Halachic expertise
I asked in the context of a lesson from the Derech Ha-Halacha series that you taught at the Hesder Yeshiva in Yerucham in the past.
There you said in the ‘Halakhic Expertise’ class that there is no halakhic authority in factual areas and you gave as an example that it is impossible to rule that oranges are dangerous (and that they are forbidden to be eaten?) because there is no halakhic authority in factual areas.
The halakha also applies in these areas, such as wearing a shirt inside out is forbidden due to forgetfulness, “getting used to olives,” sleeping under your clothes as a pillow, and more.
In other contexts, the Gemara states, to the best of my recollection, that it is forbidden to eat an apple that has been overturned overnight due to danger (is this a Halacha statement?) and therefore it is forbidden.
I expand on this in the third book in my trilogy.
All the legal rulings you cited, even if they have a factual dimension, really have no authority regarding them. If it is scientifically proven that they are incorrect, the legal ruling based on them is null and void as a Kafra Dara’.
Good evening!
And what about the words of the Gra, that the annulment of the custom did not annul the reason, because every law had other hidden reasons?
I have explained more than once that this claim seems patently unreasonable for many reasons. First, why invent such a thing? Second, even if we have doubts that there are hidden reasons, it is equally possible that there are no additional such reasons, and therefore doubt excludes certainty. It should be remembered that if the circumstances require a change in the law, then the truth is the different law, and therefore maintaining the previous law is a deviation from the halakha, and whoever claims that this should be done has the burden of proof.
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