Pilpul for Beginners

Dissidentvoice.org ^ | May 18th, 2020 | Gilad Atzmon

[JayGalt]

Americans may be surprised to learn from Alan Dershowitz that their constitution is far more intrusive and oppressive than what they and their forefathers have believed for generations. The law ‘scholar’ declared yesterday that “you have no (constitutional) right to not be vaccinated.” One possible explanation for Dershowitz’s peculiar constitutional ‘interpretation’ is that some parts of the American constitution were actually written in Yiddish, Hebrew and Aramaic. As such, their meaning is only accessible to a small privileged segment within the American population, one that amounts to 2% or less.

But there is a far better explanation that shines light into the ‘reasoning’ offered by Dershowitz.

In a spectacularly brave Huffpost article titled “What Is Pilpul, And Why On Earth Should I Care About It?” author David Shasha writes, “Pilpul is the Talmudic term used to describe a rhetorical process that the (Jewish) sages used to formulate their legal decisions… It is a catch-all term that in English is translated as ‘Casuistry’.”

The English word “casuistry” is defined as: “the use of clever but unsound reasoning, especially in relation to moral questions; sophistry.”

Dershowitz, is a pilpul master. He often employs peculiar reasoning in relation to moral questions especially when it comes to his own morality and conduct.

Shasha writes of the history of pilpul tradition that “the Ashkenazi rabbis were less concerned with promulgating the Law transmitted in the Talmud than they were with molding it to suit their own needs. Pilpul was a means to justify practices already fixed in the behaviors of the community by re-reading the Talmud to justify those practices.”

Pilpul, as described, is not about understanding of the law and its meaning but about the deliberate miss- interpretation of the law so it fits with one’s core interests.

[caww]

Article states...”is not about understanding of the law and its meaning but about the deliberate miss-interpretation of the law so it fits with one’s core interests”......

Exactly what the Demorat leadership does all the time.

[JayGalt]

Yes. Exactly what the Left does.
The concept of pilpul was very illuminating to me. I wanted to use the word in a post last night but wanted to tie down the exact meaning first & found this article.
Pilpul means so much more than I thought. It summarizes the assault on reason & on America by the left and the futility of engagement.
The American people are going to need to throw off this smoke screen and return to honor, integrity, and eschew moral relativity. The Left is dishonest to the core and seeks to use our best traits against us if we engage.

[caww]

Nancy Pelsi has mastered it............listen to any of her interviews etc. and it's clear as a bell. But it's also why she had such trouble with Trump....he saw right thru her mumbo jumbo and disarmed her every time so she couldn't talk normal.

The thing about people using ‘pilpul’ over a period of time is they loose their ability to reason normally since the practice is of course deception. Like a liar soon believes his own lies...so too those who practice this tactic. It then becomes quite easy to justify to themselves they are in the right regardless of reality or facts otherwise.

[knarf]

I found .. (and like ) .. this .. (15 min)

[Albion Wilde]

the deliberate miss- interpretation of the law so it fits with one’s core interests.

This polecmicist's article has a plainly ignorant misspelling and poor word spacing that apparently fits with his core interest in sending his anti-Semitic snark out there without editing. Does he think only Jewish lawyers comb the Constitution for the tiniest split hairs? How about the name origins of the attorney and the judges who affirmed Roe v. Wade and discovered "penumbras" in the law—Sarah Weddington (English), Warren Burger (Austrian German), Harry Blackmun (English), William Brennan (Irish), Lewis Powell (English), William O. Douglas (Scottish), Thurgood Marshall (African-American), Potter Stewart (Scots English)?

[Albion Wilde]

As such, their meaning is only accessible to a small privileged segment within the American population, one that amounts to 2% or less.

I saw that as a sneaky and condemnable reference to the percentage of Jews in the American population.

[Defiant]

The Irish were pretty good at it, too, e.g., William Brennan.