The advent of the Internet, smartphones, and social media have undoubtedly changed human society, often for the worse. Looking at the ways these technologies foster narrow perspectives and present users with constant reinforcement of their beliefs, Micah Goodman suggests Talmud study as a means to exercise mental and emotional muscles that have decayed through living online. Goodman points to the famous disputes between the respective disciples of the 1st-century sages Hillel and Shammai, and the Talmud’s decision to favor the former:
Why did the judgment of Beit Hillel, [the school of Hillel], become the basis for determining the law? Rabbi Judah bar Pazi said it was because its members quoted the words of Beit Shammai before their own words. Not only that, but if they were convinced by the words of Beit Shammai, they changed their opinions, as recorded in Tractate Sukkah 2:8 in the Jerusalem Talmud.
It wasn’t because Beit Hillel was always right that Jewish law was settled in accordance with this ancient school of thought. It was because Beit Hillel was conscious of the fact that it was not always right. According to the wonderful paradox of the Talmud, Jewish law was determined according to the opinions of those who were not locked into their opinions. . . .
Digital technology’s algorithms feed us opinions and ideas we already have, and in an anti-talmudic maneuver, they restrict our intellectual world to the narrow confines of our own existing opinions.
Read more on Sapir: https://sapirjournal.org/technology/2023/12/the-talmudic-cure-for-our-technology-sickness/