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((Multiple issues|
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((Italictitle))
((short description|Method of studying the Talmud through intense textual analysis))
'''''Pilpul''''' (((lang-he|[[wikt:פלפול|פלפול]])), loosely meaning 'sharp analysis'; ((etymology||''((lang|he|פִּלְפֵּל))'' (pilpel)|pepper))) is a method of studying the [[Talmud]] through intense textual analysis in attempts to either explain conceptual differences between various [[halakha|halakhic]] rulings or to reconcile any apparent contradictions presented from various readings of different texts.<ref>2000 years of Jewish history: p170 Chaim Schloss - 2002 "Jews in Eastern Europe (Part II) The word pilpul comes from the Hebrew word for "pepper";  "</ref> The word ''pilpul'' has entered [[English (language)|English]] as a [[colloquialism]] used by some to indicate extreme disputation or [[casuistry|casuistic]] hairsplitting.

==Sources==
The requirement for close derivation of the conceptual structures underlying various [[halakha|Jewish laws]], as a regular part of one's [[Torah study]], is described by [[Maimonides]] as follows:<ref>''[[Mishne Torah|Yad HaChazakah]]'', ''Sefer Madda'', [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/i/1301.htm Laws of Torah Study], [http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/910973/jewish/Chapter-One.htm 1:11]</ref>

((blockquote|A person is obligated to divide his study time in three: one third should be devoted to the [[Torah|Written Law]]; one third to the [[Oral Torah|Oral Law]]; and one third to understanding and conceptualizing the ultimate derivation of a concept from its roots, inferring one concept from another and comparing concepts, understanding [the Torah] based on the principles of [[Halakha#Rules_by_which_early_Jewish_law_was_derived|Torah exegesis]], until one appreciates the essence of those principles and how the prohibitions and the other decisions which one received according to the oral tradition can be derived using them....))

Other such sources include ''[[Pirkei Avot]]'',<ref>Pirkei Avot [http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos/chapter6-644-45.html 6:6]</ref> the [[Babylonian Talmud]],<ref>[https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.31a.10?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en ''Shabbat'' 31a]</ref> [[Rashi]],<ref>[https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Kiddushin.30a.10.1?lang=bi&with=Talmud&lang2=en Rashi to Kiddushin 30a], s.v. "Talmud"</ref> and [[Shneur Zalman of Liadi]].<ref>[[Shulchan Aruch HaRav]] [https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%9F_%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9A_%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%91_%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%AA%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93_%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94_%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A7_%D7%91#%D7%A1%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%A3_%D7%91 Talmud Torah 2:2] and [https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%9F_%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9A_%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%91_%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%AA%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93_%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94_%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A7_%D7%92#%D7%A1%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%A3_%D7%93 3:4]</ref>

==Narrow definition==
In the narrower sense, ''pilpul'' refers to a method of conceptual extrapolation from texts in efforts to reconcile various texts or to explain fundamental differences of approach between various earlier authorities, which became popular in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries: its founders are generally considered to be [[Jacob Pollak]] and [[Shalom Shachna]]. ''Pilpul'' was defined by [[Heinrich Graetz]] as "the astonishing facility of ingenious disquisition on the basis of the Talmud."<ref>Heinrich Graetz, ''History of the Jews: from the Rise of the Kabbala (1270 CE) to the Permanent Settlement of the Marranos in Holland (1618)'' (ed. Bella Löwy), vol. iv, New York 2009, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dfK5t5TJnoUC&dq=ingenious+disquisition+basis+Talmud&pg=PA418 p. 418]. ((ISBN|978-1-60520-947-0))</ref>

===Opposition===
Many leading rabbinic authorities have harshly criticized this method as being unreliable and a waste of time, and it is regarded by some as having been discredited by the time of the [[Vilna Gaon]]. A common criticism is that those who used this method were often motivated by the prospect of impressing others with the sophistication of their analysis, rather than by a disinterested pursuit of truth; such students, it was held, did not apply appropriate standards of proof in obtaining their conclusions (if any), and frequently presupposed conclusions that necessitated unlikely readings (interpretations) of "proof-texts". As such, ''pilpul'' has been derogatorily called ''bilbul'', [[Hebrew (language)|Hebrew]] for "confusion".<ref>Baruch Erlich, [https://orot.ac.il/sites/default/files/morashtenu/3-20.pdf HaPilpul - Yesod Limud HaTorah SheBeAl-Peh VeHishtalshuto Bemeshech HaDorot], ''Morashteinu'', 3:189 (1989)</ref>

[[Judah Loew ben Bezalel]] (the Maharal), in a famous [[polemic]] against ''pilpul'', wrote: 
((quote|It would be better to learn [[carpentry]] or another trade, or to sharpen the mind by playing [[chess]]. At least they would not engage in falsehood, which then spills over from theory and into practice..."<ref>''Tiferet Yisroel'', pg. 168, quoted in [https://ishimshitos.blogspot.com/2009/03/chess-in-jewish-theology-and-practice.html Chess in Jewish theology and practice], ''Ishim veShittos'' blog (Wolf2191), 17 March 2009.</ref>))

The [[Rebbe]] [[Sholom Dovber Schneersohn]], quoting Maharal, allows for "genuine pilpul" while dismissing "false pilpul":
((quote|Genuine pilpul is possible only when first one knows the simple meaning of the ''[[Halachah]]'' guilelessly, in a structured manner, using straightforward terms... Afterwards, if G‑d has graciously endowed a person with a capable intellectual potential and broad-minded thought processes, he may delve into a pilpul.... If, however, a student will begin with pilpul before he has a genuine appreciation of the subject in the above manner, as a natural consequence, the pilpul will be false, and he will waste his time with ersatz thoughts.<ref>[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144843/jewish/Chapter-XXXI.htm ''Kuntres Eitz HaChayim'', Chapter XXXI]. In this work, "''Rashab''" provides  guidelines for proper Talmud study to the students of ''[[Tomchei Tmimim]]''</ref>
))
An approach contrasting to ''pilpul'', often referred to as "((ill|aliba dehilchasa|he|אסוקי שמעתתא אליבא דהלכתא))" ("analyzing the sugya re. the [[Halacha]]"), emphasizes  (legal) application over abstraction.

==Current methods==
((See|Yeshiva #Talmud study))
In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, ''pilpul'' in this narrow sense was largely superseded by the analytic methods pioneered by the [[Lithuanian Jews|Lithuanian school]], in particular the [[Brisker method|Brisker derech]].  However, many people consider these methods too to be a form of ''pilpul'', although the practitioners of the analytic method generally reject the term. Before [[World War II]], both the old and the new kinds of ''pilpul'' were popular among [[Lithuania]]n and [[Poland|Polish]] Jews. Since then, they have become prominent in most [[Ashkenazi]] and many [[Hasidic Judaism|Chassidic]] [[yeshiva]]s.

==See also==
* [[Aaron ben Meir of Brest]]
* [[Brisker method]]
* [[Eisegesis]]

==References==
((reflist))

==External links==
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=318&letter=P&search=memorizing "Pilpul"], an article from the ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]''

[[Category:Talmud concepts and terminology]]

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