Q&A: The Oven of Akhnai
The Oven of Akhnai
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi, I’m currently learning the passage of the Oven of Akhnai. Would it be correct to say that the message of the story is that the majority opinion of the sages is what determines the ruling, even though it is not necessarily correct {divine truth}, and that this is simply a tool that enables us to maintain a properly ordered society in an orderly way?
Answer
Usually the majority is also an indicator of truth. But in addition, the majority also decides for the sake of order and peace. See Sefer HaChinukh on the commandment, “to incline after the majority.”
But the message of the story is that one should pay attention to nothing other than our own reasoning and the rules of Jewish law. Regardless of the majority and regardless of truth.
I can’t resist, since you asked what the lesson of the passage is, here’s a wonderful bit by a fellow named Noam Frimer:
They asked me at some synagogue here to speak on Shavuot night. I said, with pleasure, I’ll speak about the law of migo in a case of two against two. They said, maybe something a little lighter. I said, happily, I’ll make a fundamental comment on the matter of a single witness being believed regarding a lost item. They said, look, people want to hear something that speaks to the heart. I said, excellent—what speaks to the heart more than a discussion of the relation between a double doubt of the same type and a double doubt that cannot be reversed? They said, listen, that’s not exactly our direction, maybe we’ll pass. How about the Oven of Akhnai? I suggested. They lit up. That’s exactly the style we were looking for. Great, excellent. We set it up. So I’m excited to invite the public: at 1:30, at Ahavat Torah synagogue on Eliezer HaGadol Street, we’ll discuss the question of whether an earthenware oven that was cut into segments and reattached using sand or clay placed between the segments is considered a complete oven that can contract ritual impurity, or like a broken vessel or an earthen vessel that cannot contract ritual impurity and remains pure. Come—it’ll be interesting.