“Where’s the narrative?” I’ve been waiting for that!

I have been studying Talmud with a brilliant friend for a few months. (See ‘An Invitation to Engage’) I have been pushing him to learn how to study Talmud and become engaged in the ageless conversation.

He has developed far more than he realizes. His questions are sharper. He allows less to escape his probing mind. He is able to distill the key message of each question and answer.

He is still bothered: “Where’s the narrative?” He does not yet have a sense of the development of the narrative and is frustrated.

Welcome to the club!

My father zt’l insisted that I master an entire tractate before delving into its depths. I had to study the entire Tractate with Rashi until I knew it almost by heart. He then pushed me to review it repeatedly with Tosafot until I had as Rabbi Nachman Cohen (more of him later) says, “Mastered the Mesechta.” My father wanted me to have a grasp of the broad picture before I began to examine all the details.

He introduced this approach to me only after I had developed basic Gemara skills, at least what he called ‘basic!’ I have been trying to guide my 11:30PM study partner through the same process. I have been challenging him to think even better than he already does, and to become familiar with a sophisticated system of thought. I knew that I could not introduce my father’s idea of the big picture until he asked this most important question; “Where’s the narrative?”

We will now take our learning to an entirely new level, that of the narrative. It will demand even more of him as he will have to constantly review all we have learned. He must master “Chazarah,” the tedious review, (one of the greatest challenges of the Evil Inclination – see Temurah 16a) and how to learn without any distraction for a few hours at a time. When he does, and I am confident he will, my Chavrusa will discover the big picture, or, what he calls, the narrative.

There are many Rabbis and scholars in Riverdale, but there is one who towers above all others in numerous ways: Rabbi Nachman Cohen. He has more information than most, but his greatness is in his ability to grasp the Big Picture. He doesn’t focus on a specific issue without considering how it fits into a the big picture.

He recently published the newest volume of The Encyclopedia of Talmudic Disputes and Perspectives – R. Yochanan and Reish Lakish (The Kest Edition). Rabbi Cohen takes all the arguments and opinions of these two Talmudic giants and explains how to see everything they said as part of a much larger picture. It takes a Rabbi Cohen to point out the perfect consistency between a debate about Repentance and one about cooking with Terumah wines!

Rabbi Cohen sees the Big Picture. He is my inspiration for the new series of columns I introduced in ‘Talking To The Wall.’ I intend to follow his path of painting a broad picture that will help us address all the individual questions that haunt us.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.