Hi Bais Yakov Maidel 😉
i haven’t posted on here in a really long time, but this thread caught my attention and a few things about it are confusing to me so i’m hoping that you will be able to clarify things for me.
i understand that you have not had the best experience in the BY system and you have a large gap of knowledge in your Judaic studies compared to your secular studies and that’s about where my understanding ends.
Small tangent.
Torah would be lahavdil history/literary analysis.
Gemora would be law and case studies.
Science IS the brilliance of Hashem, but there is no comparitive “Jewish Science” because there is one world and its the same secular and Jewish world, meaning the same science.
I dont understand why learning law would make up for your science knowledge. Thats like comparing apples and oranges.
ok so your a science/logical person.
An experiment; Is Judaic studies up to par with secular studies in logic and reasoning.
Hypothesis: Judaic Studies is just as brilliant as secular studies.
Experiment: Will learn secular science and learn Hebrew law and compare them.
Conclusion: Invalid experiment because there are 2 variables not one.
So im confused why GEMORA is the answer to your problems.
It seems to me that in order to understand “profundity in Halacha” you should ask your husband or LOR or look up what you are confused about. No need to learn Gemora and become even more confused about things you never thought of.
Then your post moves on to a whole different topic.
“But there was none of this “females have a different brain and therefore can’t learn x-y-z” shtus that I always got from my Jewish educators.”
No one said you can’t learn science. You should feel up to par with your male colleagues…no one said you shouldn’t. They said that about Gemora and then again science and Gemora are two different worlds.
You wrote
“when I need the rational components, they aren’t there.”
so ASK, LOOK IT UP, there’s sources for everything, and rabbanim for everything!
I want to be able to think that chazal were great people
Gemora is one compilation written over a span of 300 years out of a long history of the Jewish People. There are PLENTY of other works written by chazal that show they are great people. Read the works of the tannaim, gaonim, rishonim,acharonim. There are a lot more Chazal than the ones in the Gemora.
Read the debates of the Rambam with Pablo Christiani. They are BRILLIANT. and quite accessible. That will show you the greatness of Chazal. There are books written on a lot of Chazal that you can read and has stories of their brilliance. Read about the Vilna Gaon. Rashi. Rabbenu Gershom. They all are brilliant people.
“The secular world has no problem with the fact that I’m a woman. They open all the intellectual doors to me. “
(Just random side point, if the secular world had no problems with women there wouldn’t be a need for the feminist movement. So dont make them seem all nice and innocent 😉
“What about the frum world? Will the pre-screen me and say that “by virtue of the fact that I am female, I don’t have the brain capacity to really understand gemara… it’s just the way Hashem made things…”?”
Yes. they will. because on a general level that’s what the BRILLIANT CHAZAL said. but on an individual level, like asking a rav no they wont. There are plenty of exceptions and plenty of women who have learned gemora. Which is why asking this to a public forum the general consensus would be no women shouldnt learn gemora. But if we actually knew you and your case personally we might have a different opinion.
“I’m willing to give learning gemara a shot. But in the world I originally come from, the doors are closed. Whether hashkafically or practically.”
What on earth does “the world i originally come from mean”?
and if you’re so opposed to the BY system,WHY ON EARTH IS YOUR USERNAME BAIS YAKOV MAIDEL???