[Avodah] Chazal are Infallible

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, September 26, 2006 2:24 am, R Marty Bluke wrote:
: R' Micha Berger wrote:
:> In vol 13, RJSO quoted Tosafos haRosh, who makes the argument about the
:> shiur of pi rather than pi itself....

: I wonder how the Tosafos Harosh would read the Gemara in bava Basra 14a-14b
: which discusses the size of the aron and how the luchos and the sefer torah
: fit in. The Gemara seems pretty clear that the measurements are exact,
: otherwise the question doesn't even begin.

I do not think the ThR intended a general rule, that historical discussion of
sizes should be taken as really a discussion of shiurim. Rather, that in this
one case, it makes more sense to assume (even if somewhat bedochaq) that this
is about shiurim, not historical precision. That the alternative, that
Chazal's discussion presumes an inferior value for pi than was known for
nearly a millenium before the mishnah, is more dachuq.

Tir'eh beTov and GCT!
-mi
http://www.aishdas.org/asp