Pride Prejudice & Punctuation

almost all books people read nowadays come with punctuation whether a novel a chemistry book a rambam or even a chumash everything comes with punctuation theres a simple reason for this punctuation makes things easier to read without diluting or altering anything and yet for some reason when it comes to learning the text that needs it most people dont use punctuation the talmud contains the complicated discussions of torah shbal peh and would obviously benefit from some punctuation and yet everyone from brisk to yu from lakewood to migdal oz doesnt use punctuated gemaras why is that these are the reasons they give it makes no difference whether or not theres punctuation once you get used to it struggling over the punctuation is part of the necessary amelus of talmud torah especially when theres a machlokes in punctuation in addition the amelus helps you remember what you learned punctuated gemaros have a different tzuras hadaf which is assur to change how will you find a gemara in another shas how will you learn to read a real gemara if you use a punctuated one none of these arguments seem very strong ill go through each one it makes no difference whether or not theres punctuation once you get used to it having punctuation makes things clearer especially when reading the complicated back and forth of gemara having things punctuated helps ill admit its not the biggest deal but ive seen great scholars struggle for a moment to figure out the punctuation theres a reason everything else in the world is punctuated including most blog posts struggling over the punctuation is part of the necessary amelus of talmud torah especially when theres a machlokes in punctuation in addition it helps you remember what you learned with a punctuated gemara a person can think about the real issues of the gemara beyond how to read the words he can figure out matters of substance beyond where the comma goes a machlokes in punctuation is extremely rare i know of just as many questionable two dots and the punctuated gemara can mark it in those few cases having paragraphs and punctuation allows a person to go through things quicker and see it clearer giving him more time for chazara all of which helps him remember better see picture but why just ban punctuation there are all sorts of shortcuts all around the gemara page first it started with the mesoras hashas and the ayin mishpat and now they have likutei rashi and hagaos vtzionim not to mention the pesukim on the side which might cause someone to read tanach i think all these new laser print gemaros should be banned and people should return to using old manuscripts preferably with some letters rubbed out that would be true amelus punctuated gemaros have a different tzuras hadaf which is assur to change how will you find a gemara in another shas i dont know of punctuated gemaros that keep the tzuras hadaf but it shouldnt be too hard to make its just a technical detail tuvias edition is aimed for beginners so its filled with nekudos but no punctuation personally unless youve already finished shas with the old daf i think its time to use a different tzuras hadaf it was made by gentile printers hundreds of years ago and wasnt laid out perfectly there were no computers and they put tosafos on the page ok thats a separate issue using a different tzuras hadaf might make it a little harder to find something in another gemara but most of the time youll be using your own gemara anyways you can always look things up in the index or do a search on the computer it doesnt seem like a very big issue how will you learn to read a real gemara if you use a punctuated one for one you wont need to read the old fashioned gemaros because youll always be able to use a punctuated one but using a punctuated gemara will probably help people be able to use the other ones because theyll have been able to learn more gemara and have more experience which brings me to another point even if theyre against punctuated gemaros why on earth cant they let 5th graders use them it definitely would make a difference for beginners and they would be able to pick up gemara skills significantly quicker of course the question is based on the questionable assumption that the schools goals are to educate the kids see 31 years of batalah: i think all their arguments are just justifications for what they already have they use punctuation in all other seforim even though all the same arguments could be applied to mishnayos and rishonim they even use a full pasuk marking and trop system in torah shebichsav which actually was given from G d in a perfect umarked form if theres anything that shouldnt be punctuated its chumashim gemaros on the other hand are torah shebal peh and punctuating them just makes them more like the spoken word no one would say any of these arguments if gemaros had already been punctuated these are just ways of justifying things the real reasons people are against punctuated gemaros are not the justifications they say its very hard to accept any change especially something youve been doing a long time after having struggled so much as a beginner without punctuation its difficult to recognize there wasnt much of a point also it takes courage to read from a punctuated gemara you risk looking like youre not capable of reading from a real gemara the real reason gemaros arent punctuated is not because of any of the justifications given many of the kisvei yad did have some punctuation in them it was just too hard for the printers to print so they left it out the beginning of some mesechtos like brachos have some periods in them but it sort of tapers out at least they tried nowadays when the gemaros can easily be punctuated and published theres no reason to continue using gemaros from the 1500s this whole post may seem like making a mammoth out of a mole but it represents much more the refusal to change the gemaros are a prime example of refusing any change even a halachikly legitimate change for the better i think this is a point everyone can agree on