{"id":2694,"date":"2021-04-18T09:26:21","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T13:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/?p=2694"},"modified":"2021-04-18T09:27:07","modified_gmt":"2021-04-18T13:27:07","slug":"an-introduction-to-prof-boyarins-article-on-r-prof-saul-lieberman-zl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/2021\/04\/an-introduction-to-prof-boyarins-article-on-r-prof-saul-lieberman-zl\/","title":{"rendered":"An Introduction to Prof. Boyarin’s Article on R. Prof. Saul Lieberman Z”L"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1976 I was a student in the Talmud shiur of\u00a0Hagaon Rabbeinu Shaul<\/em>\u00a0Lieberman, the\u00a0GRa\u201dSh<\/em>, Rabbi Professor Saul Lieberman\u00a0z\u201dl<\/em>, the Rector of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.\u00a0 A few years later I would be blessed to have both a personal and professional relationship with him, but, as an introduction to the article linked below by Prof. Daniel Boyarin, my experience as a Talmud student is more relevant.<\/p>\n

We were studying\u00a0Perek Eizehu Neshech<\/em>, the fifth chapter of Tractate\u00a0Baba Metzia<\/em>\u00a0of the Babylonian Talmud. On page 62b we learned the following:<\/p>\n

\n

\u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05de\u05d4\u05dc\u05db\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u05de\u05d4\u05df \u05e7\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05dc \u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dd \u05e9\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05df \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05de\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d0\u05dd \u05e9\u05d5\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u05de\u05d4\u05df \u05de\u05d2\u05d9\u05e2 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d3\u05e8\u05e9 \u05d1\u05df \u05e4\u05d8\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05de\u05d5\u05d8\u05d1 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9\u05ea\u05d5 \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0\u05dc \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u05de\u05d4\u05dd \u05d1\u05de\u05d9\u05ea\u05ea\u05d5 \u05e9\u05dc \u05d7\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05e9\u05d1\u05d0 \u05e8’ \u05e2\u05e7\u05d9\u05d1\u05d0 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d9\u05de\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d7\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d9\u05da \u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05da \u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9 \u05d7\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05da (\u05d1\u05d1\u05d0 \u05de\u05e6\u05d9\u05e2\u05d0 \u05e1”\u05d1:)<\/p>\n

Two who were traveling on the way (in the wilderness) and only one has a flask of water. If they both drink they will both die but if only one drinks he can arrive at a settlement\u2014Ben Petura<\/em>\u00a0interpreted: better they share and die so that one should not witness the death of his friend\u2014until Rabbi Akiva came and taught (regarding the verse in\u00a0Vayikra<\/em>) \u201c\u2026that your brother shall live with you\u201d, (this means that) your life takes precedence over the life of you friend.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Given Prof. Lieberman\u2019s use of realia and history in his unmatched scholarship, one might have expected a lengthy lecture on the parallel texts in Greek and Roman literature and how this statement differs.\u00a0 But in our class he paused after we read the text. Then, most of us being fiercely focused on the halakhic implications of every statement of the\u00a0Gemara,<\/em>\u00a0someone asked the following: \u201cAre we to understand from Rabbi Akiva\u2019s statement that if one chose to share the water or give all of it to the other and die, one would have sinned according to the law?\u201d<\/p>\n

After another pause, the\u00a0GRa\u201dSh<\/em>\u00a0looked up and told us the following. There was a woman in one of the concentration camps who was able to keep her two children with her.\u00a0 Each person\u2019s total daily food ration was a spoonful of peanut butter.\u00a0 To keep her children alive, the mother consumed only water and secretly divided her ration between her two children to supplement their own. In time, she died of starvation, but her children survived.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIs there anyone who would dare to judge this woman?\u201d<\/p>\n

In that moment we were blessed to witness the confluence of the heights of academic Torah scholarship with the deepest of human sensitivities. We were taught a lesson in the limits of human intellect in the face of ineffable suffering and the humility required of the halakhist.<\/p>\n

The UTJ has tried to perpetuate the Torah of our teacher of blessed memory, and for over two and a half decades commemorated his yahrzeit publicly.\u00a0 Prof. Boyarin himself may not be ideologically attuned to our world view, but his article will give you a taste of the methodology and incredible scholarship of our teacher. Know that it would be hard to find an equal to the\u00a0GRa\u201dSh<\/em>\u2019s humanity as well.<\/p>\n

Read Professor Boyarin’s article, “A Way of Reading: The Genius” in Tablet Magazine at https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/arts-letters\/articles\/saul-lieberman-daniel-boyarin<\/a><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prof. Boyarin himself may not be ideologically attuned to our world view, but his article will give you a taste of the methodology and incredible scholarship of our teacher. Know that it would be hard to find an equal to the\u00a0GRa\u201dSh\u2019s humanity as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,82,77],"tags":[],"coauthors":[80],"class_list":["post-2694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-halakhah","category-torah-talmud"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2694"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2697,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions\/2697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2694"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}