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So here's me, writing merrily along in my essay, making a passing reference to reading from memory, which some people permit. Mordechai permits, I say, and leave it at that.
Then I realise that actually I need to say WHY he permits. I have a vague idea, but nothing like accurate enough...so I spend the next four hours learning exactly why you can't read from memory. The damndest thing is that the best reason isn't an admissible part of the logic. The best reason is that in a tradition which relies very heavily on precise wording of text, over-reliance on oral transmission will result in a disastrously high level of corruption. But we don't say that, we find instances of the root for "write," and patch them together, saying that the hidden meaning in "write this text in the relevant script" from the book of Esther means "and don't read it without the text in front of you," and that sort of thing.
So before I know it I've got five parenthetical paragraphs. Sigh. They're good, but they can't live where they were born, they were only supposed to be a passing reference. It's up to 9000 words now, and half of it is still in shorthand.
Then I realise that actually I need to say WHY he permits. I have a vague idea, but nothing like accurate enough...so I spend the next four hours learning exactly why you can't read from memory. The damndest thing is that the best reason isn't an admissible part of the logic. The best reason is that in a tradition which relies very heavily on precise wording of text, over-reliance on oral transmission will result in a disastrously high level of corruption. But we don't say that, we find instances of the root for "write," and patch them together, saying that the hidden meaning in "write this text in the relevant script" from the book of Esther means "and don't read it without the text in front of you," and that sort of thing.
So before I know it I've got five parenthetical paragraphs. Sigh. They're good, but they can't live where they were born, they were only supposed to be a passing reference. It's up to 9000 words now, and half of it is still in shorthand.