Much has been said about the “logic” found in Talmudic treatises and among the Sages. Persistent rumors have mentioned the teaching of the Hebrew Talmud in Korea, due to its alleged contribution to the development of logical thinking. Young “Yeshiva” students, lacking real education, are brought up to believe that their studies are equivalent to real academic studies in this context, if not superior to them. This was further emphasized in the article “Work Liberates”, which appeared in a Haredi newspaper in 2003 and defined a non-Haredi person as “a simple mind that has never been sharpened by proper analysis.”<\/p>\n
As a matter of fact, there are indeed discussions in the Talmud that carry the smell of “logic”, and even a set of rules close to formal logic that the debaters adhere to sometimes, rules such as inference from the general to the particular, laws of transitive relations, necessary and sufficient conditions, a reason for every redundancy (repetition of things), and so on. For example, because the fox must “intend” to inject the venom from its front claws into the chicken, and because it is additionally stated that a scratch from the claws of a dead fox cannot inject venom, we conclude that someone wanted to tell us that if the fox stuck its nails while alive and died before it had time to pull out, then there is no venom, and therefore the conclusion is that the venom is released only when the fox pulls out its claws and not while it is sticking them in. However, if a hawk is found with its claws still stuck in the chicken \u2013 the chicken will still be non-kosher, because maybe the hawk inserted its claws, removed them, and inserted them again.<\/p>\n
But there are several profound differences between real logic, as taught in university, and Talmudic “logic.” Let’s start by saying that logic, being a branch of mathematics, is an exact<\/b> science, while the logic of the Talmud, you know, is the logic of “approximately”. There are no real “formulas”, but rather an analysis of situations from the physical world, which can be diverted in one direction or another. Often the discussion is about “it is common that…”, other times it is about “some say this, and others say the opposite.” Perhaps the strangest pseudo-logic (and one of the most used) is an inference from a text in one selected place to a conclusion in another selected place.<\/p>\n
Not only that, but many times the desired result has been predetermined, and the discussion “bends” to achieve it, using the logic of “approximately”. And the result – lo and behold – will always be the one that aligns with the religious view. For example, if Rabbi Ishmael’s disciples cooked a prostitute who was sentenced to death, counted her organs, and found 252 instead of the 253 required by religion, then the logical conclusion is that one organ melted in the process of cooking.<\/p>\n
But the main thing is the content itself. Who is really interested in “logical proof” that a widow is not allowed to raise a dog, or that it is permissible to hold one’s genitals in one’s hand if one urinates from the roof of a synagogue?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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