Legends of the Sages

How is it possible that you once admired Rabbi Shapira and his teachings on these words of Chazal and argued strongly (in your own words) against those who claim that this is nothing more than acrobatics. And now you think that these are hollow words. A wonderful wonder.

Apparently, at that time he was captive to the Haredi approach that thinks that everything written in the Gemara was given by the mouth of the hero.

The Hatz wrote about Aggadot, which are jokes that are recited according to the Gemara before learning.

Yaron Yadan deals with this a lot, it's hard not to accept some of his criticism.

In the Responsa of the Rashba, he already made it clear that most of the aggadot are on the hidden path, and the benefit taught is how to worship the Lord. And all the books of the Rishonim, such as Hovat HaLevvot and Tarshei HaTorah, are full of aggadot from the sages as guidance for life. For example, the aggadah at the end of the first chapter of the book of the Bible on the subject of the suffering of Job and his arguments teach a lot about faith and choice. The incident with Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish teaches about the concept of “hevrotah” and “ahmal.”

And what is not understood has an explanation based on internal principles, such as the Maharal or the explanations of the Gra.

So this is not an “ultra-Orthodox approach” but a Jewish approach throughout all generations,