(Continuing the discussion of the Talmud, and of its intellectual brilliance, as well as of the great benefits of the Talmudic way of reasoning, developing a sharp mind, and resulting in a special type of elite upbringing, which characterizes such choice areas of Jewish excellence as, conspicuously, jurisprudence. It would be of such great benefit for anybody to study the Talmud in academic and educational institutions, but regrettably, our normally eclectic Western Civilization has in this case made an exception, depriving us of this priceless contribution to world culture of the essential Jewish mind.)
Having lost their culture-defining Temple, and, with it, their Temple-centered religion, desperate men under desperate circumstances were getting together and seemingly chatting about this and that, particularly about things that had been irretrievably lost… a pathetic exercise in futility! In the process, they were creating an immortal masterpiece of free thinking, an incredibly instructive pattern of consummate mindwork that ought to have become one of the greatest achievements and educational tools of all humanity, and as such ought to have benefited us all, and yet Lady History was to decide otherwise.
The imposing books of the Talmud have the appearance of a major encyclopedia and are also encyclopedic in the scope and thoroughness of their content. Also known as the Oral Torah, conceived as a collection of unwritten laws and their elucidation, the Talmud is by no means limited to codification and interpretation of legal topics. Its presentation is generously liberal and intellectually unrestrained. Its subject matter goes well beyond jurisprudence, ostensibly covering everything and anything, including geography, history, science, medicine, philosophy, theology, and theosophy, folklore, popular superstitions, housekeeping, daily habits of regular life, and practical how-to advice, plus much-much more.
Of the two components of the Talmud--- the Mishna and the Gemara--- the first forms the basis for different rabbinical Gemaras, one completed at the Palestinian Rabbinical Academy, and the other at the Babylonian Academy, each one, however, incomplete in its own way. The original Talmuds are, therefore, disorganized in more ways than one, but this ostensibly glaring lack of a systematic scientific arrangement and order is, in its own peculiar way, a stroke of genius, allowing a free flight of thought, unchained by what we would call today “academic” proprieties.
The Mishna (“repeated study”) part of the Talmud is in essence a comprehensive rabbinical supplement to the laws of the Torah. It is very instructive to glimpse through its content. There are six major Sedarim, or Orders, each divided into massekhtot, tractates, each divided into perakim, chapters.
Zeraim, Seeds, is the agricultural section, regulating the practices of planting seeds, charitable donations, etc. It starts, however, with the Brakhot tractate, prescribing the order and content of daily Jewish prayers. Moed, Season, addresses the observances of special holidays, such as Shabats, holidays and fasts. Nashim, Women, deals with marital relations. Nezikin, Damages, is the section on civil and criminal law, which is famous for its Avot, tractate often translated as the Ethics of the Fathers, prescribing proper morality. In the fifth section, Kodashim, Sacred Things, the Temple-related issues are discussed, which is the reason why this section is omitted from the Palestinian Talmud, although is preserved in the Babylonian Talmud. And finally, Tohorot, Purifications, is the section which prescribes proper hygiene for people, foods, homes, and pots and utensils.
The Gemara, Completion, is the most interesting, interpretative portion of the Talmud. Although the full-scope Mishna was studied at both great Academies, each selected its own subject matter for discussion and interpretation. The most fascinating feature of these two separate Gemaras is to follow the great rabbinical minds in action, engaged in a disputation worthy of the pinnacle of human discourse.
It is as such that the Talmudic Gemara becomes a unique subject for explorative study and emulation. It is actually a perfect (let the Jewish Yetzer Ha-Ra relax, I have not fallen into the perfection trap, employing the word perfect as a hyperbole of praise only!) “how-to” of superior thinking, and truly fortunate must be any student who is privileged to receive Talmudic education. (For more, along these lines, see the very next entry.)
The many eccentricities of the Talmudic style have led to the appearance of yet more interpretative, as well as organizational, literature, all of which have immensely enriched Talmudic studies. Among the codified works of later origins, I find the Mishne Torah of Maimonides extremely interesting and insightful. There are also two great versions of the general code of Jewish life and behavior, namely, The Sefer Ha-Turim of Yaakov ben Asher, and the wondrous Shulkhan Arukh, written by Yosef Karo, with further annotations by Moses Isserles. Among the later commentaries on the Talmud, of particular interest is the virtual textbook to be used in Yeshiva classrooms, prepared by the great Rashi (Rabbi Schlomo Yitzhaki), whose eleventh-century teaching aid is designed to clarify all difficult points to be encountered by the students, in lucid and compact form.
And finally, a special appreciation must be given to the numerous Midrashim, Expositions, all collectively known as Midrash, rabbinical commentaries on the Torah and on some other books of the TaNaKh, all of them priceless gems of human intellectual ingenuity, all of them, in sum total, supremely worthy of being included in the repository of human wisdom.
It is a testimony to a shameful state of affairs that this magnificent body of world literature, unlike most of our "Gentile" treasures, is completely removed from eclectic consideration, restricted to the small minority of the world’s Jewish population, who alone have been fortunate to enjoy an exclusive access to its inimitable treasures.
Having lost their culture-defining Temple, and, with it, their Temple-centered religion, desperate men under desperate circumstances were getting together and seemingly chatting about this and that, particularly about things that had been irretrievably lost… a pathetic exercise in futility! In the process, they were creating an immortal masterpiece of free thinking, an incredibly instructive pattern of consummate mindwork that ought to have become one of the greatest achievements and educational tools of all humanity, and as such ought to have benefited us all, and yet Lady History was to decide otherwise.
The imposing books of the Talmud have the appearance of a major encyclopedia and are also encyclopedic in the scope and thoroughness of their content. Also known as the Oral Torah, conceived as a collection of unwritten laws and their elucidation, the Talmud is by no means limited to codification and interpretation of legal topics. Its presentation is generously liberal and intellectually unrestrained. Its subject matter goes well beyond jurisprudence, ostensibly covering everything and anything, including geography, history, science, medicine, philosophy, theology, and theosophy, folklore, popular superstitions, housekeeping, daily habits of regular life, and practical how-to advice, plus much-much more.
Of the two components of the Talmud--- the Mishna and the Gemara--- the first forms the basis for different rabbinical Gemaras, one completed at the Palestinian Rabbinical Academy, and the other at the Babylonian Academy, each one, however, incomplete in its own way. The original Talmuds are, therefore, disorganized in more ways than one, but this ostensibly glaring lack of a systematic scientific arrangement and order is, in its own peculiar way, a stroke of genius, allowing a free flight of thought, unchained by what we would call today “academic” proprieties.
The Mishna (“repeated study”) part of the Talmud is in essence a comprehensive rabbinical supplement to the laws of the Torah. It is very instructive to glimpse through its content. There are six major Sedarim, or Orders, each divided into massekhtot, tractates, each divided into perakim, chapters.
Zeraim, Seeds, is the agricultural section, regulating the practices of planting seeds, charitable donations, etc. It starts, however, with the Brakhot tractate, prescribing the order and content of daily Jewish prayers. Moed, Season, addresses the observances of special holidays, such as Shabats, holidays and fasts. Nashim, Women, deals with marital relations. Nezikin, Damages, is the section on civil and criminal law, which is famous for its Avot, tractate often translated as the Ethics of the Fathers, prescribing proper morality. In the fifth section, Kodashim, Sacred Things, the Temple-related issues are discussed, which is the reason why this section is omitted from the Palestinian Talmud, although is preserved in the Babylonian Talmud. And finally, Tohorot, Purifications, is the section which prescribes proper hygiene for people, foods, homes, and pots and utensils.
The Gemara, Completion, is the most interesting, interpretative portion of the Talmud. Although the full-scope Mishna was studied at both great Academies, each selected its own subject matter for discussion and interpretation. The most fascinating feature of these two separate Gemaras is to follow the great rabbinical minds in action, engaged in a disputation worthy of the pinnacle of human discourse.
It is as such that the Talmudic Gemara becomes a unique subject for explorative study and emulation. It is actually a perfect (let the Jewish Yetzer Ha-Ra relax, I have not fallen into the perfection trap, employing the word perfect as a hyperbole of praise only!) “how-to” of superior thinking, and truly fortunate must be any student who is privileged to receive Talmudic education. (For more, along these lines, see the very next entry.)
The many eccentricities of the Talmudic style have led to the appearance of yet more interpretative, as well as organizational, literature, all of which have immensely enriched Talmudic studies. Among the codified works of later origins, I find the Mishne Torah of Maimonides extremely interesting and insightful. There are also two great versions of the general code of Jewish life and behavior, namely, The Sefer Ha-Turim of Yaakov ben Asher, and the wondrous Shulkhan Arukh, written by Yosef Karo, with further annotations by Moses Isserles. Among the later commentaries on the Talmud, of particular interest is the virtual textbook to be used in Yeshiva classrooms, prepared by the great Rashi (Rabbi Schlomo Yitzhaki), whose eleventh-century teaching aid is designed to clarify all difficult points to be encountered by the students, in lucid and compact form.
And finally, a special appreciation must be given to the numerous Midrashim, Expositions, all collectively known as Midrash, rabbinical commentaries on the Torah and on some other books of the TaNaKh, all of them priceless gems of human intellectual ingenuity, all of them, in sum total, supremely worthy of being included in the repository of human wisdom.
It is a testimony to a shameful state of affairs that this magnificent body of world literature, unlike most of our "Gentile" treasures, is completely removed from eclectic consideration, restricted to the small minority of the world’s Jewish population, who alone have been fortunate to enjoy an exclusive access to its inimitable treasures.
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