Yair Lapid: More Talmudic Dialogue and Less Bible
This Friday, the 3rd of Elul, is the 75th yarzheit of Rav Kook, and lots of people are writing about it. One interesting column is by Yair Lapid on Ynet. One of Rav Kook’s famous acts was his trip that he took to the new moshavot (also here) with Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and a number of other rabbis, seeking to reach out to the secular settlers who were working the land. This is known as מסע המושבות and some descriptions of the trip can be found here.
So what does Yair Lapid have to do with Masa ha-Moshavot? In his column Lapid describes where he would go on a new round of travels today, and who he would take with him. Lapid, while I don’t have reason to doubt his sincerity, is also a likely politician in the next round of Knesset elections, says that he wants to reach out to sectors of the population that he feels are less connected to the majority of Israelis. He mentions West Bank settlers and ḥaredim as two main populations that he would reach out two.
He also writes about who he would take along with him, Rabbi Shai Peron and Prof. Ruth Gavison being among them. Lapid finishes with a suggestion to think about. He claims that the common cultural heritage used to be the Tanakh, but he feels that the Tanakh is too decisive for today’s world, a claim with which I wouldn’t be surprised if Bible scholars disagree. So what should be our new shared cultural heritage…the Talmud! Lapid sees the Talmud as a better example of a body of literature that encourages open dialogue and pluralism.
ולסיום נקודה למחשבה, אולי הצעה: הבסיס התרבותי שעליו הוקמה המדינה היה התנ”ך, בן–גוריון, כידוע, היה אחד האחראים לכך. התנ”ך מאוד החלטי באופיו ובשפתו, הוא כמובן מעיד על זכותנו על המקום הזה, על ההיסטוריה וכו’. לעומתו בתלמוד קיימת ההכרה בכך שיש כל מיני אופציות בתוך היהדות ושמותר לי לא להסכים, ושהמחלוקת מוסיפה לכולנו ולא מפחיתה. מבחינה זו הייתי מעלה הצעה שדווקא התלמוד, שיש בו הרבה יותר מקום לשאלות ולשיח ולספקות, יהפוך לבסיס התרבותי שלנו. מבחינה זו אני חושב שכולנו צריכים קצת פחות דיאלוג תנ”כי ויותר דיאלוג תלמודי.
If Lapid does run for the Knesset, maybe he should set aside a symbolic seat for the Stam.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Peron would be an excellent choice if you’re trying to reach the pseudo-intellectual adolescent crowd that responds well to demagoguery.
August 13th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Thanks for the link!
August 17th, 2010 at 3:16 am
What Lapid is basically saying is that since the Jews are no longer sure that Israel belongs to them, the Bible is a less relevant text than the Talmud. Although you could find plenty of extremely decisive comments in the Talmud about the connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.