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<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 3/4/08, <b class="gmail_sendername">Michael Makovi</b> <<a href="mailto:mikewinddale@gmail.com">mikewinddale@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">> : being an observant Jew does not mean ignoring the<br>> : academic information, and being an academic doesn't mean that he<br>
> : doesn't believe in Sinai and keep halacha. The two can be mutually<br>> : exclusive, but don't have to be.</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">R micha wrote:. <br>> Agreed.<br>><br>> However, Talmud Torah isn't about that information, it's about being a<br>
> part of the living fulfillment of beris Sinai, part of the flow of the<br>> mesorah. The role of the Meiri in that is diminished; never mind the<br>> role of contextual information.<br>><br>> So, the O Jew should be fascinated and study such info. But he shouldn't<br>
> confuse it with that which defines how we are to live as O Jews. Not<br>> just in terms of halachic authority, but also in terms of perceptions<br>> of the goals we live toward. Because, after all, the two are inseprable.<br>
> R' Micha</blockquote>
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<div> </div><font color="#00681c">Michael Makovi wrote:</font><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">And here I disagree. I don't think they are inseparable; I think they<br>are part and parcel. They are not the same face of the coin, but they<br>
*are* two sides of the same coin.<br><br>What is the flow of the mesorah? A large part of it is information -<br>and thus, academic/objective information can be just as much a part of<br>the mesorah, IMO. </blockquote>
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<div>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.</div>
<div> 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.) </div>
<div> 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.</div>
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<div> Jesse A. <br> </div></div><br>