I just came across this excellent article: Freedom to Interpret written by Rabbi Aryeh Carmell A"H. It discusses, among other things, the correct approach to Aggadot (i.e. Rambam's approach).
Ah, I see that you too have switched to blogger-beta.
Nice, very positive and encouraging article. I enjoyed reading it although I had probably heard much of it before.
I think that it is 100% certain that Hazal would not have believed in magic had they lived today. We must also assume that many of the aggadot about it are not literal, because they sometimes describe the Rabbis involved in "magical" practices, which would be assur.
There is an interesting piece in Biblical Archaeology Review this month about the study of "magical items" from Jews of Talmudic times.
One interesting omission in the article is any discussion of the Mabul problem, which I think is more significant than any of the others because it is not part of Maase Beresheet, which we know isn't literal.
The truth is I've been around the past couple of weeks spending way, way too much time commenting on other people's blogs. I could've learned Shas meanwhile...
Comments
Nice, very positive and encouraging article. I enjoyed reading it although I had probably heard much of it before.
I think that it is 100% certain that Hazal would not have believed in magic had they lived today. We must also assume that many of the aggadot about it are not literal, because they sometimes describe the Rabbis involved in "magical" practices, which would be assur.
There is an interesting piece in Biblical Archaeology Review this month about the study of "magical items" from Jews of Talmudic times.
One interesting omission in the article is any discussion of the Mabul problem, which I think is more significant than any of the others because it is not part of Maase Beresheet, which we know isn't literal.
The truth is I've been around the past couple of weeks spending way, way too much time commenting on other people's blogs. I could've learned Shas meanwhile...