Q&A: Cancelling a Rabbinic Enactment on the Sabbath
Cancelling a Rabbinic Enactment on the Sabbath
Question
Hello Rabbi Michael Abraham. With your permission, 2 questions:
1. When you wrote in your article about changing rabbinic enactments, you spoke about enactments that cause harm because they become "a mockery and a joke"—but in whose eyes does this become laughable and ridiculous? In the eyes of people who do not see themselves as obligated to keep Jewish law, or people who are not part of the covenant between the Jewish people and the Holy One, blessed be He?
2. In order for us to cancel the rabbinic enactment prohibiting clapping and drumming on the Sabbath, could it also be cancelled today even without a religious court in our times because it can lead to mockery and absurdity? (It sounds strange to say that we forbid this only because it might lead us to repair musical instruments.) The reason for the enactment is formulated in the enactment itself, which further strengthens the possibility of cancelling the enactment.
Thank you in advance.
Answer
Hello Shlomo.
- I wrote in my remarks that desecration of God's name is also vis-à-vis someone who is indeed obligated by Jewish law (like me). I responded to this in the talkbacks on the post itself (why didn’t you write your comments there?)
- Definitely. And we can plainly see that many halakhic decisors have indeed cancelled this. This is a clear example of changing enactments contrary to the rules. In my article I noted that there are halakhic decisors who wrote that when the reason for the enactment is mentioned in the enactment, it becomes null when circumstances change (“one may not read by candlelight lest he tilt it”). This is mentioned by Shlomo Zevin Tzipansky in Enactments in Israel, at the beginning of volume 1.
The Rabbi asked Shlomo why he didn’t write his comment as a talkback on the post itself.
I wanted to let the Rabbi know that there are certain Haredi internet filters that allow access to your site (apparently by mistake…), and even allow writing questions, but do not allow posting comments.
It may be that this was Shlomo’s problem.
In the past I used such a filter; recently I’ve been using the services of another company.
“Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hand…”