tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314914268727443114.post1902760261123015657..comments2023-10-31T12:43:06.690-04:00Comments on NishmaBlog: Defining Acceptable Halachic AutonomyNishmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04237299801109329429noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314914268727443114.post-28311887684725342052010-06-29T23:02:54.128-04:002010-06-29T23:02:54.128-04:00" religion’s job isn’t to resolve life’s stru..." religion’s job isn’t to resolve life’s struggles, but to give us a meaningful way to grapple with them. Whether we’re talking about our perspective on life, or about pesaq halakhah."<br /><br />I see Micha as on target. <br />Torah is a tool for a better life<br />Talmud and Codes are tools for better Halachah<br /><br />I believe there is a supernal Torah that is immutable, but that the one given to us is only a reflection of that Torah. Our goal is to struggle with it as best as we can.<br /><br />A rabbi might ask himself " what would Hashem do? But the decision is down to eareth - lo bashamayim hee.<br /><br />Shalom<br />RRWRabbi R Wolpoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17363979745921237363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314914268727443114.post-5561331034611771292010-06-28T18:18:35.509-04:002010-06-28T18:18:35.509-04:00Here's a repeat of what I recently commented o...Here's a repeat of what I recently commented on the RCA's blog, R' Gidon Rothstein's <a href="http://text.rcarabbis.org/?p=923" rel="nofollow">response to the same essay</a>:<br /><br />I think there is a major failing in not clearly distinguishing between codification and the need for codification. When we say that Rebbe’s decision to codify the mishnah was an instance of overturning a specific law for the sake of the whole, we’re clearly saying the situation was a step down. BUT, that doesn’t mean that codifying — whether the Mesrashei Halakhah, the Bishnah, the Tosefta, the Talmuds, the Beha”g, the Rif, the Rambam, the Tur, the Shulchan Arukh, the Levush, the Rama, the Shulchan Arukh haRav, the Chayei Adam, the Qitzur, the Arukh haShulchan, the Mishnah Berurah, the Ben Ish Hai, etc, etc, etc.. were themselves a bad idea. It is sad when we reach an impasse that requires a new round of codification. But when we do need it, producing a code is the right response.<br /><br />The formula the Rambam uses to describe the what gave the Talmud Bavli its binding nature is that it was accepted by “all of Israel”. Not in every one of its rulings, but as the point of origin for further study. And today, across the gamut, semichah studies center around the Shulchan Arukh (with the exception of Bal’adi Teimanim who center their pisqa on the Rambam). The same concept which gives the gemara the authority R’ Angel attributes to it gives the Shulchan Arukh its authority.<br /><br />I also find an interesting point of commonality between the two positions. R’ Marc Angel questions the binding nature of evolution to halakhah since the gemara. R’ Gidon Rothstein questions the significance of the evolution of aggadita since the rishonim. Both are therefore<br />calling for some sort of roll back to an earlier state that was more to their likely.<br /><br />All this said, I am afraid that R’ Angel, by going further than most of his audience would be willing to, loses that audience with respect to the primary problem. Orthodox Jews today are under the impression that the job of religion is to provide answers; and moreso, easy-to-understand answers that can resolve life’s dilemmas in one sitting — all tied up with a nice bow.<br /><br />In reality, life’s problems are hard. Let me give a story from personal experience. Someone close to me is a baalas teshuvah. The only one in her family in a few generations to embrace observance. And she, like most baalei teshuvah, was presented a worldview in which, if you just believe enough, the only airplane one would miss is the one that was going to crash. (Many of you are familiar with this genre of story that I’m trying to portray.) But she, alone among all her siblings and cousins, went through the crashing pain of losing a daughter. So, where is the “better life” the kiruv professionals led her to expect? Life is not simple, and we do ourselves a disservice pretending it is.<br /><br />Religion’s job isn’t to resolve life’s struggles, but to give us a meaningful way to grapple with them. Whether we’re talking about our perspective on life, or about pesaq halakhah.<br /><br />Quick and cut-and-dry one-size-fits-all rulings isn’t how halakhah is supposed to work. While I’m arguing that a ruling that “all of Israel” accepts is binding, we have gone well beyond that with the current proliferation of English halachic guides. There is a feel to the give-and-take of halakhah, to its responses to the costs to the individual, to their personal talents and emotional proclivities, where they stand spiritually and how they view life, that one really not only needs a human halachic decisor, but preferably one who knows the asker and can help them coordinate a spiritual journey through life.<br /><br />-michamicha bergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11612144735431285113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314914268727443114.post-58632750584420315122010-06-24T23:36:07.403-04:002010-06-24T23:36:07.403-04:00Garnel has hit the nail on the head
in a similar ...Garnel has hit the nail on the head<br /><br />in a similar Fashion, I have warned radical anti-Traditionalists that by rejected their predecessors, they are thereby generating their OWN Rejection future rejection - which seems to parallel the case of generating autonomy...<br /><br />RRWRabbi R Wolpoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17363979745921237363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314914268727443114.post-22029622650851402082010-06-24T17:24:41.381-04:002010-06-24T17:24:41.381-04:00I've read the article and it's very nice.
...I've read the article and it's very nice.<br />There are two reasons why nothing ever comes from these kinds of essays.<br />1) Encouraging a person to be autonomous ruins your chance of building a following. After all, by expecting autonomy you're telling people not to follow you.<br />2) Great, he's got some ideas. Is he building a movement? A yeshiva that will teach Torah in this fashion? An outreach program? No, what's the point? He remains a voice in the wilderness that can be safely ignored by the authorities doing all those things.Garnel Ironheartnoreply@blogger.com