“ The rabbis would acknowledge that's not the reading that is closest probably to the original intent. It's nevertheless a justifiable reading because the ends is justifiable. And we're using our reading as a way of not completely breaking the chain. We still wanna have some connection to the past, even though we know this is the most strained connection possible to the past. And that actually feels like a more laudable reason to do misreadings than one in which you're trying to fool people.” - Dan Libenson

Welcome to The Oral Talmud, our weekly deep dive chevruta study partnership, discovering how voices of the Talmud from 1500 years ago can help us rethink Judaism today. 

The rabbis don’t just read the text, they bend it on purpose. In this episode, Benay and Dan pull back the curtain on one of the Talmud’s boldest moves: deliberate misreading in service of a better world. From constitutional debates to ancient law, they trace a throughline — sometimes the reading isn’t the goal. The outcome is. And the text gets stretched just far enough to carry it.

Then the stakes get real. A city must be destroyed. A house must be torn down. The rabbis refuse both, twisting the text, again, until violence becomes impossible. But just when it feels clean, controlled and resolved the tradition interrupts itself again. Just like what we saw in the case of the wayward and rebellious son: yes, it did happen. Cities did fall. Houses were destroyed. This episode lives in that tension, between moral imagination and moral memory, and asks again what it takes to change a system without lying about the harm it once caused.

This week’s text: Sanhedrin 71a

Find an edited transcript and full show notes (references and further reading) on The Oral Talmud webpage for this episode! Access the Sefaria Source Sheet to explore key Talmud texts and find the original video of our discussion. The Oral Talmud is a co-production of Judaism Unbound and SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva. If you’re enjoying this podcast, please help us keep both fabulous Jewish organizations going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation at oraltalmud.com. You can find a donate button on the top right corner of the website.