From Rabbi Evan Moffic:
Consistency is not just practical. It is sacred.
In the Talmud—the ancient book of Jewish laws and wisdom—the rabbis debate the most important verse of the Bible.
One rabbi says it is the Shema. We know that prayer. Jesus quoted it as well. Taken from Deuteronomy 6:4, it reads, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”
This is a solid answer. Belief in one God is the foundation of the Jewish faith.
Another rabbi suggests, however, that Leviticus 19:18 is the better choice, Known as the golden rule, it reads, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s hard to argue with this answer.
Finally, another sage gives a third option. He quotes an obscure verse from the book of Exodus.
“Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight” (Exodus 29:39), he says, referring to the daily sacrifice offered by the priests every morning and every evening in the Jerusalem Temple.
What a odd choice! It’s like comparing a toaster’s instruction manual to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The third rabbi’s answer doesn’t even seem to be in the same league as the first two.
Yet, all the other rabbis quickly agreed with this final answer!
What were they thinking? They recognized, I think, that the little things are the big things.
It’s easy to be righteous every once in a while. It’s easy to say we believe in God…or promise to live by the golden rule.
It’s another thing to live our values every day. A rainbow is beautiful when it is in the sky. But it is fleeting, soon forgotten.
The sun, however, rises every morning and sets every evening. Like the motions of the sun, God guides us to make our faith constant and consistent.
