Is it at
all reasonable to trust a tradition claiming to go back 3,600 years?
Since 60 x 60 = 3,600 , a chain of 60 links
of traditional transmission of 60 years each can reach from Abraham to the
present.
Explanation: If children of 10 years old
learn from grandparents and teachers (rebbes) 70
years old, or young people 20 years old learn from those who are 80, then there
is 60 years difference between them, and one can see this as a link in a chain
where each link spans 60 years. 60 such links of 60 years is 3,600 years, so if
we go back 60 links in the chain of this type of transmission of tradition we
get to a time between Abraham and Moses (Moshe Rabbenu).
Actually, since the Patriarchs (avos)
lived long, and Mosh Rabbenu
taught until 120, and Noach and his son Shem lived
very long, the amount of links is less, so 60 links would take us to Shem and Noach.
So, imagine a chain of 60 people spanning the millenia:
I am at the end of the chain, at the beginning end
is Noach, or Shem or Avraham avinu;
they are transmitting the Torah to the next link, who studies it for 60 years
until they pass it on to the next link, who studies it for 60 years and so on
down the chain ..... and only about 60 links down from
the beginning are my grandparents, my uncles, my teachers, myself.
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