Q&A: Halakhic Truth
Halakhic Truth
Question
Shalom and blessings, Rabbi Michi,
Please excuse the English, and feel free to reply in Hebrew.
Regarding the last shiur, are you saying that
a) there is an absolute divine truth. So when God said: do not do labor, He had in mind a certain set of primary categories of labor; it may be 39, or we may have it wrong, it may be 101, but there is an absolute set of prohibitions. The Sages tried to discover, through the interpretive tools at their disposal, the list of prohibitions and eventually codify them. That became Jewish law.
or
b) when God said: do not do labor, He meant: the Sabbath should be a day of rest. I don’t have too much in mind (!), okay, don’t light fires…, so go and decide what seems right to you to keep that day special. Use the interpretive tools I have provided, and whatever you decide will become Jewish law; I grant you that authority.
Whether we follow a) or b), either way, we don’t know exactly what God intended, and what we observe may or may not be divine, but it has the divine stamp of authority.
Sabbath Shalom
Answer
Hello Anonymous,
I argue for a). According to b), it would follow that the Sages don’t really need to think or debate at all. Whatever they decide would, by definition, always be the halakhic truth. In contrast, according to my view (a), the Sages are trying to hit upon the Holy One, blessed be He’s halakhic truth—what He would want in our situation—and that is what the debates are about.
As I mentioned in the shiur, the phenomenon of “fear of issuing rulings” also makes no sense according to b). Likewise, I explained that this is the meaning of the story of the Oven of Akhnai, since a heavenly voice comes out from Heaven and says what the Holy One, blessed be He Himself thinks—that is, there is some sort of heavenly truth.
Discussion on Answer
Gladly.
Thank you very much for the clarification, Rabbi Michi,
I believe we are all very much brought up and stuck in the fundamentalist and conventional hollow-pipe mindset, which creates so many intellectual challenges (I became liberated from it some time ago—although now I face other issues!).
I believe your approach (a) is almost revolutionary. I accept much of what you say (I’m actually more liberal). However, I know you don’t agree, but to my mind it runs counter to all traditional thought.
Anyway, thanks again,
Sabbath Shalom