Pesachim 6b - Wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey

From http://my-heart-belongs-to-who.tumblr.com/

"Said Rav Menasia bar Tahlifa in Rav's name: This proves that there is no 'earlier' and 'later' in the Torah. Rav Papa observed: This was said only of two subjects; but in the same subject what is earlier is earlier and what is later is later."

The idea that there is no chronological order in the torah is an amazing exegetical tool, allowing you to shift passages from their place and argue that while temporally the event happened at another point, it was placed here to teach a lesson or make a point.

But Rav Papa points out that we can't go crazy with this idea, because taken to an extreme we would not be able to make any sense of the torah at all. Each sentence would have to be read alone, without reference to what came before or afterwards. To take this principle too far would be to deny the possibility of any chronology, or the ability to read anything in context.

I take Rav Papa to be saying that we have to be careful with how we explain the Torah text, not to push any good exegetical method to the point of absurdity, but to consider how we are using our technique and whether it is truly in the spirit of what the text is trying to say.

While God may stand outside of time, we are temporal beings, living time in a straight line from past to future. The torah mediates these two perspectives, but must take both seriously if it is to be able to speak to us at all.

Shabbat 83b - Studying torah? It's to die for.

Resh Lakish said 'words of Torah only endure in someone who kills himself over them, as it says "This is the Torah, when a person dies in a tent..." (Num 19)'.

While these words of Resh Lakish have been interpreted as saying that the torah can only endure as long as people are willing to die for it, which is to say become martyrs, I tend to read this powerful statement psychologically.

As long as you are concerned with yourself, the torah cannot endure in you - there is too much ego to make room for God. To make room for God and the words of torah you must kill your 'self', remove your ego, make room for the Holy One to radically alter your life.

Quick thoughts on chapter 6 of Shabbat

I've fallen, shall we say, a little behind in my daf yomi, but now that I'm on holiday I thought I would blitz it. Over several hours (with multiple breaks of course) I learned pages 60-67 today, and scribbled some notes on interesting passages in the margins.

In lieu of a longer post, here are the sections that caught my eye:

•61a - Amulets and charms - how do we know if they work?

•62a - Gender politics - are women 'a nation unto themselves'?

•62b - Swinging - the rabbis frown on partner-swapping.

•63a - The relationship between weapons and the world to come. Decorations or aberrations?

•63a - 'The simple meaning of the text' - but what is it?

•63a - The value of torah study, Resh Lakish uses language of peace. Interesting considering his fall out with Rabbi Yochanan.

•64b - Mar'it ayin - one must avoid doing something because it looks wrong. So can you do it if no one is looking?

•66b - Magic! Abaye's mother must have been a seriously cool woman.

•67a - Incantations against various demons seem to contain nonsense words. In magic (as prayer) it's sometimes better if you don't understand what you're saying.

•67a - Is the magic forbidden? Not if done for the sake of healing.

A few lines I enjoyed today - Berachot 6

Abba Benjamin says, If the eye had the power to see them, no creature could endure the demons.

I find it fascinating how seriously this passage takes the existence of demons - as physical realities that cause damage to the physical world.

Justice is also torah.

An important point to remember - there is torah in maintaining justice, not just in studying. Creating a just world is a kind of torah study.

Rabbi Yochanan says: Whenever the Holy One, blessed be He, comes into a Synagogue and does not find ten persons there, He becomes angry at once. For it is said: Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there no answer?

This text always hits me hard, as someone who finds it really hard to get myself to shul for shacharit. The idea that God is there wondering where everyone is is both evocative and moving.

The merit of a fast day lies in the charity.

I always try to teach that fast days like the 9th of Av are only meaningful if we do something for justice, and this brief line (in a powerful section) is a punchy quote to the same effect.