[Avodah] local culture and the Bavli

Micha Berger micha at aishdas.org
Mon Nov 19 14:57:30 PST 2018


On Thu, Nov 15, 2018 at 05:37:51AM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
: See here for some interesting thoughts on how local culture impacted the Bavli:
: https://kotzkblog.blogspot.com/2018/10/197-babylonian-influences-on-babylonian_72.html
: 
: Yet R' Ellman would not (at least when I asked him) say that any of
: these insights should impact the halachic process today. definite food
: for thought

I like RARakeffetR's mashal (and recall, he is a RIETS RY with a PhD in
Jewish History):

You can ask a historican how the electric refrigerator was invented,
and you will hear about the social forces involved, the wiring of the
American home for power, etc...

None of which tells you how the refrigerator actually works.

(He might even give you the history of the application of thermodynamics
and the Carnot cycle without ever explaining that particular bit of
science.)

Similarly:
Knowing that a particular area of halakhah was mined in response to a
given situation doesn't change the fact that the halachic principles
had to be there and had to be applied. And the knowledge does little to
teach you the principles themselves.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When one truly looks at everyone's good side,
micha at aishdas.org        others come to love him very naturally, and
http://www.aishdas.org   he does not need even a speck of flattery.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                        - Rabbi AY Kook


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