[Avodah] Torah limud: theoretical/academic versus lishma/yirat hashem/emunat chachamim

[Michael Makovi]

>  :  being an observant Jew does not mean ignoring the
>  : academic information, and being an academic doesn't mean that he
>  : doesn't believe in Sinai and keep halacha. The two can be mutually
>  : exclusive, but don't have to be.

>  Agreed.
>
>  However, Talmud Torah isn't about that information, it's about being a
>  part of the living fulfillment of beris Sinai, part of the flow of the
>  mesorah. The role of the Meiri in that is diminished; never mind the
>  role of contextual information.
>
>  So, the O Jew should be fascinated and study such info. But he shouldn't
>  confuse it with that which defines how we are to live as O Jews. Not
>  just in terms of halachic authority, but also in terms of perceptions
>  of the goals we live toward. Because, after all, the two are inseprable.
> R' Micha

And here I disagree. I don't think they are inseparable; I think they
are part and parcel. They are not the same face of the coin, but they
*are* two sides of the same coin.

What is the flow of the mesorah? A large part of it is information -
and thus, academic/objective information can be just as much a part of
the mesorah, IMO. I find myself wishing quite often, actually, that
Chazal were more interested in history per se, because I find that
even history without a lesson, but rather, just stam history for its
own sake, makes me feel connected. Moreover, it provides context to
everything else, so that even if a certain set of historical
information provides no mussar itself, it provides the necessary
backdrop for everything else. I know a rav who says that everyone who
studies Gemara ought to study Babylonian Sassanid (the reigning
Persian power during the Amoraic period) history.

I've never understood the objection, for example, to a certain Chumash
narrative being stam history. If it has a lesson, yofi, but if not,
what's the problem? Suppose there were no lessons to learn from the
Avot and Imot - do you think that then you could dispense with their
history? Do you think that you could wake up and do mitzvot if you had
no conception of where the Jewish people came from? It's a part of
self-identity - knowing where you came from is a large part of
defining who you are, even if you learned NOTHING along the way - just
knowing that Avraham existed and Yehoshua's conquests occurred, rather
than knowing only the mitzvot themselves. If I woke up tomorrow not
knowing my name or where I was where I am right now, but otherwise
knowing everything I know now, believe you me, I'd be a broken man.

So does stam history for its own sake have a value? If you ask me, you bet!

Mikha'el Makovi