The Task Is Never Finished
Thursday April 3, 2008
Categories: Jewish Issues
It has been heartwarming to read the warm responses to Rabbi Waxman's post asking Beliefnet to reconsider its decision to cancel Virtual Talmud. Virtual Talmud offered an alternative model for internet communications: civil discourse pursued in postings over a time...
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About Virtual Talmud
This blog is no longer updated and is closed for comments. We welcome your comments about Judaism in our Judaism forums.
Brad Hirschfield currently blogs on Windows and Doors.
Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism. Listed as one of the nation’s 50 most influential rabbis in Newsweek, and a regular commentator on Court TV, he is the creator of the popular series, Building Bridges, airing on Bridges TV, and the co-host of the weekly radio show, Hirschfield and Kula.
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Dear Rabbi Grossman - I certainly hope that the "powers that be" reconsider. The best to the three of you, regardless.
I second eastcoastlady's comment.
I, also, hope you find a way to stay. I enjoy the discourses I read here.
Parting is such sweet sorrow. Your thoughts will be missed.
I have been reading Virtual Talmud ever since I found it, and have found it not only educational, but also very easy to understand. You speak to my heart and my mind. If this is ended, where then, will I be able to turn for discourse?
I will miss Virtual Talmud. I don't have a great deal of time for reading blogs and commentary on line but I nearly always read (and sometimes commented on) Virtual Talmud. I will really miss this.
I wish there were some way Virtual Talmud could continue.
I am not Jewish, but Mennonite, but none-the-less I have often enjoyed reading this feature. I, too will be sad to bid it goodbye.
Shalom!
You have written:
"We hope we also showed that there is value in weighing alternative positions: that it is only in seeing different sides of an argument that wisdom can be gained. This is the brilliance of the Talmud that debates every question from many angles and is even willing to live with ambiguity and the option of more than one legitimate answer."
Yes! Yes! This is it. The very heart of what we urgently need today. I think this is what was so great in the already famous speech that Obama made in response to his pastor's fiery sermon (dubbed by some as a sermon of hate). Senator Obama touched a nerve running through American culture that few dare speak of. And he spoke to it from different viewpoints. In doing so, his voice rang out around the world as a Voice of Wisdom.
And wisdom it was--and is. For stating our issues and examining them from all possible sides is the very life-breath of democracy. The very life-breath of all human progress toward a better world.
Many thanks for the wisdom that YOU have spoken here in the Virtual Talmud. You will long be remembered. My hope is that the seeds of wisdom that you have sown here will take root and grow!
Shalom!
I've skimmed a lot of different blogs. But this is the only one I've read with any regularity.
I'M NOT JEWISH. but I have learned a lot about both your religion and world views from these discussions. I will definitly miss hearing from you.
Josephine
May we all remember that we can continue to search for truth -- with or without the Virtual Talmud -- however, this very interesting forum has made the searching enjoyable, thought-provoking and most of all, pertinent. Hopefully, there will be another time and place for the resurgence of Virtual Talmud (it may come in another format)and we will have the opportunity again to share with each other - regardless of creed, denomination or our place in our personal journeys in faith. Thanks to all the contributing rabbis & other teachers who so generously gave to all of us -- and now it is our turn to "pass it on".
I too will miss Virtual Talmud. It was a convenient way of keeping track of the contemporary Jewish agenda. All of the rabbis did a wonderful job of providing thoughtful comments on the issues of the day. Thanks for your efforts and for sharing your knowledge and your insights.
Rabboynu ha Oylum! Who are "the powers that
be" that are closing Virtual Talmud, so they can be asked for their reasons.
Is this an issue of "imprimatur"? Has one or
another rabbinical council brought us to
that point?
Has the case even been argued before these
"powers that be?" What happened to the
Talmudic spirit of inquiry?
I am despondent and almost literally wringing my hands over this decision. Here in the Negev desert, your blogs meant so much to me.
Please reply if only with a few words.
Mattityahu Birnberg
Beer Sheva
It is imperitive for people to be aware of, understand and respect the opinion of others. This helps us in forming a more balanced and rounded opinion. The virtual Talmud was a good forum. Although I did not agree with all its views, I did have an opportunity to have a peek at another facet.
I hope you can post on the shamash.org or urj.org for the Virtual Talmud.