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Not really -- think of a rabbi as a PhD. You and he can both get the same raw data, but he has experience, a breadth of knowledge and an appreciation of method that you don't have. So if something doesn't make sense to you it might not be because he is wrong, but because he is righter than you can appreciate. You can look at a textual verse and Rashi can, and you each can draw conclusions, but his are informed by an encyclopedic knowledge of stuff you have never even seen. If you decide his conclusions don't make sense then that speaks more to what you don't know than to what he does know.
There is nothing to say an individual can't attain the level of a PhD...We trust that a Rabbi doesn't have a personal agenda...I believe a Rabbi once said that truth cannot be attained without argumentation...If an answer comes too easily then it is not the correct answer...I began listening to a series of videos on Beginners Talmud by Rabbi Eli Wolf...The man makes sense...He explains why...He explains how we come to these conclusions in a logical and reasonable manner...I think he said most non-Jews believe we believe something because we are told to, this not the case, we are encouraged to question everything in order to learn, in order to arrive at truth...
There is nothing to say an individual can't attain the level of a PhD...We trust that a Rabbi doesn't have a personal agenda...I believe a Rabbi once said that truth cannot be attained without argumentation...If an answer comes too easily then it is not the correct answer...I began listening to a series of videos on Beginners Talmud by Rabbi Eli Wolf...The man makes sense...He explains why...He explains how we come to these conclusions in a logical and reasonable manner...I think he said most non-Jews believe we believe something because we are told to, this not the case, we are encouraged to question everything in order to learn, in order to arrive at truth...
2 problems -- first, this would then intimate that you, when rejecting rabbinical explanations as not making sense and providing your own understanding in place, have achieved that same "PhD level" of learning. Second, you state that if an answer comes too easily then it is not correct. That's false. Sometimes, a correct answer is readily apparent. Sometimes not.
To deny the established rabbinical authority in deference to a personal read because the established authority doesn't make sense points to a lack of understanding of the authority, not its having flaws. If I go and develop a textual reading that doesn't agree with Rashi's then that's fine. But if I reject studying Rashi, or gloss through and decide that his explanation doesn't conform to my personal sensibility, and refuse to give him credit for the breadth of his knowledge and the nature of his method then that is foolishness. We cannot stand on the shoulders of geniuses if we refuse to acknowledge them as such.
Dude!...How many times have you seen me quote Rashi to get a point a cross?...
2 problems -- first, this would then intimate that you, when rejecting rabbinical explanations as not making sense and providing your own understanding in place, have achieved that same "PhD level" of learning. Second, you state that if an answer comes too easily then it is not correct. That's false. Sometimes, a correct answer is readily apparent. Sometimes not.
I was quoting a Rabbi with that, so, ironically, you are rejecting the teaching of a Rabbi...
2 problems -- first, this would then intimate that you, when rejecting rabbinical explanations as not making sense and providing your own understanding in place, have achieved that same "PhD level" of learning. Second, you state that if an answer comes too easily then it is not correct. That's false. Sometimes, a correct answer is readily apparent. Sometimes not.
because the Torah has layer upon layer upon layer of meaning. It goes on infinitely, it never stops.
One rabbi expounds on one meaning, another on another.
Torah is like a beautiful diamond with many facets, throwing brilliant colors and light in every direction. One rabbi describes the illumination he sees, another describes another.
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 01-03-2016 at 11:26 AM..
Because deep thinking often leads to different conclusions. Not all PhD's agree with other PhD's.
And this is the point I am trying to make...
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