Analogies use two main ideas: the target (what you want to explain) and the source (the familiar idea used to explain it). The Maharal, in his commentary on agada, notes that Chazal never chose a source at random. They pick sources carefully to deliver a clear message. Rather, they are explicitly selected with precision to deliver a laser-focused message.

To illustrate the careful selection of sources in analogies, consider an example found in Nedarim 64b. There, four types of people are described as being “as if they were dead”: a pauper, someone suffering from the Biblical skin disease tzara’at, a blind person, and one who has no children.

That a blind person is considered as if they were dead is mentioned a few times in........

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