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
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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