Q&A: Aggadah
Aggadah
Question
Hello Rabbi,
While spending time on the site, I can’t help noticing the Rabbi’s deep dismissiveness toward any biblical or Talmudic passage that is not halakhic. In the Rabbi’s view, what is God’s purpose in all these additions in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)? Could it be that He wants us to derive messages, morality, and outlook from them? Were our sages who wrote the Talmud complete idiots who wrote nonsense? Obviously there are serious and relevant things for us in all this material. You can’t just take the halakhic part—which basically can’t be criticized as much because it is practical—but throw away the aggadic part as if it were nothing.
Thank you.
Answer
I’m not dismissive; I simply don’t understand what there is to learn there. I also haven’t found anything that others have learned from it. Everyone reads their own insights into it.
The aggadot in the Talmud seem to me very much like the little homiletic remarks people say today in synagogue or at a sheva berakhot, to teach some moral lesson or entertain the audience. There is no need to treat this too seriously, and that certainly does not mean the people involved were idiots. Just as you wouldn’t analyze a rabbi’s little sermon in synagogue with great precision today, there is no point in doing so there either.
As for what the Holy One, blessed be He, intended—I have no idea. I’ll say two things: 1. It is possible that in the past this did help instill morality and values. My claim is that today it is unnecessary and teaches nothing. 2. Even if you have a question about what the Holy One, blessed be He, intended in these parts, that does not help with my question. Until you show me that something can actually be learned from there, then it can’t be assumed. And regarding God’s intentions? This requires further investigation. If you claim that something can be learned from there—show me. Then you also won’t need indirect claims and questions about God’s intentions.
Discussion on Answer
Burial is a halakhic obligation. I’m talking about areas that are not Jewish law. Beyond that, suppose so-and-so thinks burial is a valueless matter. Do you really think studying the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) would change his mind? And finally, I’m not talking about basic principles, such as that there was a revelation at Mount Sinai, or that there is a God, or that Abraham our forefather existed, or that one ought to be humble. I’m talking about specific conclusions that would emerge from analyzing a specific biblical passage. That is, is there any reason to invest effort in studying passages in the Hebrew Bible beyond general familiarity with what it contains—for which you do not even need to open it?
Hello Rabbi, even if you don’t find that much to learn from the Hebrew Bible, why not study it (all of it) because it is the word of God?
You can read it. But what people do with it is not called study. Beyond that, there is also the option of studying Talmud, so why go דווקא to that unhelpful area?!
Hello Rabbi, I also think one should focus on Talmud, but in my opinion it is worthwhile to study it at least once on the level of understanding the plain meaning of the entire Hebrew Bible, and if a difficulty comes up in understanding the plain meaning itself—for example, an unfamiliar word or things like that—then to try to understand it. And when the Rabbi says to read it, does he mean study in the style I described, or simply to read it aloud even without understanding? And what is the Rabbi’s opinion regarding studying aggadic midrashim or similar things—does that count as Torah study? Thank you very much.
For example, I saw a little while ago on the site that they brought proof for the value of burial and so on from the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). Why not really say that we learn that value from there?