Tomorrow we will study the final page of the Babylonian Talmud. For those who have been following the Daf Yomi cycle, tomorrow represents the finish line of a marathon that began seven and a half years and 2, 711 pages ago. Congratulations to each of you who finished.
Since Talmudology is a project that connects modern science and medicine with the ancient teachings of the Talmud, it seems appropriate to reflect on the words of Rabbi Abraham ben Solomon of Hamburg. He wrote on this very subject when he made his own siyyum (celebratory party) on the completion of learning the Talmud in London some time before 1781 (although the precise date is not known). His essay appeared in a small book he published called Oleh Terufah (Leaf of Healing), in which he called for Jews to adopt the smallpox vaccine.
We have written about this book elsewhere. Its contents have become tragically germane in the anti-vaccination hysteria that gripped parts of the Jewish community. But for now, we can leave that part of the book, and focus on the words of Torah that Abraham delivered in London at his own Siyyum HaShas over two centuries ago. What follows is a free summary of some of his words.
משנה אבות ג, יח
רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר בֶּן חִסְמָא אוֹמֵר, קִנִּין וּפִתְחֵי נִדָּה, הֵן הֵן גּוּפֵי הֲלָכוֹת. תְּקוּפוֹת וְגִימַטְרִיאוֹת, פַּרְפְּרָאוֹת לַחָכְמָה
Rabbi Eliezer ben Hisma said: the laws of mixed bird offerings and the key to the calculations of menstruation days are the body of the halakhah. The calculation of the equinoxes and celestial geometry are the appetizers of wisdom.
There are many areas of Jewish law that depend on mastery of the sciences, especially mathematics and physics. These are needed to calculate the sun’s orbit and to keep the Jewish calendar synchronized with the solar year, so that Pesach always falls in the Spring, and Sukkot always falls during the Fall harvest. The rules of “mixed birds nests” and the calculations of the days of ritual menstrual impurity follow certain mathematical principles, and these in turn rely - to a degree - on an understanding of mathematics. Without that understanding it is possible to err in the calculations, and this might lead to sin.
משנה ברכות מב,א
בֵּרַךְ עַל הַפַּת פָּטַר אֶת הַפַּרְפֶּרֶת עַל הַפַּרְפֶּרֶת לֹא פָּטַר אֶת הַפַּת
…One who recited a blessing over the bread exempted the appetizers, as they are considered secondary to the bread. However, one who recited a blessing over the appetizers did not exempt the bread.
In a few weeks we will study a Mishnah which teaches that a blessing made over bread includes the appetizers, in so far as these then do not need a blessing of their own before being eaten. But a blessing made before eating an appetizer does not exempt a blessing to be made over bread. It is the presence of bread that trumps the other foods.
Rabbi Abraham ben Solomon of Hamburg noted that the word “parperet” (פַּרְפֶּרֶת) is used to describe the sciences (‘The calculation of the equinoxes and celestial geometry are the appetizers of wisdom”) as well as the food we today call an appetizer. The Torah is the bread of a meal. Just as bread supersedes the presence of an appetizer, so too the Torah has pride of place over the sciences.
This is the homiletic meaning of the Mishnah: “If you make a blessing over the bread you have exempted the appetizers.” While the sciences are important, they are merely the appetizers. Pride of place must always be given to the bread - the Torah.
תם ונשלם מסכת נדה ותלמוד בבלי
וברוך נותן חכמה לבני אדם
