[Avodah] FW: R Tzadok-TSBP

[Rich, Joel]

The best (and by this I mean, the most factual) explanation as to the irrelevance of academic studies to Torah, is the following. R' Boruch Ber said about a professor, "He knows what Abbaye ate, where he lived, etc. I know what Abbaye said." Academic studies of Torah share the same irredeemable flaw, they lack the real knowledge, the internal knowledge of what is really being said. Living today are people who have heard Torah directly from people who heard directly from people who heard directly from R' Chaim Brisker. Anyone who analyzes Brisker Torah without this knowledge is fooling himself and anyone who listens to him. Extrapolate from this to academic studies that cut themselves off from Torah as a whole (not only Brisker Torah) and attempt to analyze Shas.


KT,
MSS
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While I agree with most of R'MSS's response (interesting question why some have a preference for theory of everything and some for let each sugya stand on its own -is in nature or nurture?) I think the painting of "the academic" approach with this broad brush is inappropriate. In fact I would argue that R' Boruch Ber's statement , if taken at face value, is inconsistent with Brisker (and broader) traditional talmud torah.

 "He knows what Abbaye ate, where he lived, etc. I know what Abbaye said." imho should be " "He knows what Abbaye ate, where he lived, etc. I know what LATER CHACHMEI HAMESORSA HAVE UNDERSTOOD WHAT  RAVINA AND RAV ASHI UNDERSTOOD THAT Abbaye said."

It wouldn't shock me at all if an academic better understood the local conditions (what one ate, where one lived) and how that informed on what issues an amora spoke on and how they were dealt with.  Of course , that doesn't mean we rely on them for psak but I still think their input can be of value.

KT
Joel Rich
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