Judaism is unique in its teaching that study is not merely a means but an end, not merely an end among ends, but the highest and noblest of human aspirations. Study of torah for its own sake is a sacramental act, the great of all mizvot. Throughout the generations Torah scholars were willing to live in poverty and deprivation in order to devote themselves to study. Every Jew, […]
An alternate model for the system of Torah and Halacha could be found in the the work of Johan Huizinga. Huizinga was Dutch and wrote a book titled Homo Ludens, A study of the Play Element in Culture. He defines play as follows three times in the course of his writing: “Summing up the formal characteristics of play, we might call it a free activity standing quite consciously […]
The idea of Law is very abstract. The arena of the abstract is treacherous to the uninitiated and full of pitfalls and dead ends. In the order of things, real events and experiences, empirical science and history, applied mechanics and optics, and political and social history should be the stepping stones to abstract thought and generalization. Professor Aaron Kirschenbaum navigates with great skill the issue of Abstract Law. […]
ACHILLES AND THE TORTOISE 7th Revision An Essay on the Logical Foundations of Torah Study; SELF EVIDENCE, INTUITION, AND THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH by Gerald Parkoff This essay deals with the very foundations of Rule Following Systems and what underlies all legal and ethical systems of evaluation. The analysis is extended to Torah Law. The psychological process of intuition is discussed together with the very limits […]
One of the purposes of his site is to provide an overall view of Systems of Thought , ways of seeing and understanding things derivative from the work of David Hilbert and Alan Turing. Let us begin with the concept of RULE FOLLOWING SYSTEMS: Here is how it works: A machine is the best model of a Rule Following System. A Machine is not merely law abiding. A […]
