[Avodah] Blind Obedience

[Daniel Eidensohn]

On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 11:20 AM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:

> Over on Areivim, there is a discussion going on about what one would do
> if HQBH, e.g. via nevu'ah, told you to do something that to human reason
> appears cruel or violent. E.g. what would you do if you found and
> identified an Amaleiqi newborn?
>
> *Radvaz(2:652): *Question: We have an established principle that if an
established prophet should command us to transgress one of the mitzvos of
the Torah except for idolatry we are to listen to him. For example Eliyahu
on Mt. Carmel transgressed on the command not to offer sacrifices outside of
the Temple. He didn't do this to nullify the mitzva but rather as an
emergency measure to refute the prophets of Baal. Your question is whether
such a prophet said to kill someone or destroy a particular city or to
pillage a particular city as an emergency measure to protect the Torah - how
can we obey such a command since no court would do such a thing even as an
emergency measure? And even if it were commanded by G-d - but we have the
principle of "it is not in Heaven"? Since a person is not killed except with
witnesses and with proper warning - how is it possible to listen to the
prophet to transgress that which is stated in the Torah? Even if he gives an
explanation for the need to do this - that would not be sufficient - but he
says it is a mitzva to listen to him according to the Torah. Answer: Also in
my eyes this is was puzzling until it occurred to me to say that this
principle only applies to mitzvos between man and G-d. But concerning
mitzvos between men, there is no command to listen to him. However I saw in
Sanhedrin (90a): Concerning all sins if a prophet tells you to transgress
the words of Torah you are to listen to him except for idolatry, because it
is possible that he has the ability to stop the sun in the middle of the sky
so don't listen to him.... Thus this gemora clearly states that the only sin
not to commit at the command of a prophet is idolatry. ... So since it is
explicitly stated that it is a mitzva to transgress when commanded by a
prophet.... therefore even to kill a person would be required or to destroy a
particular city. This is similar to the statement that "I heard that one
flogs and punishes not according to the law of the Torah but for the
emergency needs of the times and to save the Torah and its mitzvos.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20100507/23606f2f/attachment-0001.htm>