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The Hebrew term pilpul (Hebrew: פלפול, from "pepper," loosely meaning "sharp analysis") refers to a method of studying the Talmud through intense textual analysis in attempts to either explain conceptual differences between various halakhic rulings or to reconcile any apparent contradictions presented from various readings of different texts.[1] Pilpul has entered English as a colloquialism used by some to indicate extreme disputation or casuistic hairsplitting. This usage has especially fallen into use among critics of Haredi Jews, impugning their Talmud study as non-productive.

Contents

Sources [link]

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 (Yad HaChazakah, Sefer Madda, Laws of Torah Study, 1:11) as follows:

“ 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 sources include Avot (6:6), the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 31a), and Rashi commenting on Tractate Kiddushin of the Babylonian Talmud, 30a, s.v. "Talmud".

Narrow definition [link]

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.

Opposition [link]

Many leading rabbinic authorities 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 Vilna Gaon. A frequently heard accusation is that those who used this method were often motivated by the prospect of impressing others with the sophistication of their analysis, rather than by a disinterested love of truth. These students typically did not apply appropriate standards of proof in obtaining their conclusions (if any), and frequently presupposed conclusions that necessitated unlikely readings of "proof-texts". As such, pilpul has sometimes been derogatorily called bilbul, Hebrew for "confusion".

The Maharal of Prague in a famous polemic against Pilpul (Tiferet Yisroel, pg. 168), states that "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..." [1]

Current methods [link]

In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, pilpul in this narrow sense was largely superseded by the analytic methods pioneered by the Lithuanian school, in particular the Brisker derech. However, many people consider these methods too to be a form of pilpul, though the practitioners of the analytic method generally reject the term. Before World War II, both the old and the new kinds of pilpul were popular among Lithuanian and Polish Jews. Since then, they have become prominent in most Ashkenazi and many Chassidic yeshivas.

References [link]

  1. ^ 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"; "

External links [link]


https://wn.com/Pilpul

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PLAYLIST TIME:

Your Song

by: Billy Paul

It's a little bit fUnny Lord, this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but, boy, if I did
I'd buy a big mansion where we both could live
If, if, if I was a sculpture Lord, honey, but then again, no
(then again no, no)
Or a man who makes potions in a travelin' show
I know it's not much, I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do
You gave me a gift Lord, and I'm gonNA sing it for you
And you can tell everybody that this is your song
(this is your song)
It may be a quite, quite simple, but that's how it's done
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
What I wrote down in words, words
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If, if, (if), if I was on a rooftop
I'd kick off my shoes (kick off my shoes , kick my shoes off)
I'll write a few verses and then I get the blues
But the sun's been quite, quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you and people like me
I wanna, I wanna keep turnin' on
So excuse me, so excuse me
So excuse me forgetting, but these things I do Lord
(these things I do Lord)
You see, you see I've forgotten if they're green or blue
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You've got the sweetest eyes, you've got the sweetest eyes
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That this is your song (this is your song)
It may be quite, quite simple, but now that's how it's done
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
But I wrote down in words Lord, words
I'm doin' it for how wonderful it is when you're in the world, world, world
If, if, (if), if I sat upon a rooftop I'd kick off my shoes, oh yeah
(kick off my shoes, kick my shoes off)
I'll write a few verses and then I get the blues
But the sun's been quite, quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you, people like me
I wanna, wanna keep turnin' on, so escuse me, so escuse me
So escuse me forgetting, but these things I do
(these things I do Lord)
You see, you see I've forgotten if they're green or blue, baby
And anyway the thing is, anyway the thing is, what I really mean
You are the sweetest eyes, the sweetest eyes
The sweetest eyes I've ever seen
I want you to go back, go back and and tell everybody
That Billy Paul's got a song (Billy Paul's got a song)
I'm, I'm gonna sit upon a, a rooftop and kick off my shoes
I'm gonna write it (write it), write it (write it), write it (write it)
I might come out with the Gospel (Gospel), the blues (blues),
The jazz (jazz), the rock and roll
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Because this is my song (this is my song)
It may be quite, quite simple but that's the way it's done
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
What I wrote down in words, words
You come back, you try to try again, try again
Tell everybody that Billy Paul's got a song
(Billy Paul's got a song)
It may be quite, quite simple but that's how it's done, baby
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
what I wrote down in words
Hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it ooooh




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