The title of the post is drawn from my father’s humorous interpretation of the pasuk in Beshalach, ה' יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם וְאַתֶּם תַּחֲרִישׁוּן — Hashem will provide you with bread. All you have to do is plow. This post itself was sparked by the following post on Rationalist Judaism:
Yeah, I'm not going to go into that separate topic, already covered in other longer works, here. (I have explored some of that topic elsewhere, e.g. the true meaning of עושה פרקמטיא לתלמיד חכם,) My point is not to prove to Padre (a pseudonym?) irrefutably that there is NO way to navigate the sources to claim that all or most Tannaim didn't work. Such argument would be aggravating, infinite, and unproductive.
What do you think the pashtus of the sugya is, before citing unnamed Rishonim. Is it like Rashi on the daf, and if not, why not? You can expand as to why you think the other understandings about Rabbi Yehoshua is off. And why when he said בַּמֶּה הֵם מִתְפַּרְנְסִים, he somehow doesn't mean actual parnassa?
My focus: Can this insight into the biography of Rabbi Yehoshua (see the About section) shed light on, and work well with, this other gemara where he makes a statement about hishtadlus, honesty, and prayer? What is the manuscript evidence, what is the evidence from Rishonim citing the sugya, and what in Rishonim or the internal dynamics of the sugya could have motivated the Gra to say what he said.
Many Rishonim learn the Gemara in Berachos that Rabbi Yehoshua was not a blacksmith, rather that he lived in such a terrible state that his house looked like that of a blacksmith.
The proof that all Tannaim, or even most, worked for a living, is hardly irrefutable.
Yeah, I'm not going to go into that separate topic, already covered in other longer works, here. (I have explored some of that topic elsewhere, e.g. the true meaning of עושה פרקמטיא לתלמיד חכם,) My point is not to prove to Padre (a pseudonym?) irrefutably that there is NO way to navigate the sources to claim that all or most Tannaim didn't work. Such argument would be aggravating, infinite, and unproductive.
What do you think the pashtus of the sugya is, before citing unnamed Rishonim. Is it like Rashi on the daf, and if not, why not? You can expand as to why you think the other understandings about Rabbi Yehoshua is off. And why when he said בַּמֶּה הֵם מִתְפַּרְנְסִים, he somehow doesn't mean actual parnassa?
My focus: Can this insight into the biography of Rabbi Yehoshua (see the About section) shed light on, and work well with, this other gemara where he makes a statement about hishtadlus, honesty, and prayer? What is the manuscript evidence, what is the evidence from Rishonim citing the sugya, and what in Rishonim or the internal dynamics of the sugya could have motivated the Gra to say what he said.
Many Rishonim learn the Gemara in Berachos that Rabbi Yehoshua was not a blacksmith, rather that he lived in such a terrible state that his house looked like that of a blacksmith.
The proof that all Tannaim, or even most, worked for a living, is hardly irrefutable.