«1] He is quite brilliant andQuestion:
2] He is quite controversial.
Rabbi Bar Chaim is a talmid of Rav Yoseph Kapach zatzal, the Yemenite Maimonidean scholar.»
Is Controversy at all unusual for brilliant "Gaonim"?
EG:
R Saadyah Gaon
Rambam
Rabbenu Tam
Arizal
Ramchal
Vilna Gaon
BeSh"T
Baal Hatanya
R Nosson Adler of FFDM
Rabbiner Hirsch
R AY Kook
RMM Schneersohn Lubavicher Rebbe
R Yoel Teitlebaum Satmar Rebbe
R YD Soloveichik
R Yisroel Chait [Far Rockaway]
Etc.
Many, Many "original" thinkers are controversial. Begs the question: WHY?
Best Regards,
RRW
1 comment:
RDBC isn't necessarily on that list. His innovations don't come from his intellect (not that I'm doubting the man's genious), they come from his total disregard of the halachic authority of precedent. And so, he can conclude that upon return to Eretz Yisrael, the Jewish People should ignore 1600 years of the evolution of nusach, and use his reconstruction of Nusach EY based on snippets in the Cairo Geniza and whatever quotes and references we have in the Yerushalmi. (Never mind relying on his choice among conflicting nusachos found in Cairo.) All of Israel, from Yemeni Dardaim (including R el-Qafeh ["Kapach"]) to Yekkes daven descendents of Rav Amram Gaon's seder, and that has no halachic weight in his mind.
All those thinkers faced opposition by those who felt they represented a revolution or reformation rather than evolutionary change. RDBH uniquely actively states that that is indeed what he's trying to do. The question is whether the return to Zion legitimizes it.
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