The scribes and the chief priests ... perceived that he had told this parable against them. (Luke 20:19)

No doubt you are wondering what Jesus, his mother, Mary, the composer, Gustav Mahler, Martin Luther and the three Wise Men (the Magi) have in common. The list sounds like it comes from one of Johnny Carson's "Carnak" bits, doesn't it? The simple answer is that all of these people were willing to take a new look at the traditions they had inherited. Like Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof, they could celebrate the glory of tradition! But, like him, they also realized that tradition must remain in dialogue with a changing world.

Pinchas Peli is a modern rabbi-turned-teacher who likes to say "I don't come to preach - I come just to think along with you." In his book, Torah Today, published in 1987…