Q&A: Is It in Heaven?
Is It in Heaven?
Question
We find that Jewish law was decided based on a heavenly voice: “For three years Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed. These said, ‘The law follows us,’ and those said, ‘The law follows us.’ A heavenly voice went forth and said: ‘These and those are both the words of the living God, but the law follows Beit Hillel’” (Eruvin 13b).
And this is difficult, because in Bava Metzia (59), when a heavenly voice came forth and said that the law follows Rabbi Eliezer everywhere, they paid no attention to it, because of the claim that “it is not in heaven.”
So what is the bottom line? Do we follow a heavenly voice or not?
Answer
Tosafot there asks this and offers several answers. In my view, the correct answer is none of them. I explained here in the past that it was impossible to decide the dispute according to the ordinary rules of Jewish law, because Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai disagreed over the question of what majority is determinative (a majority in wisdom, or a majority in numbers), and therefore a vote would not have helped. In such a situation, one does resort to a heavenly voice. The rule that we do not follow a heavenly voice applies only where we have some way to decide according to the rules of Jewish law.