[Avodah] Out-of-Bounds? 1 Al n'tilas Yadayim

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 04:59:10PM +0000, rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com wrote:
: Im kein, is this student justified in his convictions to say this
: brachah and be someich on the Rambam?

: Or is this student out-of-bounds for saying a brachah based upon what
: we know - that this Rambam is not followed in practice?

Here it turns out the student might have unitentionally been mechavein
to the Gra, which might give him more breathing room. However, we're
asking here about process, not results. So his luck doesn't matter.
But it does allo us to reflect on a thornier question -- what gave the
Gra the right to make such pesaqim?

I think this is a good place to reiterate something I wrote in a comment
on Nishma Blog. Blog entry title, "Minhag Yisroel vs. Gra: 2 Matzot vs.
3 Matzot"
http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/2010/04/minhag-yisroelvs-gra-2-matzot-vs-3.html
RRW was exploring this quote from RHSchachter (taken from torahweb.org):
    A matter of halacha which has been accepted for centuries can not be
    overturned, unless one can demonstrate that there simply was an
    error involved from the very outset.

In any case, here was the bit I want to repeat here:
    I guess I'm trying to express three levels of disagreement:

    1- You are outside the range of valid interpretations.
    2- Your interpretation is valid (eilu va'eilu) but flawed.
    3- Your interpretation is less valuable than mine. Not flawed, but
       lacking.

    The Brisker position about the Gra's halachic changes is that he
    wouldn't change practice over a "less valuable" issue. But that
    doesn't mean he was declaring the accepted pesaq as "invalid",
    as outside the realm of Torah.

RBHecht correctly noted that my portrayal makes it looks like these are
three crisply defined categories, and it may be more accurate to contider
them landmarks on a "spectrum of perception".

My question here and about all the "Out-of-bounds" posts is getting
clarity as to which bounds we're discussing. Is it (numbers
corresponding to the above):
    1- Is is outside the range of valid interpretations?
    2- Is this student's stance on this halakhah valid but flawed?

And if we are saying it's outside the range, at what point do we say
that he embraced a methodology of legal decisionmaking that is so outside
the rules of pesaq that it reflects on the gavra, not just his position
WRT a berakhah before hand-washing? How many such rulings? How big
(deciding something unique about berakhos isn't the same as allowing
something that everyone else says produces mamzeirim)?

What are the "bounds" we're looking for?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 22nd day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        3 weeks and 1 day in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Chesed sheb'Netzach: Do I take control of the
Fax: (270) 514-1507                 situation for the benefit of others?