Liel Leibovitz, How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book (W. W. Norton, 2023)
I am a bit confused while reading this book. On the one hand, it’s because I am unfamiliar with the Rabbinic literature; on the other hand, the method the author uses to present his ideas involves a contemporary story, followed by stories from the Talmud of a similar nature, and then interweaving them into a cohesive narrative. This makes the idea quite difficult to grasp. However, I know that’s how the Talmud functions: legal and non-legal material are interwoven, and concrete precepts and illustrative stories are intertwined.
Another reason I am confused is how the stories end. I am not naïve and straightforward to believe in “and they happily lived there after.” But some stories are just weird. For example, the Bruriah Episode in which the Rabbi told his student to seduce his wife to prove his point. I know the very act itself has something to tell. Well, just my confusion. And Hillel told his disciples that he was going to perform a righteous deed, which turned out to be going to the restroom to defecate. I can’t stop thinking of a parallel in 莊子 道在屎溺. Though some stories are amusing, many stories in the book do not have happy endings.
There are aspects of this book that are well conveyed, for example, a community that not only helps people survive but also learn. Given that the bulk of the Talmud was written after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD70, one can only imagine where the strength of survival came from.
The chapter on friendship is excellent. It recounts the marathon conversation of CS Lewis and Tolkien. However, it revealed how this encouraging, soul-mate type of friendship turned cold, to the point where they no longer spoke to one another. Friendship fatigue? Jealousy? Deep-rooted religious differences? (Catholic vs Anglican).
This book turns out quite different from what I had expected. I’m not saying it’s not a good book, but I initially thought it would be a systematic introduction to the Rabbinic literature. While reading, I occasionally check on some of the terms and people this book mentions. The book could benefit readers if it had a glossary of the Rabbinic terms and people.
Quotable quotes:
“That transformational person, almost by definition, would have to be someone who was strong yet flexible, smart yet humble, determined yet sensitive, common yet exalted.”
“Self-doubt and humility are not only normal but desirable; without them, we run the risk of being devoured by vanity and pride. But self-doubt and humility are only useful if applied conservatively, so that they don’t overpower our innate potential and hamper us from becoming what we were meant to be.”
“A friend, … needed to do three things: help you study Torah, make sure you keep the commandments, and give good advice when needed.”
“The Talmudic model of friendship is an exercise in keeping disagreements simmering and then using the heat they generate to power larger cultural, political, spiritual, and social enterprises, to build rather than consume.”
“. . . havruta, a pairing of two people of equal intellectual capabilities yet very different sensibilities.”
“Rav and Shmuel grew closer the farther apart they were [physically]. . . . free to teach in his own chosen way. . . . Was there real warmth between Rav and Shmuel? Doubtful. Did Tolkien truly care for Lewis, not only as a brilliant reader and promoter but as an intimate? Maybe, and maybe not.”
“But they were also human, which meant that they ran the risk of eventually baser instincts, letting jealousy and acrimony seep in and take the place of camaraderie and shared purposes.”
“to asking questions because asking questions brings clarity, to resisting absolutes because only young children and zealots and machines think in binaries, to connecting to the basic and elemental empathy that reminds us that we’re all in this together, just walking each other home–the answer, too, is you.”
