DEUT668 Why do we [i.e., the Jewish people - AJL] need to hold together in the first place? That is, why is Kelal Yisrael, the Jewish community as a whole, a value for the Jewish tradition and for us? The need for unity is, in part, political and social. Only a cohesive community can prevent anarchy and plan joint action to protect and enhance Jewish life. For the Rabbis, though, the motivation is also theological. A play on words based on Deuteronomy 14:1 leads the Rabbis to the principle that Jews should not split into factions. Sifrei Devarim 96, 346. Unity thus accords with God's commandments, and it also is required for God's recognition and glory: “When Israel is of one mind below, God's great name is exalted above, as it says, ‘He became King in Jeshurun when the heads of the people assembled, the tribes of Israel together’ (Deuteronomy 33:5).” Ibid., 346. If, on the other hand, communities are splintered, the various groups look as if they were guided by two different Torahs or even by two different Gods. B. Yevamot 13b; Hiddushei Haritba on B. Yevamot 13b. This can undermine respect for religious institutions and, ultimately, for religion itself. Furthermore, a divided Jewish community cannot effectively accomplish its religious mission of being “a light of nations” and perfecting the world under the dominion of God. (The image of Israel as a light to the nations is in Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; compare 60:3). Those who hold unity as the exclusive or paramount goal sometimes seek to attain it by claiming that there is only one correct view and that all others should be shunned or even attacked. Unfortunately, there is ample precedent for this approach in Jewish history. One account of the relationships between the first-century school of Shammai and its rival school of Hillel, for example, depicts the former as ambushing and killing all but six members of the latter. (M. Shabbat 1:4 and J. Shabbat 1:4 (3c); compare also B. Shabbat 17a and Josephus, The Jewish War, Book IV, passim). In the eighteenth century, eastern European Jews were split between Hasidim and mitnagdim who issued bands of excommunication against each other and prohibited members of each group from engaging in communication or commerce with members of the other. But that is not the only-- and certainly not the predominant-- Jewish model for attaining unity. In Deuteronomy 17, God commands that we abide by the decisions of the contemporary court, and that is the basis for judicial authority and communal conformity. (Deuteronomy 17:11). That demand, though, is effectively balanced by another commandment in that same book of the Torah that we “fear no man, for judgment is God’s.” (Deuteronomy 1:17). Traditional sources accordingly document a dynamic pluralism within the Jewish community. There are seventy faces to each passage in the Torah, according to the Rabbis, and Moses was not told the final decision on each matter of law” so that the Torah may be capable of interpretation with forty-nine points pro and forty-nine points contra.” (Numbers Rabbah 13:15-6 and J. Sanhedrin 4:2 (22a). People should listen to each other and be prepared to change their minds on legal matters, says the Mishnah, and the opinion of a dissenting judge is recorded because in a later generation the court may revise the law to agree with him. (M. Eduyot 1:4-5). Just as the manna tasted different to each person, so too, say the Rabbis, each person hears God's revelation according to his own ability. (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, “Massekhet Bahodesh Ha-shlishi,” on Exodus 20:2. Compare also Exodus Rabbah 5:9 and 29:1). The long tradition of finding a variety of rationales for the laws and suggesting a variety of interpretations of the biblical stories is the sum and substance of the Midrash aggadah, and the very methodology used in Jewish law encourages debate. (Hartman, Joy and Responsibility (1978), 130-161). One should, therefore, study with at least two rabbis to learn their diverse approaches to Judaism and the techniques for analyzing competing positions: “One who studies Torah from [only] one teacher will never achieve great success [literally, ‘a sign of blessing’].” B. Avodah Zarah 19a.