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From: dsg@mhuxi.UUCP (GREEN)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: The World of the Talmud
Message-ID: <1191@mhuxi.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 7-Mar-84 09:24:47 EST
Article-I.D.: mhuxi.1191
Posted: Wed Mar  7 09:24:47 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 8-Mar-84 07:36:19 EST
References: <937@ihuxr.UUCP> <737@ihuxq.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 30

x
John Hobson states:
..."And to make sure that we (Jews?) obey the law (John, do you mean oral
or written?) we follow the Talmud, which is a well defined statement of
what must be done to make sure that we fullfill the law."

In *my* experience, I have not found the Talmud to be a well defined
statement;  neither have my friends, including those who are graduates
of Y.U. and other respected American Orthodox institutions.

For example, Berachos 1a
Mishna:
	From which moment on may one recite....

Gemara:
       (long discussion)
Commentary:
      (quite a bit)

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that the Talmud is meant to be learned,
by discussion, not unlike the case method in law school.  Halacha is drawn
from the Talmud, but the Talmud is not a set of clearly defined rules.
As of today, there are questions that await the coming of the messiah.
I just want to clarify for the casual net reader, that our religion is not
one of blind ambedience to a set of well defined rules, but that the rules
are subject to interpretation and debate.  To quote another posted article
"two Jews have three opinions", yes , that includes Talmud.
David Seth Green
Bell Labs 201-564-2290
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