Mysticism in the Gemara Period
Hello Rabbi!
Recently I started studying more proficiently than I did, and I noticed that the stories of the Gemara are full of supernatural mystical cases. Whether it’s the story about the earth that produced dinars, or the story about how Rabbi Sheshet turned his eyes on a man and he died, Rav Papa was like that too (turned his eyes on people and they died), and the story will never end.
There are cases where I can interpret through a parable or rational explanation, but it is impossible to ignore that there are cases where the parable and rationality simply don’t work (or not at all, or it feels overly forced).
My question is, what do we do with this? What does it actually mean? To say that the sages of the Gemara were schizophrenic is beside the point, but to say that there were such irrational cases at that time (i.e., that they were mystical) feels a bit far-fetched to me, and even requires me to believe in something entirely new (in addition to believing in Hashem, I would have to believe that there was once a supernatural world that cannot be documented).
What does the rabbi think? Thank you very much.
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That's fine and all, but what do we do with a story like the Gemara in Yevamot (page 10) where it says: “Abuach said to her, "Here is God in your mother's womb, here is God in your womb, Yahib stared at her eyes and leaned back."
It simply makes no sense to say that this does not describe an incident, right?
why?
Because the case there says that Abaye was upset because Rav Papa's parents are alive and supporting him, compared to Abaye whose parents died at his birth.
And after he was upset, he “gave them his eyes” and they died.
This is not really something I can conclude anything from, and there is no connection in the Gemara before it can be linked to it.
Let's leave aside the fact that it is not fair, it is still not a normal story that is not literally true, right?
How can we interpret it differently? I thought about it, it is really impossible.
Of course it is possible. Even if the background is real, the killing could be a parable, and it is very likely that it is.
But as I said, I have no business with fairy tales.
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