Q&A: Questions Regarding the Lesson on Torah Study
Questions Regarding the Lesson on Torah Study
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In the second-to-last lesson on Torah study, a few questions came to mind that I wanted to ask you:
1) Regarding the determination by ignoramuses of who the leading sages of the generation are—if that determination is correct, does it have any halakhic validity or any halakhic practical implication?
2) Regarding doubt in some legal ruling in a Brisk-style analysis (even in rabbinic law), why is one required to be stringent, and why don’t we say that in a rabbinic-level doubt one may be lenient?
3) Why did the rabbi of Brisk ask Rabbi Spektor not to mention his reasoning regarding halakhic questions? After all, it is clear that he had some reasoning, which the rabbi of Brisk could have refuted—so what is the point of burying one’s head in the sand about it?
Answer
Hello Oren.
- It has no validity and no practical implication.
- I didn’t understand.
- He thought that he had a sound halakhic intuition, even if the reasoning was open to debate. For example, a person might think that an alternative healer has a good intuition about what should be done, without accepting his theoretical explanations for it (which are usually complete nonsense). That’s only an example, because usually their method of healing is also nonsense.
Discussion on Answer
In a legal doubt, and especially in a dispute among major authorities, some recommend being stringent because here there is no clear right and wrong—”these and those are both the words of the living God.” In any case, the halakhic rule is that one may be lenient, but someone who wants to satisfy all positions will of course be stringent.
Regarding 2, I meant what you said in the lesson: that sometimes in a Brisk-style analysis one can build an impressive halakhic construct according to each position, and therefore it is hard to decide. But seemingly, why don’t the Briskers decide according to the rule that in a rabbinic-level doubt one may be lenient, and in a Torah-level doubt one must be stringent? (Even in a legal doubt.)