Q&A: Why Does the Talmud Move the Rabbi So Much?
Why Does the Talmud Move the Rabbi So Much?
Question
Hello to the esteemed Rabbi,
I heard in one of your lectures that studying the Talmud was what led you to become religiously observant. That intrigued me מאוד, and I would be very glad to understand more deeply—what was it about studying the Talmud that caused that? What grabbed you so strongly that it led to a spiritual transformation?
For me, unfortunately, the situation is different. Studying the Talmud sometimes distances me more than it brings me closer. I find it hard to connect to the content—whether it is aggadic passages that seem strange to me, or topics that repeat themselves throughout the Talmud in a way that does not appear organized to the modern eye. Even the issues being discussed sometimes seem very far from reality to me, and the lines of reasoning offered do not always manage to convince me or inspire me.
Even in analytical study, which supposedly ought to deepen and enrich things, I sometimes feel discouraged. I have a sense of frustration when people enter into deep dialectical analysis of just a few lines, without my seeing how the ideas arise naturally from the text. The feeling is that sometimes people are dealing with theories that remind me of exaggerated interpretations of films—ones that people develop for their own enjoyment, but that do not necessarily reflect the creator’s intention.
I would be very glad to hear your personal perspective on this. How did you deal, if at all, with similar feelings? And what do you suggest for someone who feels this way about studying the Talmud?
Thank you very much in advance for your time and your words.
Answer
I’ve written about this here more than once, but it’s hard to spell out in detail. Briefly, I would say that I’m talking about the whole picture. There are discussions in the Talmud that seem strange and disconnected, but the whole is varied and complex, touches many different aspects of our lives, and ties them to one another in a beautiful way. It’s not necessarily about the subjects the Talmud deals with, but mainly about the method and the connections. Talmudic analysis helps one look at issues in life, and at the world in general, in a more rational, logical, and comprehensive way. I think part of it also depends on the stage you’re at. At the beginning the frustration is greater, until you arrive at creating your own personal style of learning. I’m not talking about the aggadic passages, which to me are astonishing midrashim or just strange little homiletic sayings, and I skip over them.