[Avodah] Some thoughts on Shemonah Perakim

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 06:29:48PM +0200, Michael Makovi wrote:
: wish for him to elaborate: (direct quotes)
: 1) "This goes to the core of my objection with this tendency among some
: in "Academic O" (as RYGB calls the subtype of MO) circles to consider
: halakhah a law with little or no motivational basis."
: 2) "This notion that it's primarily to be viewed as contract law is new,
: whether in its AO or "Rambamist" forms. Although the Rambam himself
: dedicates half of the Moreh cheileq 3 to an opposing viewpoint, it's
: clearly the stance of people like R' Chait."

Why does one observe mitzvos:

- To acheive sheleimus
- To acheive deveiqus
- Because Hashem said so, with no reason beyond that -- it's just the
   terms of the contract.
etc...

There is a tendency in some circles of O academics toward #3, not seeking
meaning or value in the enterprise of mitzvos. By which I mean beyond not
looking for taamei hamitzvos, not looking for a taam for observance in
general, on the level of the sample end-goals I listed above. Halachah
is contract law, and meaning is shelved. Typical of this trend is R'
Yeshayahu Leibowitz (who may have been the formulator).

There is, in parallel, a tendency in two circles of people who follow the
Yad as their final halachic guide to do the same -- the extreme branch
of neoBrisk (typified by R' Chait and his talmidim) and a subsection of
the Chardal community that looks up to the traditionalism and cultural
purity of Darada'i Teimanim.

: I do not understand your position.

I deleted what you didn't understand because it doesn't matter. It
wasn't my position as much as my not seeing your model as properly
conveying your own position. The discussion would get bogged in where
in the chain of reglection between us the message was lost.

: REB is not speaking of mitzvot instilling virtue; he is saying that
: halakhah is concerned with the practical temporal effects of our
: deeds, because he sees the purpose of halakhah as effecting a
: practical temporal sociological tikkun olam, in the same way which I
: have attributed to Rav Hirsch.

Rav Hirsch sees halakhah as impressing values. His educational system
of symbols is a temimus based philosophy, an intellectualist sibling to
Litvish thought.

REB sees the laws as expressing values, not impressing them on the
individual. And he sees those values are actually primary; the law is an
approximation. That is what motivates his more fluid than most rabbanim's
understanding of halachic process. To him, it's more about mapping the
value to the realia than historical rov poseqim, the acceptance of the
SA, or the other formal rules of pesaq. Those rules anchor the process,
not define it. (The question of whether what's left is stable, or is
bound to decay in the lack of clarity between Torah ethics and zeitgeist,
is left to the reader.)

: Rambam, although I do not claim to fully understand the precise
: nuances of his position ..., he seems to be saying that
: halakhah's purpose is to affect our own personal moral and rational
: virtues, whether indirectly (hukim) or directly (mishpatim).

Impress knowledge of G-d. An even more intellectual approach than RSRH.
RSRH saw attitudes and midos as primary, but that mitzvos impressed them
through symbology, an intellectual channel. The Rambam writes that
knowledge of G-d is primary, and acting like Him is a road to (or
perhaps facet of) that. There must be more there as well, his derekh
based on yedi'ah must somehow be closely related to dei'os as in Hilkhos
Dei'os.

: Thus, for REB, the halakhah would most certainly be davka expressing a
: value, and more, be attempting to give this value practical worldly
: effect...

And this notion that halakhah's goal is the expression of value rather
than a transformative life, is novel. I can't think of a pre-20th cent
seifer to present the idea. In aggadita, though, that's not sufficient
grounds for rejection, just suspicion.

However, there are consequent pragmatic differences.

If G-d wanted good to happen (expression of good), as opposed to wanting
people people who were good (impression), why wouldn't He have made
everything perfect to begin with?

Does REB disagree with the Rambam that giving $1 to 100 people is better
than giving $100 once? Isn't the halakhah pesuqah based on the impressive
power of this expression of generosity?

:         (A caveat: sometimes halakhah is itself behind the Torah's own
: internal ethos. If so, then halakhah must itself be updated. But in
: the end, halakhah still enshrines the ethic and seeks to give it
: practical effect.)

At this point I think most of the readers would put down their pencils
for the excercise I gave above. RMM seems to show how REB's fluidity
invites more change than most of us would consider proper.

Here's a quote allegedly from REB that I found by Google:
    [Rabbis] who are seriously concerned and troubled by the inadequate
    regard for the problems of contemporary Jewish life ... will introduce
    the halakhic changes that are required in recognition of the human
    dignity of the Jewish woman.

The contrapositive, that the lack of actual change reflects a lack of
concern, was stated in Blu Greenberg's famous quip about a rabbinic will
and halachic way.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It is harder to eat the day before Yom Kippur
micha at aishdas.org        with the proper intent than to fast on Yom
http://www.aishdas.org   Kippur with that intent.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rabbi Israel Salanter