"How do we know that the saving of life supersedes the Sabbath? R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah said: If circumcision, which is [performed on but] one of the limbs of man, supersedes the Sabbath, the saving of life, a minori, must supersede the Sabbath"
The argument that saving a life supersedes Shabbat is not unique to this sugya - however, the inference that saving a life is acceptable from the fact that circumcision is acceptable is fascinating. The logic here implies a quantitative interpretation of saving a life - surely we are intended to infer that circumcision thus 'saves' in some way, in order for it to be used to prove pikuach nefesh. If so, how does circumcision 'save' per se? Is it that it preserves the covenant? Or perhaps that it 'saves' the child from being excluded from the Jewish community? Whether one of these or another, I think the insistence on circumcision as a type of salvation begs to be interpreted, and might shed new light on a ritual that troubles many for what they see as harming a new life rather than saving one.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Context is everything - Shabbat 130b
Said he [Rabbi Zeira] to him [Rav Assi], But I once asked you and you did not answer me: perhaps in the rush your tradition hurried back to you? Yes, he replied; in the rush my tradition hurried back to me.
-Shabbat 130b
We don't learn in single blocks of information, unconnected from anything else, but rather we add to our webs of knowledge, accumulating connections between things we already understand and that which we are trying to assimilate.
When pressured for an answer, Rav Assi couldn't remember his teaching, but in the flow of the entire argument, from the context of the entire debate, his tradition hurried back to him, and he could give an answer.
To learn something well, it must resonate with other facts within our web of knowledge.
To teach well, we must help our students find those points of connection for themselves, so they too can experience the rush in which learning hurries back to them.
-Shabbat 130b
We don't learn in single blocks of information, unconnected from anything else, but rather we add to our webs of knowledge, accumulating connections between things we already understand and that which we are trying to assimilate.
When pressured for an answer, Rav Assi couldn't remember his teaching, but in the flow of the entire argument, from the context of the entire debate, his tradition hurried back to him, and he could give an answer.
To learn something well, it must resonate with other facts within our web of knowledge.
To teach well, we must help our students find those points of connection for themselves, so they too can experience the rush in which learning hurries back to them.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The tabernacle - Kabbalistic thoughts Shabbat 98b-99a
Our rabbis taught: The boards were cut and the sockets grooved, and the loops in the clasps seemed like stars in the sky.
Having ploughed my way through six weeks of daf yomi over two weeks, I finally caught up today with rather complex legal and architectural debate.
Nevertheless, the last few lines caught my eye as the mishkan/tabernacle is described in very feminine terms, and ideas that remind me of Malchut, the lowest feminine aspect of God in the sefirotic system.
These lines I quoted seem to hint that the mishkan spreads its influence beyond its borders, that for a temple or a synagogue to fulfill its purpose, it must reach beyond itself. The mishkan represents malchut, but within, or beyond, malchut, lies yesod - also called petach einayim, the opening of the eyes. This is the stage where we can glimpse the rest of the system, realise that we are standing at the doorway to the infinite.
If our institutions are to be truly holy, her skirts must extend into the wider world and the heavens must be glimpsed within.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Half a Theodicy - Shabbat 97a
"Rava - others state, R. Yosi b. R. Hanina-said: The dispensation of good comes more quickly than that of punishment [evil]." Shabbat 97a
Today's daf argues passionately that good comes quickly while evil's progress towards reality is slow and encumbered. The language used contrasts middah tova and middah puranut - literally, a 'measure of goodness' and a 'measure of punishment.' To me it seems that this one line amidst discussions of public and private domains consists of a significant contribution to talmudic theodicy - that what good we've warranted we see sooner than the punishment we've warranted. Perhaps the rabbis hoped that this would answer the question of why wicked people appear not to be punished, and in a way it does. However, it leaves wide open the converse question - if the good dispensation comes quickly, why do the righteous suffer?
Today's daf argues passionately that good comes quickly while evil's progress towards reality is slow and encumbered. The language used contrasts middah tova and middah puranut - literally, a 'measure of goodness' and a 'measure of punishment.' To me it seems that this one line amidst discussions of public and private domains consists of a significant contribution to talmudic theodicy - that what good we've warranted we see sooner than the punishment we've warranted. Perhaps the rabbis hoped that this would answer the question of why wicked people appear not to be punished, and in a way it does. However, it leaves wide open the converse question - if the good dispensation comes quickly, why do the righteous suffer?
Sunday, January 6, 2013
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.
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.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Permitting and Forbidding - Shabbat 60b
Rabbi Chiyya said: Were it not for the fact that they would call me a Babylonian who permits forbidden things, I would permit more.
It's hard to be lenient. Much much easier to forbid everything and thus look suitably pious and stringent to those more strict than you. Rabbi Chiyya in this quote is concerned with the topic of how many nails is permitted in a sandal on shabbat, but his statement could be seen more generally - had he not been afraid to seem permissive, he would have permitted far more things.
How much should we be afraid of how we come across? How much should we follow what we really believe, even if the rest of the Jewish world will say we are permitting forbidden things?
It's hard to be lenient. Much much easier to forbid everything and thus look suitably pious and stringent to those more strict than you. Rabbi Chiyya in this quote is concerned with the topic of how many nails is permitted in a sandal on shabbat, but his statement could be seen more generally - had he not been afraid to seem permissive, he would have permitted far more things.
How much should we be afraid of how we come across? How much should we follow what we really believe, even if the rest of the Jewish world will say we are permitting forbidden things?
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