Required reading

Interesting review of Artscroll translations In the YU Commentator.

(Hat tip to Prof. Jim Davila)

Heh Heh

Maritime Humor... Of a sort.

Some thoughts on the migration of ideas

Last week I posted a long translation from R. Baruch Halevi Epstein's autobiography, Makor Baruch. That passage was excerpted from a longer discussion of his understanding of the Talmudic maxim, "Both of these are the word of the living God.." (Chulin 64b, among other places.) The basic idea is that both sides of a debate are, somehow, connected to the divine. To Epstein, this idea makes no sense. He doesn't understand how two sides in a debate, which contradict each other, can possibly both be true. His answer is that of course both sides are not correct. However, by means of debate, the give and take of ideas, we are able to arrive at the truth

For those of you who recognize this as John Stuart Mill's argument for freedom of expression from "On Liberty," well, you're one hundred percent correct. How on earth did a 19th-20th century Eastern European traditional Jew hear about Utilitarianism? Now, I suppose it is possible that he read it in translation, if such existed. However, I doubt it. My theory, which still, obviously, needs to be tested, is that he read the story of Disraeli and Bismarck, as reported by Belawitz (I may have that wrong, I'm transliterating from Hebrew). He liked Disraeli's idea, saw how it could apply to the Talmudic maxim, and used it, claiming that Disraeli had borrowed it from his Jewish education, in order to justify its use. The irony is that it originates with an 18th century deist. Not at all Kosher.

Schadenfreude

It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Something that needs to be talked about

This post is worthwhile, not least for it's use of the line "Note to magazines: "data" is not the plural of "anecdote."" Read the whole thing, and the comments thread.

As an Orthodox Jew, it is not my place to tell the Reform movement how to run it's business, but as a general rule, I think it's worth it for all Jews who are associated with a movement to have a sort of knowledge of the institutions of the other movements. Keeps 'em honest.

What I do with my spare (or not so spare) time

"And in the end of my thoughts on [the matter of the Talmudic statement 'These and these are both the words of the living God'] I will bring another, external thought, a thought which is based in a conversation of secular scholars, and this thought comes from a source which is honest, and was close to the events, as I shall explain, and the events, and what was about them are both interesting and moving.

"It was in 1878, after the Russo-Turkish War, that the great diplomats of all the states gathered in Berlin in order to settle things between the powers who had been at war, and those things which had affected the interests of other nations. This meeting is known as the Berlin Congress.

"Lord Beaconsfield (also known as Disraeli) had come from Britain, and he was known as the greatest of diplomats at that time.

"And even though the gathering honored the master of the house, Chancellor Bismarck, with the chief seat, it was generally known that the rhythm of the congress would be controlled by Lord Beaconsfield.

"Beaconsfield sat right next to Bismarck, and both of them instructed the assembled, such that there were those who likened them to two teeth in one mouth.

"Whenever there was a break in official discussion these two neighbors, Bismarck and Beaconsfield, would have a conversation as two private people, on private matters which had no bearing on the meeting.

"And one time their conversation fell to the workings of parliament. Bismarck said to Beaconsfield that Members of parliament harassed him to no end, because any law that he wanted to pass, for the interests of the nation could not get through parliament without long periods of discussion, and questioning, and examination, with arguments from all sides and of all types, and he was required to answer them all, to defend against all of them, and to respond to each one. All of this troubled him greatly; his spirit was storming such that he could not answer each objection, so they inserted corrections, and emendations and improvements into the law…

"'And it was not in my power,' he continued emphatically, 'so I limited the rights of parliament, because when parliament has freedom without limitation to claim anything, and to object to anything with out any boundary it is a great rebuke to the ministers of government. And thus,' Bismarck finished his comment, 'it is necessary to place limits on what they can say.

"Beaconsfield listened closely to this rebuke of members of parliament, thought for a moment, then put his hand on his chin and said:

"'In my opinion, if there were note people in parliament who disagreed, and objected and argued against my opinions and ideas, I would hire them with my own money, because without these, the dissenters, the arguers, and objectors All of the issues and questions of the day would never be clarified, the truth of them would never be revealed, and thus we arrive at a desirable and complete conclusion.'

"Bismarck was touched by this answer, because he has not expected to hear it, especially not from Beaconsfield, the greatest of diplomats, first speaker in every place, to whom everybody listens, and they drink his words with great thirst, and the law is like him in all cases!

"He asked Beaconsfield, 'Where did you learn this?' Beaconsfield answered, 'This is an ancient teaching, which as seen thousands of years, and it is inherited with many other proper opinions, which are all part of the teaching of that ancient period.

"Bismarck understood the hint and realized that this inheritance comes from the Torah of Israel, because he knew that Beaconsfield often based his ideas on those of Israel and its Torah (because he was educated as a Jew, in his youth). Bismarck, as it is known, was one of the great oppressors of Jews at the time, one of the originator s of the anti-Semitism, and one of its [anti-Semitism's] great defenders, so he understood that Beaconsfield had not unintentionally insulted him, but had used a very straightforward hint, and he was secretly angry."

~R. Baruch Halevy Epstein, Makor Baruch, vol. 4, chapter 39, section 2, pp. 1779-1786.

Yes, ladies and gentleman. I spend the time I should spend on school work reading things like this, and translating them for your entertainment. As there is no way I could fit this into my paper on Epstein, I decided to post it here. Isn't it delightful?

Remember, Epstein was an Eastern European Jew, a non-maskil, at the end of the 19th and begining of the 20th century. And he illustrates his point about a Talmudic maxim with a story of the great diplomats of Europe. That's pretty remarkable.