Pilpul
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Pilpul (
Sources
The requirement for close derivation of the conceptual structures underlying various Jewish laws, as a regular part of one's Torah study, is described by Maimonides as follows:[2]
A person is obligated to divide his study time in three: one third should be devoted to the Written Law; one third to the Oral Law; and one third to understanding and conceptualizing the ultimate derivation of a concept from its roots, inferring one concept from another and comparing concepts, understanding [the Torah] based on the principles of Torah exegesis, until one appreciates the essence of those principles and how the prohibitions and the other decisions which one received according to the oral tradition can be derived using them....
Other such sources include
Narrow definition
In the narrower sense, pilpul refers to a method of conceptual extrapolation from texts in efforts to reconcile various texts or to explain fundamental differences of approach between various earlier authorities, which became popular in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries: its founders are generally considered to be Jacob Pollak and Shalom Shachna. Pilpul was defined by Heinrich Graetz as "the astonishing facility of ingenious disquisition on the basis of the Talmud."[7]
Opposition
Many leading rabbinic authorities have harshly criticized this method as being unreliable and a waste of time, and it is regarded by some as having been discredited by the time of the
Judah Loew ben Bezalel (the Maharal), in a famous polemic against pilpul, wrote:
It would be better to learn carpentry or another trade, or to sharpen the mind by playing chess. At least they would not engage in falsehood, which then spills over from theory and into practice..."[9]
The Rebbe Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, quoting Maharal, allows for "genuine pilpul" while dismissing "false pilpul":
Genuine pilpul is possible only when first one knows the simple meaning of the
Halachah guilelessly, in a structured manner, using straightforward terms... Afterwards, if G‑d has graciously endowed a person with a capable intellectual potential and broad-minded thought processes, he may delve into a pilpul.... If, however, a student will begin with pilpul before he has a genuine appreciation of the subject in the above manner, as a natural consequence, the pilpul will be false, and he will waste his time with ersatz thoughts.[10]
An approach contrasting to pilpul, often referred to as "
Current methods
In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, pilpul in this narrow sense was largely superseded by the analytic methods pioneered by the
.See also
References
- ^ 2000 years of Jewish history: p170 Chaim Schloss - 2002 "Jews in Eastern Europe (Part II) The word pilpul comes from the Hebrew word for "pepper"; "
- Yad HaChazakah, Sefer Madda, Laws of Torah Study, 1:11
- ^ Pirkei Avot 6:6
- ^ Shabbat 31a
- ^ Rashi to Kiddushin 30a, s.v. "Talmud"
- ^ Shulchan Aruch HaRav Talmud Torah 2:2 and 3:4
- ISBN 978-1-60520-947-0
- ^ Baruch Erlich, HaPilpul - Yesod Limud HaTorah SheBeAl-Peh VeHishtalshuto Bemeshech HaDorot, Morashteinu, 3:189 (1989)
- ^ Tiferet Yisroel, pg. 168, quoted in Chess in Jewish theology and practice, Ishim veShittos blog (Wolf2191), 17 March 2009.
- ^ Kuntres Eitz HaChayim, Chapter XXXI. In this work, "Rashab" provides guidelines for proper Talmud study to the students of Tomchei Tmimim
External links
- "Pilpul", an article from the Jewish Encyclopedia