pilpul

The Hebrew word pilpul precisely sums up the verbal gymnastics of Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, on the Three Wishes issue.

Bernie Farber's chutzpah

They learned how to reason by using the logical system of rabbinical debate included in the Talmud’s pages, called in Yiddish pilpul.

Emancipation

From the Jewish Encyclopedia, an example of pilpul:

The Volokh Conspiracy » Create a Constitutional Theory Out of This

But the Jewish tradition of pilpul can create an entire world of meaning out of a seemingly unnecessary repetition of facts; why should a capitalization choice be any different.

The Volokh Conspiracy » Create a Constitutional Theory Out of This

That very last line ought to be in red or bold or both, considering actually 100% of settlers are violent unrepentant international war criminals, many are using the settlements to take advantage of legal status for drugs and that it is illustrative of pilpul to couch wild hasbarah in objective-looking prose and oh hey there is this one other last thing one in five are run-of-the-mill crooks.

some settler statistics

A means of reconciling the seemingly irreconcilable in Jewish law and its interpretations, pilpul has come to mean the use of increasingly fine distinctions in argument, often in casuistical fashion.

Bernie Farber's chutzpah

I believe that Yaffe's vanishingly-fine distinction would qualify as a good example of Talmudic pilpul.

Dawg's Blawg

I did, indeed, write that Talmudic scholars were more aggressive in their pilpul than scientists, but it is Dorn, not I, who regards that as "singing the praises" of the former.

Science & 'The Demon-Haunted World': An Exchange

Before we quite knew what we were doing, we were adding our own arguments, our own objections, our own hair-splitting distinctions and twists of logic, the so-called pilpul.

Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry

His method is that of the talmudic _pilpul_, [1] transplanted upon the soil of

History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume II From the death of Alexander I. until the death of Alexander III. (1825-1894)