Q&A: Thought
Thought
Question
“The Rabbis taught: For two and a half years, Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed. These said: It would have been better for a person not to have been created than to have been created, and those said: It is better for a person to have been created than not to have been created. They took a vote and concluded: It would have been better for a person not to have been created than to have been created. Now that he has been created, let him examine his deeds.”
It seems that they issue halakhic rulings even on matters of thought.
How can you command someone to think something?
Answer
Who said they issued a halakhic ruling? Beit Hillel agreed with Beit Shammai. Did someone say that this obligates me or you?
Discussion on Answer
I don’t know. True, it doesn’t obligate me. And therefore I also tend to interpret “they took a vote and concluded” as metaphorical language. The intent is that they all agreed.
You could also ask the same question about Maimonides (and others), who states in several places that there is no binding halakhic ruling on matters that have no practical application (aggadic matters, etc.).
It sounds from the Talmud that they ruled here the way they do in any halakhic matter, by majority vote.
“They took a vote and concluded”—they counted the majority and issued a ruling…
Doesn’t the Talmud at least imply that they understood this to be binding? (It may be that you don’t see it as binding on you, but still, what does the Talmud seem to imply?)