The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family

Ruben and Ben-Zion walk over to the seminary for Ben-Zion’s experimental Bible lesson. Along the way, Ruben worries about Ben-Zion’s feet getting cold because he is only wearing loafers. For Ben-Zion the worrying is an affront: In comparison to what Jews suffered in Nazi concentration camps, his feet are fine. Along the way, Ben-Zion comments on the inanity of his teaching a Bible class simply because he is a Jew. Before entering the seminary, Ruben and Ben-Zion run into Dr. Huggles the theology professor. Ben-Zion asks Dr. Huggles where a certain verse is located in the Bible and quotes the verse, claiming he is speaking Hebrew when he actually is speaking Yiddish. Dr. Huggles can’t tell the difference and just agrees with Ben-Zion’s assumption the verse is from Exodus.

When Ben-Zion begins his Bible lesson, he first has the students question the veracity of the Bible, agreeing that it relies on perpetual transmission throughout the ages. The Jews were those who transmitted the Old Testament. Then the Jews realized through subsequent periods of subjugation that the importance of scripture lies not in how it was handed down but in its interpretation, hence the Talmud. Zion was once a real place historically but moved into myth.