I went to the kollel on erev Shavuos for mincha/ma'ariv because it is across the street from my daughter where we were having the s'uda that night and because, well... I learn there; I reasoned there was a good chance I would also hear a shiur from the rosh kollel. As it turns out, the rosh kollel spoke that night at the Agudah, which is where I typically daven at night. מאן טראכט און ג-ט לאכט/Man plans and G-d laughs, as the Yiddish expression goes.
Since I have started reviewing Brachos, I figured I may as well start there. However, instead of opening to the first mishna/daf, I checked out the stuff before that. I struck gold. The הקדמה/introduction of R' Nissim Gaon. I thought it was just an introduction to Masechta Brachos; oh, no.... it is an introduction to Shas! In fact, R' Nissim starts with this question: Why did only the Jews get the Torah? I have wondered that myself for a long time, though I framed the question as "Why are there people who are not bound by the rules of their Creator?" It turns out those are basically two sides of the same coin.
R' Nissim gives a simple answer: since the other nations were not keeping The Seven Laws of Noach, which are completely logical, of course they are not going to keep more, especially since many of the laws of the Torah transcend human logic. That makes sense. Wait... can we back up? The Seven Laws of Noach are logical and intellectual imperatives? Let's check that out.
We find ourselves in a world that was obviously created, and therefore the Creator must have a reason for putting us here. It obviously makes sense to show allegiance to Him; it is His ball and His court, after all. Not showing allegiance to any other power, which is perforce subordinate to the Creator, is also logically sound. Killing an innocent person or taking something from him for no reason (other than I want it)? Ditto. Of course, you need to enforce the laws to have a smoothly running society; every business does that.
Sexual immorality? To keep the species going, you need to have children. Children need a lot of care. Moreover, no woman is up to hunting and gathering at least on the day she gives birth, so you need a family unit. Look around the world and you will see that all animals have to deal with this.
That leaves just one: Eating the limb from a living animal. I never thought of that as logical. Is it? Again, look around the animal world -- animals kill their prey before eating it. Yes, they may get impatient and start chewing before the animal stops kicking. Snakes and frogs eat insects without killing them. Some small snakes will occasionally eat smaller frogs alive. Again, not for any reason other than being lazy. So when you look around the world and see the creation -- that you were dropped into and have not seen any plans -- it is best to follow the local customs. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. (There is a notable exception -- sea animals, which commonly and on purpose swallow their prey alive. Check this out: there is no prohibition of eating a limb from a living fish/sea creature. Cool, no?)
Lions are a notable exception, which deserves its own TftD.
R' Nissim goes on in his introduction to explain the whole evolution of the mishnayos and gemara. He also details 50 (yes, you read that correctly) paradigms the gemara uses to introduce and discuss topics. This was not a piece you can run through; it took me about four hours. Very, very productive hours, I might add. The Gaonim lived before the Rishonim; R' Nissim was already 50 when Rashi was born. Yet it reads with outstanding clarity, both in style and presentation. I have heard that it falls into the TL;DR category for most. Something to look forward to when you retire and can dedicate time to living instead of making a living.
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