[Avodah] Comments About the Mishnah and Talmud

[Prof. L. Levine]

The following is from Vision & Valor written by Rabbi Berel Wein

A key feature of both the Mishnah and the Talmud is that they
can never be understood from the outside. As a unique work with
its own method of reasoning, it can be known only from the inside
- from the Talmud itself! So, the obvious question is, where does
one begin? One must struggle to get into the heart of the Talmud,
for only by reaching its heart can one hope to penetrate the intricacies
of its mental processes and appreciate the magic of its logic.
Since the Talmud can only be known from inside, intellect alone
(though certainly necessary) is insufficient to master it. Minds can
speak to minds, but only hearts can speak to hearts.

The Talmud is a book of godly personalities and deep insight
into the human condition and the world. It is a book of love, of
compassion, of striving spirituality and also of withering candor. It
is a book for the masses, but it is again a book only for the few. It
has simple wisdom on its surface and majestic mystery in its depth.
It is the book of love between Jews and Jews, between generations
and generations, between the people and the God of Israel. Therefore,
one who measures the Talmud by the yardstick of facts, laws,
and discussions alone makes a fundamental error, for that is a very
narrow, and even unjust, view of this monumental work.

For the triumph of the Talmud and its personalities against its
enemies, both within and without the Jewish people, was based
upon its hidden greatness and human warmth, not only on its soaring
intellect and wise interpretations of Jewish law. The creators of
the Mishnah and Talmud are the worthy successors to the prophets
of Israel in their vision, their fire and passion, their unsparing honesty,
their love for the people and God of Israel; and most of all, in
their almost unrealistic yet unquenchable optimism. Theirs is the
unshakable faith in the Torah and mission of Israel that sustained
generations of Jews for centuries.

But perhaps the greatest contribution of the Oral Law - and of
the Mishnah and Talmud that now represents that Oral Law - is
found in the words of Midrash itself:

"I [the Lord] do not wish to grant them the Oral Law in writing
because I know that the nations of the world will rule over the
Jews and take it away from them. Thus, the written Bible I give
them [now] in writing, while the Mishnah, Talmud and Aggadah
I grant to them orally, for when the nations of the world will
in the future subjugate Israel, the Jews will still be able to be
separate from them . .. for they [the words of the Oral Law] are
what will separate the Jewish people from being assimilated and
lost into the general society" (Midrash Rabah Shmos, chapter 47,
section one).

Thus, even though the entire Torah, both Written and Oral,
is from Sinai, the portion of Torah that is the Oral Law remains
solely in Jewish possession, unlike the written Bible that has been
co-opted by other faiths. In this way, the Oral Law has contributed
significantly to the survival of the Jews as a unique and vital
people. The Oral Law can be seen as the dividing line between Israel
and the nations of the world. The Written Law, the Bible, can
be characterized as universal: the Oral Law, as represented in the
Mishnah and Talmud, as particular. The genius of incorporating
both of these ideas and balancing them harmoniously within Judaism
is testimony to the strength and truth of the Jewish faith.

The Oral Law is built upon the Written Torah. Though it was a
product of centuries of study, writing, editing and endless review,
Judaism posits that the Oral Law - its structure, mechanisms, and
its interpretations of the Written Torah - stems from the Divinity
of the Revelation at Sinai. Every subject in the Talmud begins with
the question: "Where in the Written Torah [in the text itself] do we · ·
find the basis for this discussion?"

Professor Yitzchok Levine
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