Q&A: We Do Not Multiply Disputes Unnecessarily
We Do Not Multiply Disputes Unnecessarily
Question
Hello Michael,
Question:
I do not know whether anyone disagrees with the rule, “we do not multiply dispute[s] unnecessarily”;
but in the Babylonian Talmud there is only “we do not multiply impurity unnecessarily,” and in the Jerusalem Talmud not even that.
This rule is a very reasonable one in halakhic ruling.
It also fits with Maimonides’ rule that there is no dispute in a tradition.
But in the Talmudic passages, if I am not mistaken, they almost always go in the opposite direction: they assume that the dispute is at the Torah level [if the topic is a Torah-level one], and they do not answer, “this one is Torah-level, that one is rabbinic.”
Am I mistaken?
Regards,
Answer
Hello.
First, “we do not multiply disputes unnecessarily” does not mean that there is no dispute, but rather that we minimize it as much as possible.
This rule is logical, not Talmudic. The assumption is that if there is one reasonable opinion, then it is more likely that another reasonable opinion will be close to it rather than far from it, and therefore the interpretation that brings them closer is preferred. So, for example, we do not assume that between two Tannaim there are two separate disputes if it is possible to explain the disagreement through only one principle.
Maimonides’ rule that there is no dispute regarding a law given to Moses at Sinai and matters that come by tradition is of course problematic (as is well known, the Havot Ya'ir discussed this at length in siman 192), but I do not see the connection to our case. Maimonides says that there is no dispute, not that the dispute is limited.
One last note regarding your final remark about the answer “this one is Torah-level and that one is rabbinic.” In chapter Tolin regarding the “golden city” ornament, three Tannaim disagree, and there we find in the Gemara that the dispute is not from one extreme to the other; that is, if one obligates a sin-offering, the second does not permit it entirely but only forbids it rabbinically. That is basically an application of the rule that we do not multiply disputes unnecessarily.