JACOB NEUSNER, THE MISHNAH, AND VENTRILOQUISM

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Luke Ford

John C. Poirer writes:

Jacob Neusner’s ideas on the Mishnah have already been roundly criticized. Nevertheless many of Neusner’s extraordinary ideas still need to be examined. This response to Neusner’s reading of the Mishnah raises questions in four areas: (1) his treatment of all documents as manifestos that in some way disclose their authors’ self-definitions; (2) his adduction of the Mishnah’s ritual map as a datum that helps locate it among the philosophies of the ancient world, as if philosophies of sacred space were the exception and not the rule (thus typifying the Mishnah through what does not distinguish it, since the concept of “sacred ontology” typified the Mediterranean world); (3) his use of the Mishnah’s “ahistorical” language (including its choice of verb tense) as evidence that the Mishnah has no interest in history (thus again typifying the Mishnah through what does not distinguish it, in that it is not present at all); and (4) his unprofessed but evident use of structuralist analysis to use conclusions about the Mishnah’s “ahistorical” language as a corroboration and refinement of his “discovery” of the Mishnah’s “‘sacred ontology.” He ends up talking about an anti-eschatological Judaism that hierarchizes the cosmos in the same way as Aristotle. These unusual results are based not so much upon the data of the Mishnah as upon Neusner’s eisegetical reading of the text.

Jacob Neusner has written more on the Mishnah than anyone else. This article asks what we have gained from his efforts. As the title suggests, this review will argue that Neusner’s works on the Mishnah have not provided us with exegesis but rather ventriloquism. In his long list of commentaries and studies on the Mishnah, we continually hear Neusner’s voice recast in the guise of “the Mishnah’s philosophy.” Some of the substance of this study can be found elsewhere-the trenchant criticisms by Cohen, Maccoby, Sanders, and Evans should not be missed-but Neusner’s proposals about the Mishnah are so ambitious and extraordinary that they have not tired of criticism.

Posted in Jacob Neusner | Comments Off on JACOB NEUSNER, THE MISHNAH, AND VENTRILOQUISM

The Analytic Movement: Hayyim Soloveitchik and his Circle by Norman Solomon

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Luke Ford

Marc B. Shapiro writes:

The history of Torah study is marked by various trends, such as Tosafistic analysis, the combination of philosophy and Talmud study, and pilpul. In this century, it is the “Brisker” method of Talmud study which stands out. The analytic approach developed by R. Hayyim Soloveitchik of Brisk (1853-1918) quickly conquered the yeshiva world and created a revolution in Talmud study. It is true that R. Hayyim did not create the Brisker method ex nihilo. Still, there is no doubt that this method reached its most polished state in R. Hayyim’s hands. He was the major force behind its development and his contribution was unique. Without exaggeration it is possible to say that R. Hayyim raised the quality of Talmud study to a level not seen since the days of the Tosafists. In hands the argumentation of the Talmud and rishonim assumed a “scientific” character, without parallel in previous generations. At the same time, he transformed the practical halakhic work par exellence—Maimonides’ Mishne Tor ah—into both the central feature of his theoretical analyses as well as the most profound commentary on the Talmud. By doing so, he became the first to reveal the profundity of the Mishne Torah in all of its grandeur. The centrality of Maimonides’ code in contemporary Talmudic shiurim is a direct result of R. Hayyim’s influence.1

As is to be expected with anything new, the approach of R. Hayyim met with opposition among many scholars. No doubt, there was a good deal of jealousy and small-mindedness in this opposition. It would not be surprising if there were those who, because of their inability to produce hiddushim of R. Hayyim’s quality, attempted to destroy his influence. Yet it is also true that a number of important gedolei Tisrael distanced themselves from R. Hayyim’s method of study. They did so not merely as a natural conservative response to the new method, but because they believed that R. Hayyim’s approach endangered the tradition of Talmud study.

Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, Talmud | Comments Off on The Analytic Movement: Hayyim Soloveitchik and his Circle by Norman Solomon

LAT: By easing its bar exam score, will California produce more Black and Latino lawyers?

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Luke Ford

The Los Angeles Times suggests that reducing standards will allow for more diversity.

Report:

For more than three decades, California has clung to one of the nation’s toughest testing standards for law school students hoping to practice law in the most populous state in the country.

But this month, the California Supreme Court, which oversees the state bar, agreed to lower the passing score for the exam, a victory for law school deans who have long hoped the change would raise the number of Black and Latino people practicing law…

“There is absolutely no evidence that shows having a higher score makes for better lawyers,” said UCLA School of Law Dean Jennifer L. Mnookin, a longtime supporter of lowering the passing score. “There is significant evidence that it reduces the diversity of the bar.”

Forty percent of California’s population is white, 60% are people of color. But 68% of California lawyers are white, and only 32% are people of color, according to a new report by the State Bar of California.

Posted in Legal | Comments Off on LAT: By easing its bar exam score, will California produce more Black and Latino lawyers?

Boy

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Luke Ford

Jack writes: The term persists in the name “busboy” which is still used. Because of child labor laws, menial jobs that were once done by children or young teens (e.g. bellboy, shoe shine boy) are now done by full grown adults but the “boy” description still sometimes attaches. In other cases (“ball boy”) the job is still done by children (though often nowadays by girls).

Naturally, being the lowest skilled, the grown men who replaced children in these menial jobs were often black but the job title was still “boy” – there was no racial angle. In the old days, IQ was sometimes express as mental age, so it’s not surprising that a job once done by a white 12 year old would become one that a black 16+ year old was capable of in the age of child labor laws.

Posted in America | Comments Off on Boy

What Many Transgender Activists Don’t Want You to Know: and why you should know it anyway

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Luke Ford

J. Michael Bailey writes: Currently the predominant cultural understanding of male-to-female transsexualism is that all male-to-female (MtF) transsexuals are, essentially, women trapped in men’s bodies. This understanding has little scientific basis, however, and is inconsistent with clinical observations. Ray Blanchard has shown that there are two distinct subtypes of MtF transsexuals. Members of one subtype, homosexual transsexuals, are best understood as a type of homosexual male. The other subtype, autogynephilic transsexuals, are motivated by the erotic desire to become women. The persistence of the predominant cultural understanding, while explicable, is damaging to science and to many transsexuals.

Posted in Trans | Comments Off on What Many Transgender Activists Don’t Want You to Know: and why you should know it anyway