[Avodah] Lo tasur

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, November 19, 2006 9:14 am, Rich, Joel wrote:
: The Sefer Hachinuch (495) extends the mitzvah from Sanhedrin to "to
: listen and act in all times to the command of the judge; that is the
: greatest wise man....."
:
: It appears the use of the singular is consistent with those that hold
: the purpose of the mitzvah is to ensure a "1 torah" system.
:
: Question: Was there ever a post-sanhedrin period where this position
: would have a nafka-mina (i.e. 1 universally recognized authority)? Or am
: I being too literal in my understanding?

If I agreed with your understanding of the Chinukh, how about Ravina veRav
Ashi and the geonim?

On Mon, November 20, 2006 9:06 pm, Mike Wiesenberg wrote:
:  Too literal. The very next paragraph he says
:   "And one who is over this aseh, and does not listen to the
: gedolim(plural)...."

I think our problem is that we're thinking in contemporary terms of "gadol
hador" and thus "the rav", is take to be someone defined as the generation's
greatest. Which then, as RMW points out, leads to a conflict in number.

However, lehalakhah, the only one short of the Sanhedrin that you /have/ to
listen to is your own rabbeim and the dayan one personally approaches. Each
person has his the "greatest wise men" of those he relies, and thus across the
globe there are many of them.

But be'ikkar, I do not read the Chinukh as mandating belief in following a
gadol hador or "the gedolim".

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter