[Avodah] Must we agree with the Torah?

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 12:06:29AM -0600, Daniel M. Israel wrote:
:>> R' Elazar ben Azarya sad that a person should not say, "I don't want to
:>> wear Shaatnez,"
:>> rather he should say, "I want to, but my father in heaven decreed upon
:>> me that I can not!"?
...
:> What does R' Yisrael Salanter do? He makes a chiluq between kibush hayeitzer,
:> doing the right thing despite taavos otherwise, and tiqun hayeitzer, which
:> is getting the taavos in line. (And primarily a consequence of the hergel
:> set up by kibush).

: I'm missing a step in your comment. How does RYS's chiluk answer
: the question? ...

You're missing a lot of steps. RYS's chiluq wasn't brought as an answer,
but as a set-up for the discussion of the Rambam. RYS says there is a
time when we do a mitzvah despite our own desires and times we bring our
desires in line with the mitzvah. And in fact, he holds that one leads
to the other, so that in RYS's ideal world, one wouldn't want that which
is assur.

But once I had kibush vs tiqun hayeitzer, I can use that to explain
the Rambam. Which is why I mentioned the acharon first rather than
chronological order. The Rambam in 8 Peraqim doesn't expect kibush to
be a route to tiqun hayeitzer ("fake it till you make it") in all mitzvos.

(It bothers me how often I have to go back and explain an unclear post.
Sorry for the time you wasted.)

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I long to accomplish a great and noble task,
micha at aishdas.org        but it is my chief duty to accomplish small
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                              - Helen Keller