Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Philip K. Dick on his discovery of the Torah

“I must admit that when I got into the Torah and discovered the humane elements of this ancient system of beliefs, for me it was probably one of the great moments of my life. And I still read it — I was reading it last night. There is one thing in Deuteronomy where he says, “You must always pay the hired man before sunset. For he is poor and has his heart set on it.” And in the notes Rabbi Hertz has for that, there is: “The workman is so poor that unless he is paid by sunet, he will not be able to buy food for his family.” I just lay there thinking about that, “For he is poor and has his heart set on it.” It is so incredible that we have fallen away from something that was so basic to our civilization, for maybe as many as 2,000 years."
from an interview (his last?)

PKD Fan Group regular Aharon Varady comments:


PKD was using the Hertz Ḥumash. Rabbi Hertz was the former Chief rabbi of Britain and his Ḥumash (the five books: Genesis, Exodus...) was pretty much the standard Hebrew-English volume available in synagogues when I was growing up. It's an interesting edition -- it's probably the first Jewish Hebrew-English ḥumash to include the commentary and scholarship of non-Jews that Rabbi Hertz considered valuable for his modern audience.


Oh and the verse in Deuteronomy is 24:15.

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