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| Halakha: Truth or Convention? |
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| Wednesday, 09 March 2011 16:26 | ||||||
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Questions:
1) May I ask someone who does not follow my chumrot on Shabath to do something for me which I cannot because of the chumrot on Shabath? Why? 2) If I consider that a specific Eiruv is not valid (halakha, not a chumra) but a different Jew considers it to be valid, May I ask them to carry for me on Shabath? Why? Answer: 1. Your two questions are really one, viz. a general inquiry: What is Halakha? What is a humra? Or put another way: What is the relationship between objective truth and Halakha? 2. Humra is understood by some to be the adoption of an Halakhic position that is more stringent than that practiced by most people. In other words: what most Jews do is the Halakha, whereas a humra is a private stringency. It follows that one may ask another Jew to do something which one chooses not to do; you are simply asking him to follow Halakha. 3. This understanding is relativistic; it ignores the issue of which position is correct. It may be that the position most people follow is demonstrably true and one's humra is unnecessary. The reverse is also possible: the practice of most people is based on a position which can be shown to be incorrect, and one's ‘humra' is not a humra at all. Many, many years of in-depth study of Talmudic texts and the commentaries of the Rishonim (the medieval commentators and decisors) are a prerequisite for being able to express an intelligent opinion in a given case. 4. Some people practice a certain humra even though they admit that it is unnecessary, i.e. that the Halakha is not so. Regarding such cases I would ask: why? If it is clear that the accepted position is mistaken, it should not be dignified with the term ‘Halakha', and in such a case the ‘humra' may well be the correct position. If the humra is adopted simply because it is the most stringent opinion rather than because it seems to be the most correct, again: why? Some would answer that it is proper to act in accordance with all opinions. The facts are, however, that Hazal did not function in this manner, nor did the Rishonim, as any serious student of Tora Sheba'al Pe knows. 5. Some people seem to believe that texts can be made to mean anything and therefore prove nothing. They claim that an opinion can be relied upon merely because it exists. Such a position divorces the Tora from truth and renders Halakha a societal convention. This is postmodernism at its worst. 6. A truer definition of humra is this: a more stringent position adopted due to an inability to arrive at a conclusion based on available sources and knowledge. Hazal instruct us (TB ‘Avodha Zara 7a) to adopt the stringent position regarding a matter which involves a possible Tora prohibition (איסור מן התורה) and to adopt the lenient position regarding a matter which involves a possible Rabbinic prohibition (איסור מדברי סופרים). Rambam explains that this refers to a case where one cannot ascertain which is the correct opinion (הל' ממרים סוף פרק א). Where it is possible to do so, explains Rambam elsewhere, we are to follow the opinion which, based on reasoned analysis, seems to best fit the Talmudic sources (הקדמה למשנה תורה אות לג). All the Rishonim thought and acted in this manner. I would add that although in certain cases more than one opinion may seem reasonable and it is thus difficult to argue that a particular view is the correct one, the fact is that in the vast majority of cases this is not so. 7. Resolving to follow the opinion of a particular decisor (פוסק) in all cases - whether it be Rambam, Beth Yoseph, Rama, Gra, Mishna Brura or Ben Ish Hai - is appropriate for someone who is unable to decide for himself, i.e. the average Jew, and can be viewed as being in line with the words of the Mishna עשה לך רב ("Choose for yourself a teacher" - Avoth 1:15). It is completely inappropriate for a Hakham who is capable of studying the primary sources and arriving at the truth - see the Haqdama of R. Hayim of Volozhin to Be'ur HaGra and the Haqdama of MaHarShal to Yam Shel Sh'lomo. 8. To return to your questions: If a person who is capable of studying the sources arrives at a definite conclusion, then that, by definition, is the Halakha. How could one then ask another Jew to do something which one knows to be wrong? This applies to all areas of Halakah, including ‘Eruvin; if one is convinced the ‘eruv is pasul, it follows that there is no ‘eruv. Rabbi David Bar-Hayim
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| Last Updated on Friday, 11 March 2011 16:35 |
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Comments
Hidur Misswa, nedher and humra are distinct concepts.
In the case you describe - where the person really has no idea which opinion is correct - one may ask another person to do something which is mutar according to his rav/halakhic authority, with the following proviso: that the other person consistently and diligently follows the rulings of his rav/halakhic authority in all matters. In that case, that rav is his rav muvhaq, and he may follow his rav muvhaq in all areas of halakha, even if it means being lenient regarding something which is min haTora. So writes the Hazon Ish.
No; it is hard to imagine that even a gifted student, having completed a yeshiva high school education, will be in a position to reach his own Halakhic conclusions.
However, if said student is indeed gifted, had the benefit of the right teachers and is motivated, and - this is the big if - if in post high-school yeshiva he was instructed in the path of true Tora learning, from the Talmud via the Rishonim to the Halakha, then he is on the right track, and with HASHEM's help he may well get there.
Practically, this almost never happens because yeshivoth are not designed to produce such people. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they are, in truth, designed to prevent this from happening.
An insightful person once said to me that Rashe Yeshiva don't really like talmidhim who think too much.
I speak from personal experience. In my second year of yeshiva I stopped going to the gemara shiur. My Ram wanted to know why. I explained that studying Tora sheBaal Pe meant learning to derive the Halakha from the primary sources, and I wasn't being taught to do that. I spoke to many Rabanim; they all discouraged me. They told me that what I proposed doing was not the way to become a talmid hakham.
I would not be deterred, and chose not to listen to them. I sat down with a Masekheth and started learning Tora properly. It was the best decision I ever made.
In later years I met important rabanim who felt the same way.
If you wish to truly study Tora, you need to accept that the standard yeshiva path is simply wrong. Many G'dhole Yisrael have stated this: Maharal of Prague, Gra, Rav Kook, Hazon Ish, to name a few.
If a person chooses the correct path and persists, HASHEM will lead him to Truth.
Would it be equally inappropriate in that instance to ask the friend to follow his own posek by doing the thing your posek prohibits?
"Many, many years of in-depth study of Talmudic texts and the commentaries of the Rishonim (the medieval commentators and decisors) are a prerequisite for being able to express an intelligent opinion in a given case. "
And then in the end you wrote:
" It is completely inappropriate for a Hakham who is capable of studying the primary sources and arriving at the truth -"
Can you please clarify this. Is an elementary - highschool yeshivah education enough for someone to be required to come to their own conclusions? Allowed to come to their own conclusions?
How about 1 year in yeshiva, or 2 after highschool.
Lastly, what about being educated on a topic by a person who themselves collected what they believe were all the relevant sources?
Thank you.
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