Extra Tactics: Part 1
Intro: Centralism
Today there is an extreme focus on Talmud study. There is more study today than ever in history1. So many are partaking in daily study to accumulate the totality of the divine law. This is a remarkable undertaking. I personally participate in this endeavour. As a tribal member, studying the same page as the rest of the people in a communal event is definitely empowering. I have a single critique. There are many who spend all their time solely studying Talmud. There are those who work all day spending their minute free time engaged in the tribal affair, yet others with greater freedom, generally the younger students, read the same book consistently. In certain yeshivas they have three lectures of Talmud a day2, claiming it is the most vital for growth. It contains biblical texts and exegesis, but only a handful of verses are mentioned. Much of certain books such as Leviticus but rarely is Numbers or any of the prophetic writings quoted3. Furthermore, one cannot understand the quoted text without understanding the verses surrounding it, the context. One needs to be fluent in the textual extrapolation to comprehend the sages’ deduction.
The unmentioned texts are just as important. The lack of adherence to studying these texts, especially of the later prophets, may be due to their non-legal status. This has removed the study of exegesis and allegorical texts, including philosophical and theological texts. Rabbenu Alfasi infamously removed all the allegorical sections (though he also removed the sections relating to the land of Israel)4. His work was accepted by all. Even Maimonides, who added in laws that Alfasi had removed (pertaining to the land) into his full codex, praised Alfasi for his success5. Alfasi divided the study of law and allegory till this day. He was not alone in this venture. Many other sages proceeded in this direction. Some like Rashi and Maharsha6 wrote commentaries on the sections, bettering understanding, though there is still a stigma against learning it.
Recently there has been a push to revive its learning but unfortunately this is not generally accepted and these intriguing books are separate from the synthesised study7. Allegories are not simple to understand, nor are they partial, but they cover the Talmud8. They must be important. The sages would not carelessly add allegories to confuse us9. Some seem more fantastical than others, but we can learn from each of them. Yeshivas skip these sections, deeming them inferior to the legal portions, whether for reasoning or practical inferiority. This ignorance to the allegorical sections has reduced Judaism to a law-centred religion. As early as Jesus10 and Paul11 to more contemporary Spinoza12 critiqued its stark legalism. When in response we claim otherwise13, we do not really show it. We rarely read the biblical stories past the Pentateuch. The powerful stories of the prophets go unnoticed. The later prophets are unknown. Jewish history is unfamiliar to its people14. For a people that praise their history it is very selective. If it contains legal passages, then it is known and celebrated15. We recall the stories of Passover and Purim because they are practised16. There is a day of commemoration and legal duties. Beyond, there is a faint idea of kingship, temples, destruction, exile. How many are aware of the greater details surrounding any of the mentioned events? How many know the history during the exile from the sages to the mediaeval rabbis to the modern leaders?
There is four thousand years of Jewish history and most know a small percentage of it. It is not simply the undisclosed facts but the lessons that are to be taught. The famous dictum: “history repeats itself” has held true. In both destructions there was an issue of injustice towards fellow Jews and unfortunately we still have not learned (Yoma 9b). The law can tell us to not participate in such cruel action but one can always find a loophole. The narrative provides a storyline that scares change into us. The law is already obligatory but without the narrative lacks a path to true tranquility. The law is not the problem, it is the measure in how it is accomplished. The previous tragedies can’t be overcome if the history is unknown17. Legal obedience was not the issue, it was always justice and dignity in the community18.
Endnotes:
1. A Surge Of Daily Talmud Study.↩
2. Setting an Agenda for Modern Orthodox Education.↩
3. How much of Tanach is in the Talmud? — Sefaria News.↩
5. Alfasi, Isaac ben Jacob, Maimonides wrote in his intro to the Mishnah, “The Halakhot of the great rabbi, our teacher Isaac, of blessed memory, has superseded all these works (geonic codes)…for it contains all the decisions and laws which we need in our day… and, except for a few halakhot, not exceeding ten, his decisions are unassailable” (Perush Mishnayot intro).↩
6. “Maharsha On Aggados Volume 2: Avraham Finkel”, 2007.↩
7. The Forgotten Talmud: On Teaching Aggadah in High Schools.↩
8. What Is the Aggadah Problem?.↩
9. The Quest For Halakhah, (Tel-Aviv: Yediot Aharonot and Beit Morashah, 2003) pp. 285-312.↩
10. Chaim Saiman, Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law. Princeton University Press, 2018 pg. 3.↩
11. Paul, Galatians 3-4. See: Shalom Rosenberg’s “The Legality: A Theological-Political Portrait” ed. Amihai Berholtz, The Quest For Halakhah, (Tel-Aviv: Yediot Aharonot and Beit Morashah, 2003) pp. 59-82. See also: E.P. Sanders, Paul the Law and Jewish People, Fortress Press, pg.154.↩
12. Baruch Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise, trans. Samuel Shirley, second edition (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2001).↩
13. Saiman, Halakhah pg. 6-7. See: Jack N. Lightstone, “Torah is nomos – except when it is not: Prolegomena to the Study of the Law in Late Antique Judaism,” SR 13 pp. 29-37.↩
14. History as a subject in of itself has been criticised by R’ Chaim Ozer but defended by R’ Yechiel Weinberg See: Isaiah Gafni Concepts of periodization and causality in Talmudic literature” Jewish History 10 (1) pp. 21, notes 1-2. Prof. Gafni concludes the Sages mentioned history as it factored into their rabbinic enterprise than for simple knowledge. They utilised history and social reality in developing their halakhic process. It was not their intention to teach history as Herr notes but that does mean that we should not nor that they did not at all (pg. 34). See: M.D. Herr, "The Conception of History among the Sages," Proceedings of the Sixth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Vol. 3 (Jerusalem, 1977), pg. 142.↩
15. See: Rachel Rafael Neis, “The Seduction of Law: Rethinking Legal Studies in Jewish Studies,” Jewish Quarterly Review 109:1 pp. 119–38. Prof. Neis remarks that even in the academic sphere law is central to study (122).↩
16. There are two tractates dedicated to these holidays: Pesachim and Megillah.↩
17. Israel Meir Kagen, Chofetz Chaim: A Lesson a Day, ArtScroll / Mesorah, 1995. Kagen affirms the reason for continuous exile is the existence of baseless hatred perpetrated by gossip.↩
18. See: Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.↩
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