Q&A: Learning a Novel Law for the Entire Torah
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Learning a Novel Law for the Entire Torah
Question
Hello Rabbi. When the Torah introduces a novel law in a certain area, when do we derive from it to the rest of the Torah, and when do we say that if the Torah stated this specifically in this law, then we infer that throughout the rest of the Torah it is not so?
Thank you
Answer
I wrote about this at the beginning of my lectures on Yevamot. Briefly, I think that if the law is novel, then you have in it only its own novelty. But if it is intuitive, then we build from it a general principle.
Discussion on Answer
That would be if the reasoning were strong enough that I would rule that way even without a verse. I wrote “intuitive” in the sense of something understandable after it was introduced as a novel point.
Why not say the opposite—that if it is intuitive, then I would have understood it on my own, so if the Torah wrote it, it meant to limit it to a specific area?