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

[Jesse Abelman]

On 3/4/08, Michael Makovi <mikewinddale at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >  :  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.





R micha wrote:.
> >  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



Michael Makovi wrote:

> 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.




There are other dimensions here as well.  One is that the mesorah is not
static, it shifts over time as does everything else.  Historical study
grants us the perspective to understand how those shifts occur, and frees us
from becoming the unwitting slaves of history, as opposed to the avdei
Hashem we should be.  When, for example, we study bibliography and gain a
better understanding of what the  libraries of various Rishonim did and did
not contain, what works they had access to, we can better understand what
they understood the mesorah to be, and how it differs in content
from the mesorah as we have it.
   Another way in which historical study enriches our religious lives is the
ways in which it aids us in understanding exactly what Rishonim and Achronim
were doing.  Dr. Haym Soloveitchik, in his recent article _Polemic and Art_
on the Rambam does a beautiful job of demonstrating how this works in a
discussion of the Rambam's Hilkhot Shabbat.  (Incidentally, this is a
beautiful essay which works on many levels.  It is well worth everybody's
time.)
  Historical study of Judaism is important and can and should inform our
understanding of the mesorah, of what the word "mesorah" means and how we
should relate to its content.

             Jesse A.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20080304/384bff0b/attachment-0002.htm>