[Avodah] history

[Michael Makovi]

> When I was a young boy and the old Jews learned Gmara in Yiddish they had a
> little ssmile when they read Hazal's like this.  IMHO they wer clsoe to the
> history of HOW TO LEARN HAZAL! that is be ready to keep one's tongue planted
> in one's check [at least at  times]
>
> I think Westerners [including Americans and yes English and Germans] take
> Hazal-isms much too literally.  let's face it - Westerners simply don't get
> that Middle Eastern mindset.  {That's why I like Tosafos so much, they were
> very Westernized and I can relate to them much better.]
>
> Perhasp the Talmud should have had emoticons!  :->
>
>
> --
> Kol Tuv / Best Regards,
> RabbiRichWolpoe at Gmail.com

Indeed. Even if one says that the modern Western mindset is superior
to the Middle-Eastern/Chazalic (I said IF!! IF!!! IF!!!), this
superiority causes one to be out-of-touch with the original source. A
less sophisticated person, with such a primitive mindset, would
actually be at an advantage.

The same goes for relating the Tanach, I'd presume; our
(hypothetically, allegedly, again IF) superior mindset puts
out-of-touch and makes us take things in ways they weren't meant to
be.

Mikha'el Makovi