Pilpul

Pilpul refers to casuistry and hairsplitting to solve points of logic. It was founded during the 15th and 16th centuries, to study the Talmud in a new way.

Pilpul practitioners posited that the Talmud could contain no redundancy or contradiction whatsoever. New categories and distinctions (hillukim) were therefore created, resolving seeming contradictions within the Talmud by novel logical means.

At its height in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was considered an art form and became a goal in and of itself.

By the 18th century, pilpul study waned.