In which the message is in the details.
What does “talmudic thinking” mean to you? For some people, it’s surely the “pilpulistic” hairsplitting kind of thinking that enabled Rishonim to align passages that seem to blatantly contradict each other at first blush. For others, it’s paying attention to the details that nobody else pays attention to. This daf suggested to us the latter approach – but with more to it, namely, the level of responsibility that pushes people in authority to examine every last little consideration and implication of every decision. If they’re good at it, that is.
Plus: Who’s Who (or Where’s Where): Matos Mechasia.
And: What’s What: Siyag – making a fence around the Torah, which we see in full force on this daf, without coming right out to say so.
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