Q&A: The Torah as a “Mode of Thinking” — Really?
The Torah as a “Mode of Thinking” — Really?
Question
If I’m not mistaken, you said (somewhere) that the main point of learning is not the bottom-line Jewish law, but rather the way one arrives at conclusions; that is, internalizing the analytical mode of learning itself is the purpose of study. If I understood you correctly, it seems that there is some particular mode of thinking that a person is supposed to internalize after learning a lot of Torah. But if there is such a mode of thinking, it would seem that it should show itself somewhere in life besides Torah study (otherwise it’s fairly circular—one studies a mode of thinking that can only be used in study, so how is that mode of thinking the goal?). Yet in practice, among most of the analytical Torah scholars I know, I don’t see any expression of that mode of thinking outside Torah study (the Rabbi is an unusual example of using this mode of thinking in other contexts). If in practice this mode of thinking does not show itself among those who invest years in internalizing it, isn’t that a difficulty for your claim that this is the main point of study?
Answer
First, are you setting one person against another? If other people think and act differently from me, why is that a difficulty for me? Second, I think many people do apply it in other contexts, just less consciously and less explicitly conceptualized than I do. And finally, even if you don’t apply it elsewhere, if you acquired that mode of perspective, that itself is the meaning of learning. The internalization is not meant for application; it is a value in itself.