In the recent past, BadEagle.com has addressed the Talmud, in such pieces as:
Neusner, Mishna, and the Talmud: When to Recite the Shema (May 11, 2013)
Talmud, Time, and Temptation (July 26, 3013)
Talmud in the Night (August 3, 21013)
The naïveté or impropriety of these amateur attempts at reading Talmud, without a tutor or a guide, might even be considered a bit blasphemous in some very orthodox circles. I do have one guide: a Fair knowledge of the Tanach itself.
In any case, I am in the seventh month of a most miserable chemotherapy for cancer (lymphoma and mesothelioma), and I am not able to rein in my thoughts as tightly as I would like. Twice in the last week, I was up at 2:00 in the morning, unable to sleep. I read the Talmud, and strangely enough, found great comfort. Dark though the way may seem, there are coruscates of fire. Chariots of fire, I should say.
Our last commentary (August 3) noted the issue of the timely divisions of night. I was unobservant enough, then, to fail to recognize that the very first two topical questions the Mishna asks:
1:1 From what time do they recite the Shema in the evening? (Neusner, Babylonian Talmud, p. 1.)
1:2 From what time do they recite the Shema in the morning?
(Newsner, p. 53.)
Obviously, the interminable ‘rabbit trails’ of though, the endless tangents, or simply, the “free association” involved in the thought process is all based on scripture, and therefore all perfectly relevant. I had simply mistakenly felt that there was a certain disorganization in the thought process. Far from it. It is perfectly knit together, and in exact order, really.
There is great concentration on David and his psalms, and night watches. Where as the scripture simply says, “when thou liest down” (Deuteronomy 6:7), the rabbis knew that was, in the strictest sense, a non-assigned hour. Therefore, all the different circumstances of the night must be considered. (By the way, in Creation, Genesis 1, it is profoundly evident that the “evening” (ערב ‛ereb, dusk, twilight, evening, night) transpired before the “morning” (בּקר bo’ker, morning, day, early morning).
It seems demons are always associated with
animal instincts, or uncontrolled, evil impulses.
The rabbis are completely convince that the hour of midnight is knowable and known, by the Lord, by King David, and anyone else who wants to know. Say, from III.1 to III.11, we find another major emphasis on David, and again another emphasis on evil. This time, however, the Shema is acknowledged as something that can remedy evil nature. This is interesting.
In this context, R. Joshua b. Levi urges the necessity of reciting the Shema on one’s bed, not just in synagogue. R. Simeon b. Laqish is said to have instructed that everyone should always make the effort to “provoke his good impulse.” The Shema is recited to stimulate the good in a man.
By III.8.F., R. Isaac says that the reciting of the Shema will keep demons away. And so here again, we have demons in the night (as we found earlier in Talmud, Time, and Temptation.) This may seem a theodicy, but the rabbis do not even discuss any such issue here. These ills exist, and there are divinely appointed remedies here and now, on earth.
III.10.A is where it gets interesting. The course turns to suffering, suffering itself, as part of the human experience. Now, I cannot determine exactly which rabbi is being quoted, but it seems either R. Zira or R. Hanina bar Papa. The issue is in fact the cause of suffering. If one has the opportunity to study Torah, and doesn’t, he brings suffering on himself. But, if after examining his deeds, the mine finds no fault, then he is to understand that “he suffers afflictions that come from God’s love.”
Then, with unexpected drama, R. Huna says that the Holy One may decided to crush and man with suffering. (III.10.G.) And what scripture does he quote? Isaiah 53: 10. Finally, there is a note that says sufferings brought on by God’s love are those which do not take away the joy the studying Torah, or praying. These thoughts are derived from the Psalms and the Proverbs.
The greatest gifts given Israel–the Torah, the land of Israel, and the world to come, were given through exceedingly great suffering.
Well, well. At around 3:00 in the morning, I was very touched by these considerations. We’re still talking about when to say the Shema at night, of course. But, the smooth and wondrous way in which the rabbis include all the facets of a cause is simply comforting to my mind. Soothing, I should say.
In Talmud in the Night, I did mention Sigmund Freud, and the “free stream of consciousness,” the verbal therapy in which Freud encourage the patient to talk–about anything he wished, in what ever way he wished, as long as he wished. In a way, then, the Talmud is like an ancient spiritual “couch,” the original, at that. The natural technique of the thinking mind is on display in a most extraordinary way. I’m not sure how applicable this would be to, say, the field of music, physics, or even Vietnamese floristry. The one overwhelming, triumphantly evident nature of the rabbinic mind is that its base of impetus is a direct pursuit of the Almighty. This is unique in literary history, certainly.