Hateful custom

It is said that a young pagan once accosted the great Jewish scholar Rabbi Hillel, who lived about the 1st century. "Rabbi,” said the young man, "I am prepared to convert to Judaism if you can explain the entire Torah (the book of Jewish religious law) to me while standing on one leg.”

Standing on one leg, Hillel, in the tradition of Judaic Midrash (the personal spiritual struggle to find the true meaning in scriptural texts), replied: "If there is something that you would find hateful if it is done to you, do not do that to someone else. That is the entire Torah. The rest is commentary.” Then sternly he said, "Go, study it.”

While Hillel’s summary of the Torah may have been intentionally provocative in its brevity, leaving out the first and great commandment relating to our duty to God and mentioning only the second of the great commandments (albeit in negative terms), it is useful as a standard set by another great religion in defining our approach to some of the "religious” situations we face by the mere fact of being born Parsis.

The last time I attended the death ceremony of a Parsi friend at Doonger­wadi (I now sincerely hope it is the last time) I met a non-Parsi couple (friends) coming away from the venue as I was walking to it. "I hope you haven’t forgotten your black cap, Cyrus,” my friend called out. While not intended to be hurtful, the comment was telling. Moving further I met a group of non-Parsi friends standing outside the venue, not knowing what to do. How does one proceed unabashedly to join an "exclusive” group "inside” when one’s friends are obliged to stand outside?

Is there some way of explaining to a non-Parsi that our "religion” decrees that close friends or even a spouse or relative are not permitted to pay their last respects to the deceased if they are non-Parsis when others who are virtual strangers or may perhaps be indifferent or even inimical to the deceased, merely by virtue of being Parsis, are in attendance under the aegis of two priests attended by a dog? (It seems a dog may be present but not a non-Parsi.)

I would like the six revered High Priests of the Parsis, assembled at one place and each standing on one leg, to explain whether this amounts to a good thought, a good word or a good deed because if any part of it does not align with the moral code that we so piously profess, or in Hillel’s words amounts to doing something "hateful to others,” it is certain that it must be ruthlessly excised if we want others to respect the Zoroastrian religion.

CYRUS S. RUTTONSHA

cyrusruttonsha@hotmail.com