Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihuxr.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!exodus!mhtsa!mh3bs!eagle!harpo!ihnp4!ihuxr!lew From: lew@ihuxr.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: The World of the Talmud Message-ID: <937@ihuxr.UUCP> Date: Fri, 2-Mar-84 18:07:22 EST Article-I.D.: ihuxr.937 Posted: Fri Mar 2 18:07:22 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 4-Mar-84 00:22:12 EST Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 49 My five year mission: to seek out and explore strange new worlds - "Talmud's coming up on the screen now, Captain." Anyway, I read THE WORLD OF THE TALMUD by whom, I forget. It's a Hillel book, aimed at bringing Jewish college students (according to the preface) in touch with their heritage. The book is very short, and gives a general description and background, but very little of the flavor of it. There is a heavy dose of blather about how wonderful and meaningful etc. etc. it is. There is also an element of "protesting too much" with regard to traditional criticisms of Rabbinical emphasis on legalism. It was amusing for me, having no knowledge of the Talmud whatsoever, to find the impressions I formed as I read suddenly be lambasted as "errors which have persisted through centuries". Actually, I did gain some appreciation for the significance of the rules of observance. I can almost see how a person could "get into it". I still draw back, though, from the concept of unquestioning obedience to a code. I find it rankling to read that repetitions in the Torah cannot be thought of as redundant, since the Torah is the perfect Word of God, and therefore meaningful interpretation must be sought. I'm downright offended when the Torah is given supremacy of nature itself as the expression of God. In fact, I found myself wondering as I do in these case, whether those who profess such beliefs really embrace them. For example, the author at one point gave an anthropological description of monotheism as an advance over polytheism. How can one advance to this plane of discussion and still claim to be bound by the concepts being subjected to this humanistic interpretation? Oh well ... On the other hand, I was touched by one of the few excerpts given. This had some Rabbis arguing over who was right on some point. One says, "What if a sign appears to prove I'm right?", at which point the river reverses course (or something like that). The other Rabbis respond, "What does the water know of the Torah?". A voice even comes from above proclaiming, "The Rabbi is right!" The others respond, "the Torah is not in heaven." Here we have the principle of displacement. By fixing on the Torah, the Rabbis are steeled against all sorts of superstition. This excerpt also shows a surprising freeness and informality of expression, which was stated to be characteristic of the Talmud. So, I'm ready to go along with the idea of the richness and wisdom of Talmudic scholarship, and I have come a little closer to comprehending how people can subject themselves to all those rules, but it's still out of my sphere. Lew Mammel, Jr. ihnp4!ihuxr!lew