Wolpoe's First Law of Oral Law [TSBP]
"We often know the WHAT without knowing the WHY"We have a great illustration in TB M'gillah 18a using the Artscroll Schottenstein edition...
Rephrasing -
Q: Given that Anshei K'nesset haGdolah [AKHG] instituted. the 18 blessings - so what did Shimon Hapakuli arrange?
Literally -
A1: The Brachot had been forgotten and he restored. them
A2 as per Artscroll: The sequence Of The Brachot had been forgotten and he restored it [viz. The SEQUENCE.]
A3 as per Schottenstein fn 12 quoting Ben Yehoyada: The REASON(s) FOR THE SEQUENCE Of The Brachot had been forgotten and he restored them [the REASON(s)]
This last understanding is mamash Wolpoe's Law #1. Practice, Mimetics, and Minhag survives the loss of the underlying rationale, [often due to upheavals, persecutions and migrations] and it is our task to restore THAT rationale.
Shalom,
RRW
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