Slippery slopes - Deriving Laws based on interpretation and communal practices

byDowid Mosha (Israel) Sep 2, 2008 at 3:01 AM


Last night I took a look at the intro to the Beit Yosef. He explains his system in the following manner:

a) When one of the three pillars (RaMBaM, Rosh, Riff) abstain and the other two disagree, he will go with the majority of certain well known commentaries

b) When all three abstain, he will rule according to the "great wise men"

c) In rare cases, when all of Yisroel act contrary to 2/3 (or even all the "pillars"), he will rule according to how Yisroel behaves...

[If I have made any mistakes or if my synopsis bothers anyone, please feel free to correct me.]

I would now like to analyze the third point ("c"). Here are some of the thoughts that come to mind...

1) Is whatever Yisroel are doing at all relevant (unless legislated by a Sanhedrin)? Ruling according to how Jews behave seems like a rejection of the Sanhedrin (which in turn, would be a rejection of God, God-forbid)

2) The rare places which the Beit Yosef mentions seems to be opening the door for others to also base themselves on communal practices

3) The Beit Yosef also claims to have witnessed the community in Sfat hold by the RaMBaM yet in certain places, such as the proper time to say the evening Shema, he still goes against the ruling of all three "pillars" [it is also interesting to note that he uses a Rabbinic stringency to make a Torah leniency in this case!]

(Side point concerning "b") It should be noted that when the RaMBaM "abstains" it means that there is no law on the matter, in his opinion.

The basic principle that I'm bringing is that when God speaks, we must do what He says! However, anyone who has read the Bible knows that the majority of Jews have NEVER behaved well. At best, there were times when we behaved "not-so-badly". The problem is that a perfectly good apple in a rotten barrel is bound to turn bad, and often it seems as the the people, more so than the leaders, can be the "barrel" which motivates leader's decisions. In other words, people have different dispositions and tend to be weak; easily influenced by their communities (which is why RaMBaM says to distance yourself from those that don't behave nicely - H.De'ot). The Bible gives us endless examples - Aaron was a "people-person" (much like the mamlakhti dati-leumi stream today). His concessions almost destroyed Yisroel were it not for Moshe Rabbenu. Shaul was a "democrat" and listened to the people instead of God, for which Yisroel suffered a great deal. Of course, the individual is also punished - Aaron was not able to enter Eretz Yisroel and Shaul and his sons were killed. We even find, in the Talmud, instances where great scholars sinned and were punished. More importantly, we see how the Talmud depicts in a brilliant light, those great scholars such as Rabbi Akiva and Shimon ben Yohai, who subjugated themselves to a majority opinion of the Sanhedrin. Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai was possibly the most outstanding scholar of his time yet would never have allowed someone to rule against the Sanhedrin's rulings based on his teachings [see Talmud Yerushalmi (B'rakhoth 6b)].

One way of avoiding God's directions in order to justify the actions of the community or find ways of making life "easier" (breaking Gods laws to make our life easier is completely counterproductive, as the Torah testifies), is to interpret the laws in the style of the deconstructionists (see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction). We also hear excuses such as, "Well, there are 70 faces to the Torah" or "The reason for that decree no longer exists", or even "such and such Gadol says that this no longer applies, do you think you know better?", to name just a few. In general, when we see something which has major communal implications, we might do well to wonder why a leader/s is contradicting the plain and simple meaning of our Sages/Torah. Imagine the implications of saying that a string eruv is not kosher. What would happen to women with new born children or those that must walk with a cane? When we are told that the Torah has "70 faces", we would do well to consider that each of the 70 members of the Sanhedrin had his own way of perceiving matters yet the rule went according to majority decisions. What defines a view as one of the legitimate 70 facets? Is Reconstructionist Judaism one of the 70? Perhaps even karaite Judaism? And when we are told that the the reason for a decree or custom of the Sanhedrin no longer applies, we must pay heed to the the story of Shelomo HaMelech, the wisest of the wise. RaMBaM states (Commandment #365) that "And because their reasons (of these commandments) were known, they were undermined, as is well known from what is stated of Shelomo HaMelech, may peace be upon him, in this regard (Sanhedrin 21b), notwithstanding the greatness of his knowledge and wisdom and his being "beloved of the Lord" (II Shmuel 12:25). They saw in this a "message" to men: that if they knew all the reasons for all the commandments they would find some way to "get around them." For even the most perfect of men erred in this and could not see his acts in any way leading to transgression. How much more so, the common run of men, with their small minds - how much more so would they come to cheapen the commandments by saying:He forbade this and commanded this because of such and such. We will be heedful of the object of the Mitzvah, but we need not be heedful of the mitzvah itself", and they would come to undermine the faith..." In light of this, think of all the situations such as, "we don't do mai machronim because there is no longer Sodom salt", or "we can now do business with idolaters because...". In fact, the RaMbaM's description of this commandment seems like a major blow to the baalei tosafot!

There is no greater good than to follow God's directions, which include following the Beit Din HaGadol's directions. Of course, as many of you know, Yosef Karo's rulings were much closer to Hhazal and the RaMBaM's than today's leaders are to Yosef Karo's. However, I am under the impression that the few "concessions" he made for the "good of the community" and the places in which he ruled according to communal custom rather than the authoritative opinions of his predecessors (via forms of interpretation or other) rendered this approach more mainstream than it had been previously. Now we have to come to the point where certain "halakhik authorities" actually forbid keeping some mitsvot that contradict European customs (for ex: certain authorities forbade the observance of agricultural laws when the European Jews first immigrated to Eretz Yisroel). Of course, one should never imagine that keeping a stringency gives us the right to sin elsewhere. It is clear that according to the RaMBaM, God does not care for stringencies (humrot).

Whatever the reason is, and whatever the method, to turn our backs on the plain and simple meaning of the Commandments is to reject God's kindness. Interpretation is for the Sanhedrin and the Sanhedrin only, and even they have certain rules they must follow when doing so. As we saw in last weeks parasha, the blessing is to listen to God. But, if you do not listen then there will be a curse. The wording does not say that IF you listen you will be blessed, but rather that listening is the blessing in of itself!!

I had only intended to make a few points but, as I often do, got carried away. As I did not prepare, this may be muddled and I look forward to clarifying points which are unclear and discussing the ideas/concepts mentioned...

Shalom Shalom we"Hodesh Tov!!

Rosh hHodesh Elul weSelihoth

Mossae Shabbath this week marks the onset of Rosh Hodesh Elul. According to Haham Yaakob Huli in the Me'am Loez, Rosh Hodesh Elul is the day that Mosheh Rabbenu descended from Har Sion with the (original) luhoth ha-ebonim, only to find Bene Israel engaged in habodah zara - worshipping God through the golden effigy of a calf. In his wrath, Mosheh Rabbenu shattered the luhoth, only to ascend Har Sion to receive them a second time (these he would carve himself). He would not be seen again for forty days, on Yom ha-Kippurim. Because of this, our brethren of the Eastern Sephardic communities will begin the recitation of selihoth in the wee hours of the morning, before shahrith, starting on the second day of Elul.

Our tradition is different.. From the second of Elul until the eight of Tishri, we will recite selihoth at night, between the conclusion of the amidah of arbith and kaddish tithkabbal. It is only ereb Rosasanah and ereb Kippur that we recite the lenthy selihot. Like our cousins, the Ashkenazim, we will also recite selihoth in the mornings between Rosasanah and Kippur, although in a slightly
abbreviated manner.

Buenas entradas de la Saba!
Greggory DuBois d'Holliday Horn, que llamado ha-Gebir Shemaryahu Israel b.
Abraham