Sins coming in fractions

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN by Adam Kirsch in Tablet: Intention Versus Action: This week, the rabbis ask if two half-sins equal a whole one. In what part of a sin is sinfulness located?

... We are not even given the satisfaction of a resolution to Rava’s problems! This is frustrating and casts further doubt on the practical application of everything that’s gone before: If the rabbis are willing to leave these questions unanswered, they couldn’t be very relevant to actual Jewish practice.

However, the Talmud is also sending a powerful implicit message. The act of thinking about law, of reasoning out its most distant ramifications, is itself sacred and pleasurable to the rabbis, regardless of its practical application. To read the Talmud at all, I’m finding, it’s necessary to be able to share at least their pleasure, if not their sense of sanctity.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are collected here and links.