By FAITH LEENER, LEON MORRIS – DECEMBER 4, 2023 03:55
We must acknowledge that long texts that carry complexity and layers are not written with the intent of being read in two-minute spurts with mundane distractions and digital notifications around us.
If you’ve been on the Internet or social media in 2023 then you’ve likely come across the abbreviation “TL;DR,” a common online abbreviation that stands for “too long; didn’t read.” This deliberately blunt response is most often used online in response to densely worded articles. It brands a long read as not quite worth the work it would take to actually read it. It’s an abbreviation coined by a generation that skims.
As leaders devoted to expanding access to traditional Jewish learning, we are struck by how increasingly counter-cultural the ethos of the beit midrash, the classic Jewish study hall, has become. In the beit midrash, students pore over a text, reading it again and again, deriving meaning from both the depth of its words and the breadth of the stories and perspectives that emerged in response to any given text over hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
Unlike the practice of skimming a text, ours is an expansive, interpretive tradition, adding to our cannon in ways that don’t quite lend itself to a sound bite. The beit midrash is distinguished by conversations highlighting complexity and is enlivened by debate. In the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies beit midrash, students are asked to consider the historical contexts and realities in which our commentators wrote, recognizing that words carry with them unseen worlds of experience.
Even the common refrain, “What’s bothering Rashi?” centers the human experience at the heart of our texts. Nothing can be taken for granted. There is much to be explored on the page, and perhaps even more to be considered off of the page. Traditional Jewish learning is all about the layers. And layers cannot be skimmed.
“TL;DR” deprives us of the euphoria of grasping a new idea
The culture of the beit midrash is one in which revelation isn’t restricted to a mythic moment in time we call Sinai. The text has the possibility of revealing something new to us each and every day. TL;DR deprives us of the euphoria of grasping a new idea. In the words of the poet, Kate Light:
“And then there is that incredible moment when you realize what you’re reading,what’s being revealed to you, how it is not what you expected, what you thought you were reading, where you thought you were heading.Then there is that incredible knowing that surges up in you, speeding your heart; and you swear you will keep on reading,keep on writing until you find another not going where you thought – and until you have taken someone on that ride, so that they take in their breath, so that they let out their sigh, so that they will swear they will not rest until they toohave taken someone the way they were taken by you.”
IN OUR increasingly polarized world, we need the space and time in which our minds can follow a thought, grapple with an idea, compare and contrast points of view, and digest facts or ideas that might even run counter to our worldview. Now more than ever, we at Pardes are inspired by the art of Jewish debate, mahloket l’shem shamayim, often translated as “argument for the sake of heaven.”
Thoughtful, complex, and non-binary thinking requires us to read carefully and with a posture of openness to understanding another point of view.
It is needed on campuses where young Jewish students feel unequipped in the face of growing antisemitism, it is needed on (or in response to) TikTok and Instagram where the majority of people under 25 get their news in 60-second segments – and it is needed in our own hearts, as we watch the news unfold all around us.
We must acknowledge that long texts that carry complexity and layers are not written with the intent of being read in two-minute spurts with mundane distractions and digital notifications happening all around us.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the beit midrash became the central institution of Jewish life. Our tradition has flourished by having a set place where interpretations across hevrutot (study partners) and haburot (study groups) can unfold in real time, panim el panim (face-to-face). While discussion is possible everywhere, everyday life is filled with countless and necessary distractions and interruptions that make analysis and digestion, let alone disagreement and debate, nearly impossible.
For some, the idea of sitting down with a complete stranger to debate an ancient text for its contemporary relevance can sound bizarre, if not risky. But at Pardes we do it every day. And we see our students – across generations, political affiliations, religious practice, sexual orientation, and gender identity – find meaning, purpose, and a complexity that makes them feel more human, not less.
This winter, we are creating a virtual beit midrash for our global community to explore just this question: What makes us uniquely human? Perhaps the organizing principle of this three-day study intensive is not TL;DR, but TC;SE: “too complex; still exploring.”
We hope you will join us.