[Avodah] a troubling halacha

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote:
> Okay, here's my guess: Could it be that this halacha is
> based on the presumption that people would prefer to observe
> the relatively easy halachos of delayed information, and that
> they did not want to observe the relatively difficult halachos
> of timely information?
> If so, then the next question is: What changed? Why do we
> prefer the full burden of the timely-information halachos? It
> can't be because of the general trend towards stricter
> halachos, can it?

I discussed this with a friend, who offered an interesting idea. I'm not sure if (or to what degree) I agree with him, but it provides some interesting food for thought:

He suggested that in times past, people's emotions were much stronger than today. (I know that we are weaker in many ways; that's yeridas hadoros. But I had not considered applying that principle here.) He gave examples of the extreme reactions people would have upon hearing of a relative's passing. Kefiyas hamitah (whatever that is) is one example of something we no longer bother with. He also focused on people who would literally tear themselves apart, so much that the Torah had to forbid it -- Who among us would even think of such a thing, even if the Torah did *not* forbid it?

So, he suggested, perhaps it was a genuine chesed to withhold the news from someone. Let the news go stale. NOT so that the avel would have easier halachos, but so that the stale news would have a milder effect. In contrast, we, nowadays, even someone who takes a death particularly hard, *generally* does not go totally out of control, at least not as much as in ages past. We can deal with the relatively harsh halachos of Timely News, and they do have a beneficial effect on the avel.

Looking to hear from those who knows history better than I, and who can offer some ideas on how accurate his observations were.

Akiva Miller

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