"The solitary scholar who makes his own discoveries will very often find that his views have already been recorded by the scholars of previous generations"

"The Talmud is unique in that no student can master it fully without taking an active part in the creative process.

 

He must be responsive to questions and answers, be able to sense instinctively how a subject will develop, and be ready at any time to move the discussion in a certain direction.

 

A true scholar is therefore always part of the Talmud, himself creating through his study and his own innovations.

 

There was good cause for the demand made of every scholar that he not only study but also introduce new interpretations, since in creating something new he increases his understanding of the source and becomes capable of continuing it.

 

Not every scholar is capable of independent interpretation.

 

The solitary scholar who makes his own discoveries will very often find that his views have already been recorded by the scholars of previous generations.

 

But, unlike other spheres of knowledge, talmudic study does not insist that interpretations be original and innovative.

 

To a certain extent every scholar tries to prove that his own revelations are not totally new but are implied in the remarks of his predecessors.

 

There is no greater glory for a scholar than to find that the thought he has developed independently has already been formulated by others before him, since this constitutes sound proof that his methods of study have not exceeded the bounds of true knowledge and are a continuation of talmudic thought itself."

 

 –Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

 From The Essential Talmud,  p.264, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz