[Avodah] Chalav (was Polygamy)

[Zev Sero]

Micha Berger wrote:
> I just sent:
> : Gezeiros based on mistakes still stand. Their authority is not about
> : correctness, but of the legislative power of Sanhedrin.
> 
> Since the post to which I replied was posted, the subject of chalav
> yisrael butter came up. The same question: pesaq vs gezeirah with
> included explanation, unexplained gezeira, arises here too. For that
> matter, permitting chalav hacompanies requires believing it was one of
> the first two categories, and thus the gezeira wouldn't apply to USDA
> milk.

Not so.  As RMF explains it, the gezeira is in full force, and doesn't
depend on a high likelihood of actual adulteration.  In fact, it assumes
that the likelihood is *not* high, or there would be no need for a
gezeira, because it would be safek de'oraita.  Only when there's no
safek de'oraita, and without a gezeira we could drink the milk, did
Chazal legislate that we couldn't without "yisrael ro'ehu".  And since
this is a gezeira that rests on Chazal's legislative authority, its
terms should be interpreted strictly, so it only applies where they
said it did, and we shouldn't extend it to other circumstances misvara.

RMF's heter depends on two chidushim: 1. The gezera takes effect
only when the milk first passes into Jewish hands.  2. The laws
against adulteration, combined the realities of large-scale
production and the negligible magnitude of the profits that could
be made by adulterating the milk, add up to a certainty that
actually constitutes "yisrael ro'ehu".

To RMF, milk from USAn dairy companies *is* chalav yisrael.  It
isn't exempt from the gezeira, it fulfils it.  He doesn't explain
why, in that case, one should be mehader not to drink it, but it
seems to me that the reason is a recognition that these two points
are chidushim, and a reluctance to rely on them if one doesn't
have to.

As for the extent to which RMF held one must be mehader to get
"real" CY, it's not specified in the teshuvot, but one of his
sons (I forget which one) has said that the limit was $100 a year
(presumably in the dollars of whichever year the son heard this,
which I don't know).  If the difference in price is greater than
this amount then RMF held that one need not be mehader.  And this
applies only to milk and other dairy products, but not to cheese;
with cheese RMF held that one must be mehader to get "real" CY
only if the price is identical, but if the "real" CY is even a
little bit more expensive there's no need to get it, because in
addition to the other heterim one can be metzaref the shita of
Rabbenu Tam that cheese is like butter, and doesn't have to be CY.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas