daf bit: Sanhedrin 90

[cellio]

The mishna teaches: all Israel has a portion in the world to come, except for the following: he who denies resurrection, he who says the torah was not divinely revealed, and an apikorus. Rabbi Akiva adds: one who reads uncanonical books (!). Also (this is unattributed) one who whispers a charm over a wound. Abba Shaul says: also one who pronounces the divine name as it is spelled. The g'mara for the rest of the daf (and more) talks about resurrection, starting with the practical observation that one who denies resurrection doesn't get to experience it. (90a-b)

This last point is similar to a view of atheism I heard once that resonated: if you don't believe in God, you don't get to experience God -- which satisfies everyone involved, yes?

I noticed something fun on tomorrow's daf, so there will be another daf bit tomorrow.

Comments

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

What's an apikorus?

[geekosaur]

An apostate. It's a corruption of Epicurus, whose philosophy was seen as the antithesis of everything Judaism stood for.

[cellio]

Whoops, meant to footnote that. As geekosaur says, an apostate (sometimes rendered heretic).

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Noncanonical books! *does not relate this to the Fanfic Debate*

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

That was what first came to my mind, too. I guess I won't get my acre of land in the future!

[cellio]

Yeah, I'll let folks know if I see further clarification in the ensuing pages.

[dragonazure.livejournal.com]

Torah 'shout out'. I spotted this in the local paper, and it made me think it might provide an unusual topic of conversation for you.....

[cellio]

Heh, cute. I've seen the shout-out, though not frequently; the thing that always bugs me about it is that it almost invariably comes from someone sitting in the congregation rather than one of the two people whose job is to check the reading. Yes, that job exists, with redundancy, but some people are trigger-happy or something.

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

if you don't believe in God, you don't get to experience God -- which satisfies everyone involved, yes?

In as much as this is Confirmation Bias in a nutshell... not so much. (Well, I guess it's only half of it. Flip it around to get the other half.)

[cellio]

I didn't mean to suggest anything about the reverse case.

Granted that it's not strictly true; it's possible for God to someone who's in denial, either gently or via the classic lightning bolt. :-)

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

Trying to reconstruct my mental state at the time, I think this derived from the idea that confidently disbelieving God (ie, being happy because reality matches your views) because you don't see him because you disbelieve is circular.