Musings on the Inadequacy of Internet Research

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Artwork: Mind's Desire, by Minttu Hynninen

Musings on the Inadequacy of Internet Research

A student of mine told me he heard that the Sanskrit greeting “namaste” means “the god in me sees the god in you.” He wondered whether it would be problematic to use this phrase. I did some “Google research” on the translation and encountered a variety of opinions, ranging from the neutral “hello,” “salutations,” and “greetings to you” to the more colorful “my soul recognizes your soul,” “I honor the place in you where the entire universe dwells,” and “I bow to the place in you that is love, light, and joy.”

I remembered that I’m Facebook friends with Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill, scholar of religion and author of A Rabbi on the Ganges: A Jewish-Hindu Encounter. I figured he’d know what “namaste” meant and could weigh in on my student’s question. Here is his response, with my translations and additions added in parentheses:

Namah, the root of namaste, means “I bow to you,” basically meaning, "salutation." All of Asia bows to the other person as a greeting. It is halakhically like “adios” ("God be with you") or “goodbye” (“God be with you”). We pasken (rule) that you can say goodbye and adios. The Nesivos (Rabbi Yaakov Lorberbaum, 1760-1832 C.E.) makes it assur (prohibited) but our poskim (adjudicators), allow you to say “goodbye.” If you Google namaste you will find lots of derashot (homiletics) from Indian religions but they go beyond the peshat (literal meaning).

His response reminded me of how easy it is for concepts from different religions and cultures to get lost in translation [1], and how difficult it is for laypeople to conduct research on the internet. This, in turn, made me realize how difficult it is even for Jews to understand our own religion, and how easy it is for our own concepts to get lost in translation. This is certainly true for the layperson who, upon Googling any question about Judaism, will be confronted with a multiplicity of true and false opinions, and who will have no reliable means by which to independently assess or weigh the results. Sadly, this is also true of those who regard themselves as “intellectuals” but who are just as incapable of conducting responsible research, whether due to the lack of adequate training, or to the distorting influence of their personal biases intermingled with ideas and values from other cultures, or to intellectual hubris, dishonest, and laziness.

And yet, what can we expect people to do? Admit that they aren’t sufficiently qualified? Devote years of learning and training to becoming qualified? Forego the instant gratification of a Google search to engage in serious dialogue with experts? This problem isn’t new. Rambam (Moreh ha’Nevuchim 1:34) described the same phenomenon 800 years ago:

Now if you awaken a man, even though he were the dullest of all people … and if you were to ask him whether he desired at that moment to have knowledge of [the secrets of reality] … he would undoubtedly answer you in the affirmative … but he would wish this desire to be satisfied and the knowledge of all this to be achieved by means of one or two words that you would say to him. If, however, you would lay upon him the obligation to leave his job for a week in order to understand all this, he would not do it, but would be satisfied with deceptive imaginings through which his soul would be set at ease. He would also dislike being told that there is a thing whose knowledge requires many premises and a long time for investigation.

What alarmed me most about my “research” into namaste was how readily I fell into this trap. I would never content myself with such superficial research on a Jewish topic – and yet, with a non-Jewish topic, I was content with a simple search. Google might be trustworthy when it comes to checking simple facts, but true understanding is a different matter. Where does this leave us? How are we to go about researching questions of this nature? I honestly don’t know. We have limited time, and much to learn.

[1] Wolves. Ve’ha’mevin yavin.

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