One of the reasons I am drawn to study the Talmud is its concreteness.
It deals with everything as the Rav says in Halakhic Man:
"The Halakhah encompasses laws of business, torts, neighbors, plaintiff and defendant, creditor and debtor, partners, agents, workers, artisans, bailees, etc." p22
And I feel strongly that unless we focus on the everyday and hallow it, we will be lost in an ephemeral world of mysticism. Here too the Rav is helpful:
"An individual does not become holy through mystical adhesion to the absolute nor through mysterious union with the infinite, nor through a boundless, all-embracing ecstasy, but, rather, through his whole biological life, through his animal actions and through actualizing the Halakhah in the empirical world." p46
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The concrete must not be lost. We must dwell deeply into it. And the Talmud with its amazing concentration on the concrete can assist us.
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