[Avodah] Avos - milsei dachasidusa or not (was [Areivim] more RCA reaction)

[Hankman]

RZS wrote (in Areivim):

The Torah itself has many comments about middos that are good, without
being mandatory.  Pirkei Avos is a whole mesechta of "milsei dachasidusa";
none of it is mandatory, but it's an indication within Torah of what is
right and wrong.  A person can ignore the whole Pirkei Avos "birshus
haTorah", and be a "naval".

CS responds:

While some may see Avos as you say a "milsei dachasidusa" others will not agree. Rav Yechiel Meir Katz in his perek shiur last week said over from the Gr"a that most of Avos is a d'Aureisa. In answer to the question about the naming of Avos (why all other masechtos are named by their content while Avos is not) he says that is to make just this point. As the gemara tells us, one meaning of AV is that it is mefurash in Torah whereas a tolda is not. He says that throughout Avos the Gr"a keeps pointing out the source in the Torah for the opinions in Avos to show that they really are mefurash in Torah and thus an av and hence d'Aureisa and not just a  "milsei dachasidusa."

Kol Tuv

Chaim Manaster
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