The Talmudic Argument: A Study in Talmudic Reasoning and Methodology

240 Pages·1984·0.41 MB·English

by  Louis Jacobs

The Talmudic Argument

THE TALMUDIC ARGUMENT
A study in Talmudic reasoning and
methodology
LOUIS JACOBS
Rabbi of the New London Synagogue
Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School
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First published 1984
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Contents
Preface page ix
Note on transliteration xi
Note on Biblical translations xi
Note on the Babylonian Talmud xii
List of Abbreviations xv
1 The Talmudic argument i
2 The literary form of the Babylonian Talmud 18
3 Bererah: retrospective specification 24
4 Teush she-lo mi-da'at: unconscious abandonment of
property 34
5 Rubba: probability 50
6 Davar she-lo ba le-'olam: conveyance of a thing not yet
in existence 64
7 Kol she-eyno be-zeh ahar zeh afilu be-vat ahat eyno:
whatever cannot be established in a consecutive
sequence cannot be established even in a
simultaneous sequence 75
8 Tesh horesh telem ehad: a single act of ploughing can
result in a number of penalties 83
9 Simanin de-oraita 0 de-rabbanan: whether reliance on
distinguishing marks for the purpose of identification
is Biblical or Rabbinic 91
I o Devarim she-be-lev eynam devarim: mental reservations
in contracts are disregarded 101
I1 Hazakah: presumptive state 11 o
12 Gadol kevod ha-beriot: the law and regard for human
dignity 115
viii Contents
13 Hazmanah milta: whether the designation of an object
for a particular use is effective 122
14 Mitzvat 'aseh she-ha-zeman geramah: positive precepts
dependent on time from which women are exempt 133
15 Heyzek she-eyno nikar: indiscernible damage to
property 144
16 Kinyan hatzer: acquisition by means of a domain 160
17 Palginan be-dibbura: admission of part of a testimony
even though another part of the same testimony is
rejected 168
18 Tadir u-mekuddash: which takes precedence: the more
constant or the more sacred? 174
19 Palga nizka: the nature of the payment of
half-damages to which the owner of a goring ox is
liable ^2
20 Patur mi-diney adam ve-hayyav be-diney shamayim: cases
where there is liability in the eyes of God even though
the human courts cannot enforce payment 191
21 Mahal 'al kevodo kevodo mahul: renunciation of honour
by one to whom it is due 198
22 Conclusions 203
Glossary 214
Bibliography 216
Preface
This book seeks to combine the methodological and the literary
approach to the study of the reasoning and argumentation typical
of the Babylonian Talmud. In the great, traditional Yeshivot, most
of which today are influenced by the methods of the Lithuanian
Talmudic giants — R. Hayyim Soloveitchik and his son R. Velvel;
R. Simeon Skopf; R. Moshe Mordecai Epstein of Slabodka; R.
Baruch Baer of Kamenitz; R. Joseph Judah Laib Bloch of Telz;
R. Meir Simhah of Dvinsk; R. Elhanan Wasserman and others too
numerous to mention - the Talmud is subjected to acute, logical
analysis of the utmost rigour, to yield important results for the full
understanding of the work. But, in these institutions, historical and
literary questions are virtually ignored. Modern critical investiga-
tion is considered not so much to be taboo as irrelevant. As the old
Yeshiva gibe has it, the Professor of Semi tics can tell you what kind
of clothes Abbaye wore but the lamdan ('traditional scholar') can
tell you what Abbaye said. Modern critical scholars, on the other
hand, in addition to their massive historical researches, have, in
recent years, subjected the Talmudic texts to keen literary analysis,
in which the pre-history of the Talmudic pericopae and their later
formulation have been studied in order to shed fresh light on how
the literary traditions have emerged and to try to solve the mystery
of how the Babylonian Talmud came to assume its present form,
who its authors were and how they went about their task. One
thinks of scholars like I. H. Weiss; Isaac Halevy; C. Albeck;
Abraham Weiss; David Halivni; Saul Lieberman; Hyman Klein;
J. N. Epstein; Benjamin De Friess; Shamma Friedman; Jacob
Neusner and his pupils. Quite naturally, these scholars, in their
concentration on context, tend to leave content to take care of itself
x Preface
to some extent. Whatever originality this book may possess lies in
its attempt to combine the two methods by analysing both the logic
of the arguments and their literary form.
The first two chapters are introductory: one on Talmudic
argumentation in general, its nature, terms and history; the other
on the central literary problem of how the Babylonian Talmud was
composed. The bulk of the work consists of the analytical treatment
of a number of typical sugyot (plural of sugya, the name for a
complete Talmudic unit). Each sugya is paraphrased, the thrust of
the argument noted and an attempt made to subject the material
to literary analysis. The passages in smaller type call attention to
further points requiring elucidation and provide some information
regarding the discussion of the same theme in other parts of the
Talmud as well as in the post-Talmudic works. For this purpose
the two works: Kesef Nivhar and the Entziklopedia Talmudit have
proved invaluable. The final chapter seeks to tie all the material
together and to suggest the conclusions which have been reached
in the investigation.
In reply to the question, allegedly put by the combative person
who witnessed two men fighting: 'Is this a private quarrel or can
anyone join in?', I hope that the answer, so far as this book is
concerned, is that non-professional students of the Talmud and, for
that matter, anyone interested in Jewish thought, will gain
something from reading the book. At the same time, I am
sufficiently presumptuous to offer the work as a small contribution
towards the solution of the kind of problems faced by full-time
Talmudic scholars.