The Talmud, the Torah, and "the language of men"

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: In the Language of Men. ‘Daf Yomi:’ How modern Jews misinterpret another key philosophical phrase, and why religious fanatics will find no Talmudic argument in support of their dream of building a Third Temple on the mount.

This month marks an anniversary for Daf Yomi readers: It has been six years since we began studying the Talmud. Since the cycle began in August 2012, Daf Yomi readers have explored the laws of Jewish holidays in Seder Moed, the laws of marriage and divorce in Seder Nashim, and civil and criminal law in Seder Nezikin. Now we are embarked on the last major division of the Babylonian Talmud, Seder Kodashim, which deals with the “holy things” of the Temple service. This will be our subject for most of the remaining year and a half of the Daf Yomi cycle, which concludes in January 2020.

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Happy anniversary, Adam. As I have said before, I have learned a great deal from your columns.

Incidentally, the modern use of the phrase tikkun olam has received some attention, and criticism, in a recent book by Jonathan Neumann, called To Heal the World. See, for example, here and here.

But that isn't the key philosophical phrase that is the subject of this week's column.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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