[Avodah] FW: chemotherapy

[Micha Berger]

On Sat, Jan 19, 2008 at 09:51:19PM -0500, Richard Wolpoe wrote:
: On Jan 10, 2008 1:19 PM, Michael Makovi <mikewinddale at gmail.com> wrote:
: > What you say sounds reasonable. Indeed, I haven't ever seen an
: > Orthodox author claim that we can go against the Mishna and Talmud.

: If the Gaonim are considered orthodox then they "went against" Mishna and
: Talmud in many places.

Do geonim go against a clear masqanah of the gemara?

I agree that the answer is yes, where they hold like a position supported
by some other amorah (that happens to coincide with some other halachic
factor; eg puq chazi). However, that's the domain in question.

This:
: They even were mevateil entire realms of the talmud [e.g. medical] as
: non-operative.

is tangential. The implied domain is pesaq halakhah.

So, sticking to the topic:
: Tosafos says the Mishna in Beitza re: Dancing/Slapping/Clapping is not
: operative in our society [see IM cited below for an explanation of this]

I gave cases of how halakhah can appear to change without violating the
rules of precedent. My conclusions from our earlier discussion of this
point are at <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2007/11/halachic-change.shtml>.

"Not operative in our society" could well be "1a- The realia change in
some subtle but relevent way".

IOW, it's arguable that this case, or that of not washing mayim acharonim
in a society where people don't use melach sedomis, aren't "goint against
the mishnah and talmud". Rather, the cases only look similar, but as
norms change, the new din is really being applied to a new case.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A wise man is careful during the Purim banquet
micha at aishdas.org        about things most people don't watch even on
http://www.aishdas.org   Yom Kippur.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rabbi Israel Salanter