hi, Rachel.

Rachel from Nazareth. Rabbi, I think what you were saying about that old lady (who sounds lovely) is more likely to come naturally for women than for men. Men are conditioned to be competitive and aggressive, and to be status-hungry. It’s not entirely their fault; it’s the way they’re brought up. So I wonder if you’re realistic in thinking males can ever be humble-minded in that way.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Good point, Rachel. Maybe it is easier if you’re a woman. All I can say then is ‘Lucky you!’ Yes, it may be hard for men to shake off the need for recognition and importance and all that stuff – but in my view that just means they have to work a bit harder at it than the women! I don’t think it’s easy – for anybody. I’ve never said any of these axioms are easy to follow. I don’t find them so, myself. You may wonder why I took a long time to get started on my teaching. I’ll tell you. Frankly, I figured that if I started to talk like this at twenty, they would have run me out of town. Rachel, we have another call. Bye now. This one is from Samuel – also in Nazareth.

Samuel in Nazareth. Hi, Rabbi. You did get run out of town last year; I was there and saw it all. It was real nasty. You must have been as mad as hell. How did you keep your cool when they did that to you?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Hi, Sam. Good to hear from you. Yes, that was a nasty little incident. I felt a bit hurt by it, but you have to get over these things. Not much point me saying “Blessed are the peace-makers” if I treasure up stuff like this and wait for a chance to even the score. I’ve always thought that if we’re going to make peace in a troubled world, we have to be really good at forgiving. That’s another way of saying that you can ‘heal’ quickly when you’re hurt by someone. We’ll come back to this; I’m talking about it soon. Any how, thanks for the call, and blessings on you. You bear an honoured name, Sam! But I’ll have to say cheerio. We have another on the line. It’s Jake from Tiberias.

Jake from Tiberias. Rabbi, I want to get back to that humble-minded stuff. I think that girl from Nazareth – Rachel was her name – must have had a bad trip with guys. Sounds like a radical feminist to me, who sees us as the cause of all that’s wrong in the world. A bit screwed up, I would say.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Oh, steady on, Jake. You may be misrepresenting her. I’d sooner we don’t try to psychoanalyse callers.

Jake from Tiberas. Well, I just think it’s bloody difficult to be humble-minded. I’m not about to let anyone walk over me. That’s been the problem with us Jews. We’ve let every bloody tyrant in history stomp on us.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Try to listen carefully, Jake. That’s not quite what I had in mind. I guess I was talking about a kind of inner freedom.
Jake from Tiberias. What kind of inner freedom?

Yeshua ben Yosef. It’s a sort of ‘state of mind’, Jake. I’d say freedom from worrying all the time about what others think of me, and from trying to make a name for myself. This freedom is an interior sort of thing, Jake. Like I said, I’m still working at it myself. Good luck with it, Jake! We’ve time for one more call. Who’s this?

Naomi from Jericho. Hello, Rabbi. This is Naomi here, calling from Jericho.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Hello, Naomi, and shalom to you. Nice to hear from you. Your namesake was a noble woman.
Naomi from Jericho I think that was my parents’ idea, rabbi, when they called me by that name. But some think she was a bit of a schemer, don’t they?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Not at all, Naomi. Now, we’ve only a moment or two. What would you like to say?

Naomi from Jericho. I was listening to your chat with Jake. Aren’t you really talking about the opposite of attention-getting? My mother used to say, “Naomi, darling, nobody likes people who are always saying ‘look at me, look at me, look at me’. Settle down, and don’t try to make people notice you. They will notice you then – but for a very different reason.”

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Thanks for that, Naomi. I like it. You sound to me like someone who’s got the message. May the Lord bless you richly, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you – and give you peace.
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Announcer. We have to conclude Torah Talk-back all too soon, but it’s time for the news. Thanks to Rabbi Yeshua ben-Yosef, who’ll be with us at the same time next week. Remember to tune to GAL Radio, transmitting from Beatitude Heights.