{"id":61495,"date":"2019-01-30T15:04:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T20:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=61495"},"modified":"2019-01-30T15:04:05","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T20:04:05","slug":"go-to-the-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/go-to-the-source\/","title":{"rendered":"Go to the Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other night, I gave a shiur that included two parts: (1) looking at several texts we\u2019d already studied in the series, searching for phrases related to a particular angle of the topic; (2) reading just a few paragraphs of a long teshuva<\/em> by Rav Moshe Feinstein, some of which we\u2019d already read and more of which is to come next week.<\/p>\n

The same information could have been conveyed in under ten minutes, had I simply restated the phrases from those sources and summarized the point of the teshuva<\/em>. In fact, if I took that approach, we could have finished all the information in my eight-page handout in those 45 minutes. Did we really need to read four passages in Rambam, if three say the same thing? Did we really need to read through Rav Moshe\u2019s words if the same information could have been summarized more quickly and maybe even more clearly?<\/p>\n

Yup. Whenever possible, I will always choose to go through the sources \u2013 myself, and then with whoever comes to learn with me \u2013 because there is always more to say, and no one says it better than the source.<\/p>\n

Yitro knew this. He heard what Hashem did for Bnei Yisrael (Shemot 18:1), but at first demonstrated no immediate reaction other than picking up and going to Moshe. Only after hearing the story from the source (v.8), from an eyewitness who was intimately involved at every stage of the process, does he react. \u201cNow<\/em> I know that Hashem is greater\u2026\u201d (v.11) \u2013 did he not know already, having heard the story \u00a0ten pesukim<\/em> ago? Apparently not. He didn\u2019t really<\/em> know until he went to the source.<\/p>\n

Teachers and academics know this, demanding carefully-sourced material and differentiating between primary and secondary sources. Journalists used to know this. Verifying sources used to be a thing, and fortunately for some it still is, though the age of the internet has brought daily avalanches of information and the news cycle moves so quickly that stories are often circulated, even by reputable news agencies, with inaccurate information. (Do I need to give examples here, or have we all seen enough of those sources by now?)<\/p>\n

In theory, we all know this. After all, we\u2019ve all had teachers who made us check and cite sources. We\u2019ve all read the news, and noted or lamented the presence or lack of verifiably accurate information.<\/p>\n

But how often do we apply that knowledge in our lives?<\/p>\n

How often do we make claims without providing basis? I once read a dvar Torah,<\/em> by a true scholar of Tanach, who built a whole theory based on the absence of a piece of information in the Torah \u2013 but that information was in fact explicitly stated in a pasuk<\/em>. Even he neglected to check his source!<\/p>\n

How often do we rush to snap judgments and reactions, without taking the time to consider whether further source-checking might be in order?<\/p>\n

Back when I had the time to really learn parsha <\/em>weekly (as a teenager studying in Israel), I noticed a surprising pasuk<\/em> in Parshat Mishpatim, and my initial reaction was basically to look for the \u201cdislike\u201d button (not that we had such things then). \u201cDon\u2019t mention names of other gods\u201d (23:13). What? That\u2019s so weird! We\u2019re supposed to avoid mentioning G-d\u2019s Name, but idolatry should be recognized as mundane; I should<\/em> say the names of idols all the time just to show how little I think of them!<\/p>\n

Often, when presented with ideas that aren\u2019t immediately intuitive, we simply react: That\u2019s crazy! Or on the flip side \u2013 when presented with an idea that does <\/em>sit well, we simply accept it without question. Instead of looking for further sources that might explain things further and more accurately, we assume we know. We react quickly and often emotionally, either embracing or dismissing but often forgetting to ask or search.<\/p>\n

I once wrote an article<\/strong><\/a> pulling together a number of sources in pesukim<\/em> and midrashim<\/em> that portrayed biblical heroines as having played major roles at the forefront of the nation and of history, in an attempt to demonstrate that our tradition has plenty of room for women to serve in public, active, or vocal roles and that such roles do not necessarily involve immodesty.<\/p>\n

Since this was a hot topic at the time and my approach seemed obvious to me, I felt tremendous pressure to \u201cget it out there\u201d as quickly as possible; surely others were already working on the same sort of article! Imagine my surprise when one friend shared my article with the tagline \u201cFor those who appreciate a source-based approach\u201d \u2013 as if a source-based approach were some sort of novelty, something that not everyone would appreciate. And indeed, most of the writings I\u2019ve seen on the topic, before and since, are built mostly on logic or personal feeling, perhaps with one or two sources mentioned as a springboard or aside.<\/p>\n

There is certainly room for all of those perspectives. Some issues can and should be addressed based, at least in part, on personal experience or observations. But some issues can and should be, at least in part, rooted in something outside of ourselves. Surely, with such a wealth of Torah writings and a tradition of building one upon the other (Mishna on Tanach, Gemara on Mishna, etc.), it should not be such a novelty to value and pursue source-based accuracy, authenticity, and depth.<\/p>\n

Similarly, I have occasionally been approached in shul, or the supermarket or wherever, by people who know I give a regular shiur on women and halacha and who want to hear my take on the latest hot-button issue related to Jewish women. They are right to assume I have an interest in these issues \u2013 but wrong if they assume I have an opinion. I\u2019m often surprised by others\u2019 surprise when I tell them I don\u2019t have<\/em> a take, because I haven\u2019t researched that topic yet. It seems we often don\u2019t realize that having a take<\/em> requires first taking in<\/em> what has already been said about the issue. In fact, that\u2019s exactly why I started that shiur: to provide myself and others with the background in what our traditional sources actually say about various areas of halacha, so we can build informed perspectives rather than kneejerk emotional responses.<\/p>\n

When I was surprised by a pasuk in Mishpatim that didn\u2019t match what I thought I knew about how to properly show respect for G-d \u2013 and I had access to a well-stocked beit midrash<\/em> and the time to use it \u2013 I researched. I found myriad sources in both exegetical and halachic texts that more than adequately explained why my initial reaction was incomplete, analyzing the issues from angles I hadn\u2019t thought of. I developed, then and since, an intimate appreciation for how simply pulling a book off the shelf \u2013 and then another, and another \u2013 could fill in gaps in my knowledge and perspective that I didn\u2019t know were there.<\/p>\n

I also discovered, then and since, the value of checking original sources rather than relying on quotations or summaries that might be incomplete or even misrepresent the intended meaning. As Rabbi Jack Abramowitz illustrated masterfully just last week<\/strong><\/a>, context is everything. I often find this to be true in researching to prepare my classes, which is why we read such long selections of so many teshuvos<\/em>. Sometimes seeing a quote in context simply offers greater insight, and sometimes I find that the isolated quote or summary actually misrepresented the author\u2019s meaning.<\/p>\n

One example that happened to come up in a different class recently is the Gemara in Shabbos 55b-56a. (At least, I think it\u2019s an example; learn it and see if you agree!) In a lengthy passage, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani famously states (in the name of Rabbi Yonatan) about several biblical individuals that \u201cone who says X sinned is nothing but mistaken\u201d \u2013 despite apparently unambiguous biblical statements that X did in fact sin. Some quote this Gemara as evidence that the various individuals never did anything wrong; others offer it as evidence of the terrible sin of whitewashing biblical sins. Rarely, however, do I hear this line quoted with the crucial continuation, \u201cas it is said\u2026\u201d The Gemara doesn\u2019t just offer a kneejerk reaction, \u201cdon\u2019t you dare say X ever did anything wrong!\u201d Rather, it confronts conflicting pieces of textual evidence: on one hand, we have a pasuk<\/em> suggesting X did something truly terrible; on the other hand, we have a pasuk <\/em>suggesting X was truly wonderful. In attempting to resolve these contradictions, the Gemara is not reacting emotionally or blindly whitewashing terrible deeds; it is paying attention to its<\/em> sources, in ways we will never appreciate if we only hear the soundbite and don\u2019t study the full source.<\/p>\n

When I do research those hot-button issues related to women and halacha, I often encounter quotations that come across one way \u2013 somebody<\/em> is offended, in some direction \u2013 but which in context suggest a whole different spin, with a greater degree of nuance that inspires a greater degree of respect in all directions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to react when we first hear something, but we have to remember to first get the whole story \u2013 like Yitro did.<\/p>\n

Of course, not everyone has the means or the time or, let\u2019s face it, the interest to investigate every statement or news story that comes our way. But we can certainly resolve that if we\u2019re not<\/em> going to embark on appropriate investigation of the sources on any given issue, we will also not<\/em> claim to know what we\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n

As Rabbi Elazar says in the name of Rabbi Chanina, \u201canyone who says something in the name of the one who says it, brings redemption to the world\u201d (Megillah 15a). And before we can cite our sources \u2013 we have to be sure of what they say.<\/p>\n

\n

Sarah C. Rudolph is a Jewish educator and freelance writer. She has been sharing her passion for Jewish texts of all kinds for over 15 years, with students of all ages. Sarah\u2019s essays have been published in a variety of internet and print media, including Times of Israel, Kveller,\u00a0Jewish Action<\/a>, The Lehrhaus, TorahMusings, and more. Sarah lives in Cleveland with her husband and four children, but is privileged to learn online with students all over the world through\u00a0www.TorahTutors.org<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0www.WebYeshiva.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other night, I gave a shiur that included two parts: (1) looking at several texts we\u2019d already studied in the series, searching for phrases related to a particular angle of the topic; (2) reading just a few paragraphs of a long teshuva by Rav Moshe Feinstein, some of which we\u2019d already read and more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133529,"featured_media":61496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nGo to the Source - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/go-to-the-source\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Go to the Source - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The other night, I gave a shiur that included two parts: (1) looking at several texts we\u2019d already studied in the series, searching for phrases related to a particular angle of the topic; (2) reading just a few paragraphs of a long teshuva by Rav Moshe Feinstein, some of which we\u2019d already read and more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/go-to-the-source\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-30T20:04:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/GettyImages-183706377.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"726\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"481\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Rudolph\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Rudolph\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/go-to-the-source\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/go-to-the-source\/\",\"name\":\"Go to the Source - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/go-to-the-source\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/go-to-the-source\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/GettyImages-183706377.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-30T20:04:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/1152286413e1d80860df14a3a112ec4c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/go-to-the-source\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/go-to-the-source\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/GettyImages-183706377.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/GettyImages-183706377.jpg\",\"width\":726,\"height\":481,\"caption\":\"Macro of female hand open and reading the book\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/1152286413e1d80860df14a3a112ec4c\",\"name\":\"Sarah Rudolph\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e1062ebc6e7038e54cdaf49587d6707c3bdb5bc2020a8f3770a5c21cf622896?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e1062ebc6e7038e54cdaf49587d6707c3bdb5bc2020a8f3770a5c21cf622896?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sarah Rudolph\"},\"description\":\"Sarah C. 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