Avodah Mailing List

Volume 42: Number 1

Wed, 03 Jan 2024

• 1. Re: What is it that HKBH asks of us - Students Teachers Acceptance Arguments Chanufa etc. (Akiva Miller)
• 2. Re: judging? (Micha Berger)

R' Meir G Rabi wrote:

> As the Maharal writes, it's better [meaning THIS is the Ratzon HaShem]
that people not consult Halacha Seforim but learn
> EVEN IF THEY COME TO THE WRONG CONCLUSION,
> than they do the right thing by use of Halacha Seforim.
> ...
> HKBH, as the Maharal explains, wants us to explore and search even though
so many who are so much greater than us in dedication, perseverance, wisdom
and righteousness, have already explored these deep waters;
> but this infinite sea of the Talmud still holds mysterious truths that we
can and should be searching for.
> and THAT is the way HKBH wants it.
> The search is Avodas HaShem
> The performance is not the Ikkar.

Exactly what is included here in the term "Halacha Seforim"?
Only Feldheim and ArtScroll?
Even the MB, Aruch Hashulchan, and Kitzur SA?
Even the Mechaber and Rama?
Even the Rambam and Tur?

Why would some of those be included and not the others? Aren't they *all*
"halacha Seforim"? From what RMGR writes, it sounds to me like the ideal is
that we should all be learning Gemara, and nothing else, and that we should
follow the halacha as we understand it from the Gemara, "even if [we] come
to the wrong conclusion."

But if so, then what makes the Gemara different from any of the other
Halacha Seforim? We should not learn the Gemara either! We should all be
learning whatever we can, orally and *only* orally, and acting as we
understand the Torah as taught by our teachers, "even if [we] come to the
wrong conclusion." (In my view, RMGR's use of the phrase "infinite sea of
the Talmud", would not refer to the multi-volume work attributed to Ravina
and Rav Ashi, but to the ageless and timeless give-and-take of the Beis
Medrash over thousands of years.)

(All of the above are "Halacha Seforim" in the sense that ALL of the
respective authors published their works SPECIFICALLY because they were
afraid that their audience would (because of yeridas hadoros) be unable to
figure out the correct halacha and act properly. I am deliberately omitting
the Mishna from this list, because of the frequent situation where the
Mishna quotes an shita that we DON'T hold like, and doesn't bother to
mention any other shitos. The Mishna is not a Halacha Sefer, but is a
collection of topics designed to get the discussion going.)

But the Gemara and all the other Halacha Seforim WERE written and
published. With all due respect to the Maharal as cited by RMGR, he is
clearly in the tiny minority. If Ravina, Rav Hai Gaon, the Sefer Hachinuch,
and Rav Shimon Eider had subscribed to this view, that we should figure it
all out for ourselves, they would not have written their Halacha Seforim.

Akiva Miller
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On Tue, Jan 02, 2024 at 06:32:23AM +0200, R Joel Rich wrote to Areivim:
> From R' E Goldberg: "If you needed to leave Israel or your child needed to
> come home, nobody should judge you, but talk about your experience
> sensitively, thoughtfully, and intelligently." (Me-and why should nobody
> judge actions either way? And if not for an individual's actions, should
> not a community be judged on its actions?) Thoughts?

There are two ways to not be "judgmental" -- the first is to refrain from
judgment.

The second is a chiyuv, "hevei es dan kol haadam lekaf zekhus".

Unless you have some realistic chance of hashpa'ah, we should assume that
the person who needed to come home to chu"l or who brought their child home
had an appropriate reason to do so.

If there is a chance of being mashpia' you can't just assume everything
is on the up and up, because then you miss an opportunity to correct
a wrong! Perhaps it is like in recieving LH that one has to be on the
alert if true, and chabedeihu vechashdeihu. Maybe the parent or other
authority figure does have to suspend judgment (the other kind of not
being judgmental) and keep their minds open to both possibilities.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 We are great, and our foibles are great,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   and therefore our troubles are great --
Author: Widen Your Tent      but our consolations will also be great.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                      - Rabbi AY Kook


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