Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:42:30 -0400 From: Joshua Lee <yid@softhome.net> To: Dave Hayes <dave@jetcafe.org> Cc: nwestfal@directvinternet.com, tlambert2@mindspring.com, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why did evolution fail? Message-ID: <20020911084230.6ed7685f.yid@softhome.net> In-Reply-To: <200209100514.g8A5E2137907@hokkshideh2.jetcafe.org> References: <200209100514.g8A5E2137907@hokkshideh2.jetcafe.org>
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On Mon, 09 Sep 2002 22:13:57 -0700 Dave Hayes <dave@jetcafe.org> wrote: > Joshua Lee <yid@softhome.net> writes: > > That's why Judaism finds the study of commentaries, and commentaries > > on the commentaries, very important. The brevity of the Written > > Torah points to the Oral Torah. > > I have great respect for oral traditions, because normally in these > the responsibility of duplicating the precise meaning rests on the > one teaching. It's much less prone to error than, say, some > mathematical paper is at communicating a fragment of the truth. I tend to think of some practices, like not only hearing what the teacher has taught but engaging in a two-way discussion of the material with several hours of in-depth study with a partner, that is done at the yeshiva, as a sort-of error-correction process for the Oral Torah. During the Hadrianic persecutions under the Romans that threatened the continued existence of the Jewish religion, Rabbi Hiyya said: "I made sure that Torah would not be forgotten by Jews. First I planted flax. I then used the flax to make nets with which I trapped deer. The meat of these animals I gave away to feed orphans and from their skins I made parchments. I then proceeded to a community where there was no one available to teach children Torah. On five parchments I wrote the five Chumashim of the Torah which I taught from and presented to five of the children. I also taught each of six children one of the six orders of the mishna. Then I instructed each one of them to teach the others what I had taught him until I would return to check on their progress. In this way I made sure that Torah would never be forgotten." Each of the students also teaches each other, this is an indispensable part of the learning process. I am convinced that one of the major problems in western education is that helping another fellow student learn is called "cheating". If the student learns, does it matter if it's only from a book and the teacher or if another student is also involved, who himself through teaching the material grasps it better than if he kept it to himself? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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