Reply To: Why Would a Girl Even Want to Learn Talmud?

“I think you might wish to clarify what exactly you mean by “Jewish ideas start to unravel” and “pale in comparison to everything you know”, CH”V, before you decide that gemara will somehow resolve any of this.”

Hakatan: Let me clarify: Of course I haven’t read every single Jewish books out there… But believe me – I’ve read enough. And I reached a point that the more I read anything that reflects popular frum hashkafa (I don’t want to get into distinctions of different groups… ) the more contradictions and fanciful thinking I find.

So instead of saying “this whole thing is really dumb”, I am saying that I’m willing to learn something that might actually speak to me. And gemara is the sole area of Judaic studies I have not learned systematically.

For those of you who automatically assume that this stems from some point of rebellion or that I haven’t scoured those things that I am “allowed” to learn, I raise my hands in surrender and say: I did my part and I’m done. From taking my studies seriously in high school, seminary and beyond, spending almost a decade immersed in Jewish learning, spending many summers in a Jewish learning environment, reading the books, attending the lectures, doing research… hashkafa, emunah, bitachon… I dare any of you to say you’ve done close to the same.

And if gemara really won’t do anything, like some of you say, then I’m really done. Because the edifice is downright irrational. And there is nothing on the other side of the fence that is beckoning me.I just refuse to suscribe to something irratioanl and fanciful.

“Education, both for men and women should NOT be based on emotion but rather on logic and proofs.”

Obviously.Unfortunately, a lot of the school education I got was based on emotion. Think “doing mitzvos and living a frum lifestyle because it’s a better life… what a horrible life goyim have…”