Q&A: 'Celebrating' for Two Days
'Celebrating' for Two Days
Question
Hello, and have a good week!
I wanted to ask: as someone who lives abroad, and finds it difficult to celebrate two days of the Seder night, is it possible, practically and theoretically, to cancel the “celebration” of the second day?
And if not—why not? Because of the stability of Jewish law, or because there are “hidden reasons” (what does that even mean)?
Thank you!
Answer
I’m not inclined to accept the hidden-reasons thesis. It’s a baseless and illogical claim that comes to defend a conservative position in a way that can’t be refuted, while neutralizing common sense and considerations of reason.
Still, in order to change an enactment, even if its rationale has lapsed, you still need a religious court (“a matter enacted by formal count requires another formal count to permit it”). That’s probably what you called “the stability of Jewish law.”
On the principled level, I am completely in favor. The second festival day is a law with no rationale and no logic nowadays, and if I had the power, I would abolish it. But it’s hard to do that without at least a minimal consensus.
Discussion on Answer
Definitely not. There are various ways to change Jewish laws, including ones that were established by formal count. But a reasonable consensus is required (even if not a complete one) among the halakhic decisors of our generation.
See, for example, Rabbi Yoav Sternberg’s article in Tzohar 24:
יש ללחוץ כדי לגשת אל zhr%2024%2010.pdf
I’ll just note that I don’t identify at all with his assumption that a uniform halakhic ruling is required.
If only this rule would already be abolished. From experience I can say that it causes a great deal of desecration of God’s name and makes Jewish law look bound and irrelevant. I don’t understand how rabbis don’t give this proper attention.
They do, but in their opinion there is no permission to abolish it. As I said, in my view there is room for such an abolition.
How can the second festival day be abolished? After all, it is a decree, and according to Maimonides it can be abolished only through a religious court greater in wisdom and number, no?!
I’ll lay it out in detail in the third book of my trilogy.
Here are the main points:
Thank you for the honest answer!
If you can explain what exactly “minimal consensus” means—do you need a court of seventy that represents the whole population?