PHILOSOPHY OF THE TALMUD

Whereas I have paradoxically denied the philosophical quality to the Bible (see my earlier entry Philosophy Of The Bible, posted on this blog on May 23^rd, 2012), the same cannot be said of the Talmud, and anyone who has read portions of the Talmud, as I have (I cannot imagine anyone in the modern world, except for a handful of very Orthodox rabbis, who may have read the Talmud even once in toto), has to come out of this reading with the clear impression that this great collective work is all about philosophizing on a broad variety of subjects, from the Torah to the littlest practicalities of life.

Philosophizing is indeed the essence of the Talmud. Like the Kabbalists of the later era, who delved into the mysteries of God, the Talmudists delved into the mysteries of the Word of God, dissecting the Torah down to the letter, but, unlike some dry analytical scholar, infusing the genius of their wild imagination into their effort, and thus amply deserving the magnificent title of “philosophizer” to be bestowed upon them.

Their fantasy brings philosophy to the dawn of the ages. It is the art in which the consummately mysterious ‘Melchizedek king of Salem and the priest of the most high God’ (Gen. 14:18) purportedly instructs Abram. The Talmudists are also pointing out that the Book of Psalms contains invitations to “admire the wisdom of Hashem through his works” which is nothing short of an insistent invitation to the Talmud reader to engage in the practice of philosophizing, thus creating a highly commendable philosophical foundation to Judaism.

…I might only wish that our modern Gentile admirers of Israel in America had a similar admiration for the spirit of the Talmud, and had thought of adopting the philosophizing intellectual adventurism of the Yeshiva educational system in American schools, doing away with the most contemptible system of multiple choice, breeding slave mentality in its young student victims. (See my various entries on this subject, including the sarcastic Freedom Of…Multiple Choice, posted on January 16, 2011, as part of the eponymous mega-entry.)