Q&A: A Doubtful Positive Commandment Does Not Override a Doubtful Prohibition
A Doubtful Positive Commandment Does Not Override a Doubtful Prohibition
Question
Tosafot in Rosh Hashanah 33a prove from the case of someone who is unsure whether he recited “Emet VeYatziv” or did not recite it, that he goes back and recites it, and we are not concerned about an unnecessary blessing, because an unnecessary blessing is only a rabbinic prohibition. Why can’t we say that in fact an unnecessary blessing is prohibited on the Torah level, but just as a positive commandment overrides a prohibition, so too a doubtful positive commandment should override a doubtful prohibition?
Thank you
Answer
It is not at all clear that a doubtful positive commandment overrides a doubtful prohibition. The Sdei Chemed discusses this at length and writes that it is a dispute. But of course there are opinions among the medieval authorities that an unnecessary blessing is prohibited on the Torah level. It is also possible that here there is both a positive commandment and a prohibition, and that is not overridden in the face of a positive commandment.