Q&A: Learning from Experience
Learning from Experience
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In today’s lesson, the Rabbi suggested an explanation of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s view in Yevamot, according to which a presumption is established only after 3 times and not 2, as Rabbi holds, because what is needed is a common explanation for all the cases that is significantly stronger / more plausible than the assumption that this is just coincidence (and not merely somewhat stronger, as Rabbi holds). My question is: how would we explain, according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, the hermeneutical principles? Why shouldn’t we derive a kal va-chomer or a common-denominator derivation from three verses, in order to make sure that the parameter is in fact strong enough? Does Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel hold that the hermeneutical principles are a separate category, where a lower level of certainty is sufficient?
Answer
I said in the lesson that the requirement of three times is because we want to change an established presumption. There is a reason to remain with the existing thesis. By contrast, in cases where we are only comparing between two possibilities, we choose the preferable one, even if its advantage is only slight.
Of course, one can always say that in the case of a common-denominator derivation, this is a hermeneutical principle that we received from Sinai, and therefore the Torah was written from the outset with that in mind—that any two examples can serve as a basis for derivation. A three-time presumption, by contrast, is formed on the basis of observations of reality, not by interpretation of Scripture.