Q&A: Reasoning in the Talmud
Reasoning in the Talmud
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In the Talmud, you sometimes find the statement that a certain law is derived from reasoning. For example, at the beginning of the sixth chapter of Berakhot, the Talmud says that the source of blessings is reasoning. My question is: what gives binding force to laws that are derived from reasoning? Is it morality? If so, then gentiles too should be obligated in all laws derived from reasoning. Or is it some law with social or religious utility that the Sages anchored as obligatory through “do not deviate”?
Answer
Indeed, every law whose basis is reasoning is also binding on the Noahides (this is what Rav Nissim Gaon writes in his introduction to the Talmud). But reasoning is not only morality. See a broad discussion in my article on reasoning: