Q&A: Torah Study During Wartime
Torah Study During Wartime
Question
Not related to the Haredim or the issue of enlistment, etc.
My question is: even for someone who did not serve, even for someone who already served, and even for someone for whom this is not relevant at all (residents of abroad, for example).
During wartime, when men our age (at least my age) are falling in battle, is it still appropriate to study Talmud and discuss the fundamentals of the laws of monetary damages, to investigate whether it is an obligation of guarding or a prohibition against your property causing damage, is it still appropriate to delve into the depths of the laws of ritual purity, to learn that a sealed earthenware vessel protects what is inside it, to study the case of one who forbids his wife marital relations, to learn how many offerings one is liable for if he swore to act outside a religious court, and so on and so on.
I very deeply value Torah study, of course, but is it still appropriate/relevant to learn like this in these days?
Answer
Why not? I don't understand. People go on living, so should we stop learning? What's the logic?
Discussion on Answer
If there is something not connected to reality, it is the war. The real and interesting reality is the laws of migo and "secondary taste derived from secondary taste."
What do you mean by real reality? How can migo be part of the reality of everyday life?
True, these are lofty concepts, very important and very interesting, and one must study them, but how are they realistic?
True reality is not physical reality but rather value-based and conceptual reality.
Besides, "secondary taste" is connected to war in the context of anti-tank missiles 😉
Could the Rabbi perhaps expand on this conception of reality that he just presented, or at least point to a place where he has already addressed the topic?
It seems these things are simple to the Rabbi, but very novel to someone who has only just now been exposed to them.
No need to take it too heavily. I meant to say that the assumption that one should study things connected to reality is, in my view, a strange assumption. In my opinion, Torah theory, and perhaps theory in general, is more interesting and no less important than reality and things connected to reality. I have written more than once that Torah study is not intended to guide us in our actions, but has intrinsic value. In fact, just this morning, in lesson 28 of the series on Platonism, I spoke about the relationship between theory and reality.
Not stop learning. But to study topics like these, to get down to the root of things when they are not connected to reality at all, seems unnecessary. I don't know, just that kind of feeling.