Using it more than studying it
In Two Carts, in the third chapter, chapter two, you write in praise of the use of the Torah, which is what imparts synthetic thinking, and you write, “You need (to learn the Torah forms of thinking) a living teacher, and a meeting with all parts of that teacher’s personality.”
1. I remember you once saying that today books are teachers, and the use is through reading books. Doesn’t that contradict the Mishnah? Although I also remember you saying that you never had a rabbi/teacher in that sense, just a certain affection for one rabbi who was in the yeshiva where you studied, but nothing more than that.
2. Is it possible, and if so how, to have a “meeting with his personality, a special relationship, etc.” with you (meaning, you are a priest, of course)?
I think that’s where I talked about the fundamental concept of Toshbap. Today, books are the teachers, and perhaps the situation has changed. But in fact, in my opinion, it hasn’t really changed. There is still a difference between learning from a book and learning from living people. There may be people for whom this is less critical.
It seems to me that usage today is not as it was in the Sages. There, it was spoken of serving the actual rabbi. Today, it is accepted to learn from him.
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