Do You Know Me

My friend, do you know me? I am a Pharisee No, not per the dictionary Which mischaracterizes my beliefs and me For while he keeps the tradition, it's true A Pharisee's an ever-evolving Jew He delves deep into the Talmud to learn the ways to deal with the problems of the world today Thanks to the Pharisees a Jewish-Israeli farmer can halakhically* 'Sabbath-milk' a cow in its barn, or devotedly observe Passover or Yom Kippur be he in the jungle, outer space, or Kuala Lumpur What's more, be it abortion, euthanasia or homosexuality the Talmud treats current issues of controversiality -- A Pharisee views the times in light of the Talmud, you see ~ differentiating his faith from Hebraic-Christianity** ________________________________________________ * halakhically = in accordance with Jewish Law, in this case the laws of the Sabbath ** Practitioners (for a few generations after Jesus Christ) were known as Hebrew-Christians.