Notes from Limmud 2011

Aikido and Talmud

Andrea Zanardo

[Standard disclaimer: All views not in square brackets are those of the speaker, not myself. Accuracy of transcription is not guaranteed. This post is formatted for LiveJournal; if you are reading it on Facebook click on "View original post" for optimal layout.]

You always find a lot of Jews in Aikido, for a variety of reasons. It's a strange martial art, in that you don't win; you learn to defend yourself. So not so many skinheads around, not so many fascists, which makes it a safe space for the Jews.

It can be harmful, but only at a very advanced level—after fifteen years, by which time you'll have learned if you wish to kill someone else, there are better ways of doing it than through martial arts.

It is also a form of spiritual discipline. We Jews love to flirt with other spiritual disciplines. It is a way to harmonise mind and body with nature.

In Aikido the main principle is not to hit anyone, but to absorb the energy from your opponent and turn it back. The main thing we need to learn from Aikido is balance; and Jews are a very unbalanced people.

Shabbat 31a שבת לא א

On another occasion it happened that a certain heaten came before Shammai and said to him, "Make me a proselyte, on condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." Thereupon he repulsed him with the builder's cubit that was in his hand. When he went before Hillel, he said to him, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour: that is the whole Torah, while the rest of the commentary thereof; go and learn it." שוב מעשה בנכרי אחד לו לאו עלי דידי קא סמכת דעל פה נמי סמוך עלי שבא לפני שמאי אמר לו גיירני על מנת שתלמדני כל התורה כולה כשאני עומד על רגל אחת׃ דחפו באמת הבנין שבידו׃ בא לפני הלל גייריה׃ אמר לו דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד זו היא כל התורה כולה ואידך פירושה שוב מעשה בנכרי אחד שהיה עובר אחורי בית המדרש ושמע הוא זיל גמור

Shabbat 31a	שבת לא א
On another occasion it happened that a certain heaten came before Shammai and said to him, "Make me a proselyte, on condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." Thereupon he repulsed him with the builder's cubit that was in his hand. When he went before Hillel, he said to him, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour: that is the whole Torah, while the rest of the commentary thereof; go and learn it."	שוב מעשה בנכרי אחד לו לאו עלי דידי קא סמכת דעל פה נמי סמוך עלי שבא לפני שמאי אמר לו גיירני על מנת שתלמדני כל התורה כולה כשאני עומד על רגל אחת׃ דחפו באמת הבנין שבידו׃ בא לפני הלל גייריה׃ אמר לו דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד זו היא כל התורה כולה ואידך פירושה שוב מעשה בנכרי אחד שהיה עובר אחורי בית המדרש ושמע הוא זיל גמור

The person who wants to become Jewish will lose his balance. Hillel and Shammai lived in a time when it was dangerous to be Jewish; you don't know what motives anyone seeking to become Jewish had.

Morihei Ueshiba was born into a samurai family, in the period of social unrest. His education was based on jujitsu. At the same time he developed a strong social consciousness, standing for the rights of dispossessed farmers. He was a follower of Umoto-yo, a blend of Buddhism and other religions [Shinto?].

He developed a martial art called Ai-ki. Ki [perhaps better known in the West as qi in Chinese] is the internal energy every living being has; ai-ki is blended internal energy. Ueshiba was interested in using martial arts not to hurt the enemy, but to turn their own energy back on themselves to defeat them.

At this period, Japan was becoming fascist. Martial arts were important to the regime; among Ueshiba's students was the first Japanese Esperantist. Another student of his was high in the Baha'i religion. So not exactly the average nationalistic military figure in Japan in the thirties. [Lacuna, sc.?: He became a] teacher of the military in [Japanese-occupied] Manchuria, but refused to teach the police. At the top, he had a crisis and decided to leave public life. He retired to a dojo the middle of nowhere a thousand miles [figuratively] from Tokyo. (He had a vision of a black ray falling on Tokyo). There he decided to teach Aikido—the way to ai-ki.

He died in 1969s, having raised scores of students, many of whom went to form their own school of Aikido (and disagree with each other).

His most important work is The Art of Peace:

Do not stare into the eyes of your opponent: he may mesmerise you. Do not fix your gaze on his sword: he may intimidate you. Do not focus on your opponent at all: he may absorb your ki. The essence of training is to bring your opponent completely into your sphere. Then you can stand just where you like.

Even the most inmportant human being has a limited sphere of strength. Draw him outside of that sphere and into your own, and his strength will dissipate.

—Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace

[The speaker showed a film of Ueshiba from the 1950s; the handout shows examples of Aikido techniques, which I'm not going to make any attempt to transcribe here..]

One thing which was unusual for its time is that there were women in his class.

What has this to do with Talmud? You can learn Talmud thinking that there is an Aikido match going on, because the most effective sugiot were as an Aikido match, in which the energy—the reasonining, the argument—is thrown back to reach a point. Sometimes, the two rabbis, sometimes the stam voice of the Talmud.

2 Kings 4 tells the story of the Shunammite woman who provides a chamber for the prophet Elisha on her roof as he journeys by. The Talmud discusses what is meant by this:

Berachot 10a–b ברכות י א–ב

Let us make, I pray you, a little chamber on the roof. (2 Kings 4:10)
Rab and Samuel differ.¹ One says: It was an open upper chamber, and they put a roof on it. The other says: It was a large verandah, and they divided it into two.
For him who says that it was a verandah, there is a good reason why the text says kir [wall]. But how does he who says that it was an upper chamber account for the word kir? [It is used] because they put a roof on it [kiruah].
For him who says it was an upper chamber there is a good reason why the text uses the word עלית. but how does he who says it is a verandah account for the word עלית [upper chamber]? It was the best [me'ulla] of the rooms.
נעשה נא עליית קיר: הקדוש ברוך הוא שלום מר הוא לו קטנה׃ רב ושמואל חד אמר עלייה פרועה היתה וקירוה וחד אמר אכסדרה גדולה היתה וחלקוה לשנים׃ בשלמא למאן דאמר אכסדרה היינו דכתיב קיר אלא למאן דאמר עלייה מאי קיר שקירוה׃ בשלמא למאן דאמר עלייה היינו דכתיב עליית אלא למאן דאמר אכסדרה מאי עליית מעולה שבבתים׃

Berachot 10a–b	ברכות י א–ב
Let us make, I pray you, a little chamber on the roof. (2 Kings 4:10) Rab and Samuel differ.¹ One says: It was an open upper chamber, and they put a roof on it. The other says: It was a large verandah, and they divided it into two. For him who says that it was a verandah, there is a good reason why the text says kir [wall]. But how does he who says that it was an upper chamber account for the word kir? [It is used] because they put a roof on it [kiruah]. For him who says it was an upper chamber there is a good reason why the text uses the word עלית. but how does he who says it is a verandah account for the word עלית [upper chamber]? It was the best [me'ulla] of the rooms.	נעשה נא עליית קיר: הקדוש ברוך הוא שלום מר הוא לו קטנה׃ רב ושמואל חד אמר עלייה פרועה היתה וקירוה וחד אמר אכסדרה גדולה היתה וחלקוה לשנים׃ בשלמא למאן דאמר אכסדרה היינו דכתיב קיר אלא למאן דאמר עלייה מאי קיר שקירוה׃ בשלמא למאן דאמר עלייה היינו דכתיב עליית אלא למאן דאמר אכסדרה מאי עליית מעולה שבבתים׃

1. As they always do.

So the argument is turned back on him and overturned.

Berachot 10b ברכות י ב

Mishna: Beth Shammai say: In the evening every man should recline and recite [the Shema], and in the morning he should stand, as it says "when you lie down and when you rise up" (Deut. 6:7).
Beth Hillel, however, say that every man should recite in his own way, as it says, "And when you walk by the way."
Why then is it said, "And when you lie down and when you rise up?" [This means] at the time when people lie down and at the time when people rise up.

Gemara: Why do not Beth Shammai accept the view of Beth Hillel? Beth Shammai can reply: If this is so, let the text say: "In the morning and in the evening." Why does it say When you lie down and when you rise up? To show that in the time of lying down there must be actual lying down, and in the time of rising up there must be actual rising up.¹
And how do Beth Shammai explain the words And when you walk by the way? They need it for the following, as has been taught in a ברייתא: "When you sit in your house—this excludes a bridegroom. And whe you walk by the way—this excludes one who is occupied with the performance of a religious duty." From here they say that one who marries a virgin is free [from the obligation to say the Shema in the evening] while one who marries a widow is bound.
How is the lesson derived? R. Papa said: [The circumstances must be] like being on the way.²
But does not the text treat [also] of one who is going to perform a religious duty, and even so the All Merciful said that he should recite?
If that were so, the All Merciful should have written [simply]: "While sitting and while walking". And what is the implication of "when you sit and when you walk"?³ In the case of your sitting and your walking you are under the obligation, but in the case of performing a religious duty you are exempt.
If that is so, one who marries a widow should also be exempt? [But this is not the case, because:] The one is agitated, the other not. If a state of agitation is the ground, it would apply also to the case of his ship sinking at sea! And you should say "Quite so!", why did R. Abba b. Zabda say in the name of Rab: "A mourner is under obligation to perform all the precepts laid down in the Torah except that of the tefillin?" In that case the agitation is over a religious duty, here it is over an optional matter.
And Beth Shammai? They require it to exclude persons on a religious mission. And Beth Hillel? They reply: Incidentally it tells you that one recites also by the way.

בית שמאי אומרים בערב כל אדם יטה ויקרא ובבקר יעמוד שנאמר ובשכבך ובקומך׃
ובית הלל אומרים כל אדם קורא כדרכו שנאמר ובלכתך בדרך
אם כן למה נאמר (דברים ו) ובשכבך ובקומך בשעה שבני אדם שוכבים ובשעה שבני אדם עומדים׃
קרי בית שמאי מאי טעמא לא אמרי כבית הלל אמרי לך בית שמאי אם כן נימא קרא בבקר ובערב מאי בשכבך ובקומך בשעת שכיבה שכיבה ממש ובשעת קימה קימה ממש׃
ובית שמאי האי ובלכתך בדרך מאי עביד להו ההוא מבעי להו לכדתניא בשבתך בביתך פרט לעוסק במצוה ובלכתך בדרך פרט לחתן מכאן אמרו הכונס את הבתולה פטור ואת האלמנה חייב׃
מאי משמע אמר רב פפא כי דרך מה דרך רשות אף כל רשות׃
מי לא עסקינן דקא אזיל לדבר מצוה ואפילו הכי אמר רחמנא לקרי אם כן לכתוב רחמנא בשבת ובלכת מאי בשבתך ובלכתך בשבת דידך ובלכת דידך הוא דמחייבת הא דמצוה פטירת׃
אי הכי אפילו כונס את האלמנה נמי האי טריד והאי לא טריד׃ אי משום טרדא אפילו טבעה ספינתו בים נמי וכי תימא הכי נמי אלמה אמר רבי אבא בר זבדא אמר רב אבל חייב בכל המצות האמורות בתורה חוץ מן התפילין שהרי נאמר בהם פאר שנאמר (יחזקאל כד) פארך חבוש עליך התם טריד טרדא דמצוה הכא טריד טרדא דרשות׃
ובית שמאי ההוא מבעי להו פרט לשלוחי מצוה׃ ובית תנו רבנן בית הלל:הלל אמרי ממילא שמע מינה דאפילו בדרך נמי קרי

Berachot 10b	ברכות י ב
Mishna: Beth Shammai say: In the evening every man should recline and recite [the Shema], and in the morning he should stand, as it says "when you lie down and when you rise up" (Deut. 6:7). Beth Hillel, however, say that every man should recite in his own way, as it says, "And when you walk by the way." Why then is it said, "And when you lie down and when you rise up?" [This means] at the time when people lie down and at the time when people rise up. Gemara: Why do not Beth Shammai accept the view of Beth Hillel? Beth Shammai can reply: If this is so, let the text say: "In the morning and in the evening." Why does it say When you lie down and when you rise up? To show that in the time of lying down there must be actual lying down, and in the time of rising up there must be actual rising up.¹ And how do Beth Shammai explain the words And when you walk by the way? They need it for the following, as has been taught in a ברייתא: "When you sit in your house—this excludes a bridegroom. And whe you walk by the way—this excludes one who is occupied with the performance of a religious duty." From here they say that one who marries a virgin is free [from the obligation to say the Shema in the evening] while one who marries a widow is bound. How is the lesson derived? R. Papa said: [The circumstances must be] like being on the way.² But does not the text treat [also] of one who is going to perform a religious duty, and even so the All Merciful said that he should recite? If that were so, the All Merciful should have written [simply]: "While sitting and while walking". And what is the implication of "when you sit and when you walk"?³ In the case of your sitting and your walking you are under the obligation, but in the case of performing a religious duty you are exempt. If that is so, one who marries a widow should also be exempt? [But this is not the case, because:] The one is agitated, the other not. If a state of agitation is the ground, it would apply also to the case of his ship sinking at sea! And you should say "Quite so!", why did R. Abba b. Zabda say in the name of Rab: "A mourner is under obligation to perform all the precepts laid down in the Torah except that of the tefillin?" In that case the agitation is over a religious duty, here it is over an optional matter. And Beth Shammai? They require it to exclude persons on a religious mission. And Beth Hillel? They reply: Incidentally it tells you that one recites also by the way.	בית שמאי אומרים בערב כל אדם יטה ויקרא ובבקר יעמוד שנאמר ובשכבך ובקומך׃ ובית הלל אומרים כל אדם קורא כדרכו שנאמר ובלכתך בדרך אם כן למה נאמר (דברים ו) ובשכבך ובקומך בשעה שבני אדם שוכבים ובשעה שבני אדם עומדים׃ קרי בית שמאי מאי טעמא לא אמרי כבית הלל אמרי לך בית שמאי אם כן נימא קרא בבקר ובערב מאי בשכבך ובקומך בשעת שכיבה שכיבה ממש ובשעת קימה קימה ממש׃ ובית שמאי האי ובלכתך בדרך מאי עביד להו ההוא מבעי להו לכדתניא בשבתך בביתך פרט לעוסק במצוה ובלכתך בדרך פרט לחתן מכאן אמרו הכונס את הבתולה פטור ואת האלמנה חייב׃ מאי משמע אמר רב פפא כי דרך מה דרך רשות אף כל רשות׃ מי לא עסקינן דקא אזיל לדבר מצוה ואפילו הכי אמר רחמנא לקרי אם כן לכתוב רחמנא בשבת ובלכת מאי בשבתך ובלכתך בשבת דידך ובלכת דידך הוא דמחייבת הא דמצוה פטירת׃ אי הכי אפילו כונס את האלמנה נמי האי טריד והאי לא טריד׃ אי משום טרדא אפילו טבעה ספינתו בים נמי וכי תימא הכי נמי אלמה אמר רבי אבא בר זבדא אמר רב אבל חייב בכל המצות האמורות בתורה חוץ מן התפילין שהרי נאמר בהם פאר שנאמר (יחזקאל כד) פארך חבוש עליך התם טריד טרדא דמצוה הכא טריד טרדא דרשות׃ ובית שמאי ההוא מבעי להו פרט לשלוחי מצוה׃ ובית תנו רבנן בית הלל:הלל אמרי ממילא שמע מינה דאפילו בדרך נמי קרי

This is summarising the argument of Beth Shammai, which was not ultimately accepted.
The confrontation is about what is meant by בדרך "on the way". As a way is optional, so whatever is optional [does not exempt from the obligation].
Pushing the בדרך to its extreme, this makes the opponent lose balance.

When confronted with an attack in Aikido, a typical response is not to retreat or to deflect the agggression, but to enter right into the face of the attack: "when an opponent comes forward, move in and greet him" (Morihei Ueshiba). Sometimes we end up facing the same direction as the attacker, in close proximity—so close that it is difficult to discern the difference between the attacker and defender. Often the best way to deal with opposition is to go right to its source [in our case, the source text, vis-a-vis בדרך] and then blend with it, rendering further aggression impossible.
—John Stevens, The Philosophy of Aikido, Kodansha, 2001, p. 20

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