[Avodah] The sukkah on Shemini Atzeret controvers

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger wrote:

> In any case, anything accepted as part of the gemara is
> accepted by most rishonim ...
>
> But what's more relevant to us is authority, not history. If
> rov rishonim assume the inserts from the Behag are to be
> treated as seriously as the rishonim, if that many gedolim
> were willing to keep the insertion in their gemaros, then
> does it make a difference? The question of how the
> "vehilkhisa" isn't obeyed isn't answered by its late date if
> the authority is nearly the same anyway.

With all due respect, there are so many weasel words here that I don't really follow the question:

"anything accepted as part of the gemara" - accepted by who?
"accepted by most rishonim" - but not all of them
"what's more relevent to us" - who is "us"?
"If rov rishonim assume" - but the minority don't
"many gedolim were willing to keep the insertion" - and others weren't
"the authority is nearly the same" - nearly, but not quite

But the line that I take most serious issue with is:
> But what's more relevant to us is authority, not history.

I can't see isolating the two. The posek must take both into consideration. One does not look only at the numbers, but also at the situations. Even if the preponderance of poskim felt that "v'hilchasa" was a reasonable p'sak, it might not have been so reasonable in some localities.

It is rather easy for me to sympathize with a rav whose community is enduring a typically cold, wet, North European October, and who is trying to make sense of arguments that "there's no Appearance Of Bal Tosif on Shmini Atzeres, because people enjoy eating outdoors on a pleasant autumn day." I can easily see him saying something like, "Sure, the Shulchan Aruch can pasken that way in Tzefas, but the argument just doesn't hold water here."

Of course, if "v'hilchasa" had been accepted by all as coming from Ravina and Rav Ashi, they've have been stuck, with nothing to hang their kula on. But if there are reasonable grounds for saying that it is a more recent addition, then I think this is precisely the sort of flexibility that the Torah Sheb'al Peh is designed for.

Akiva Miller

____________________________________________________________
60-Year-Old Mom Looks 27
Mom Reveals Free Wrinkle Trick That Has Angered Doctors!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3131/4ea804acd3edb108c61est02vuc