[Avodah] Yom Yerushalayim

[Moshe Feldman]

On 5/21/07, Samuel Svarc <ssvarc at yeshivanet.com> wrote:
> And still R' Lichtenstein is opposed to [going to Har Habayis].
> Even after R' Meidan went and
> notwithstanding the argument of "sovereignty". I think this proves my point
> that he understands that the halcha was this way historically (after we lost
> the mesorah of positions)

I asked a talmid of Rav Lichtenstein who told me that RAL does not
consider there to be a safek as to the Makom HaMikdash.  Rather, RAL
does not give a blanket heter for people to go to Har Habayis because
of the issue of Mora HaMikdash--that people may not have the proper
kavana.  See more about this at:
http://vbm-torah.org/archive/halak65/10a-halak.htm
http://vbm-torah.org/archive/halak65/10b-halak.htm
http://vbm-torah.org/archive/halak65/10c-halak.htm

Apparently, yechidim have consulted with RAL about going to Har
Habayis and he has not told them that it is assur.

> >[MF:] For example, you yourself will admit
> >that most gedolim in the 19th century supported the heter mechira,
> >given the precarious situation of the yishuv in EY (which itself is a
> >halachic value).  Today, the situation is different.
>
> I do not admit this, on the contrary I think this is false. The hetterim
> that the European gedolim gave were predicated on the EY gedolim agreeing to
> the p'sak. This never happened, therefore most gedolim of the 19th century
> were actually opposed to heter mechira.

That's misleading.  The European gedolim deferred to Rav Yitzchak
Elchanan Spector, who was considered the leading posek of the era, and
he said that it was muttar mitzad ha'halacha.

This is discussed at length by R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin in an article
reprinted at http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/kitveyet/sinay/shmita-4.htm
(towards the end).

The article notes that in 5649 (a shmitta year), various rabbanim,
including R. Yitzchak Elchanan, paskened that the Heter Mechira works,
but it should be done only if the Shtar Mechira was written and
approved by the rabbanim of Jerusalem.  I presume that this was done
because they were the mara d'asra of EY and RYE felt that he could not
force a psak on them.  They refused in that year, but in 5656 Rav
Yehoshua Leib Diskin (the greatest posek in EY) agreed to the Heter
Mechira WRT fruit, and in 5663 Rav Shmuel Salant and the ADeReT agreed
to the Heter Mechira WRT fruit.  However, in 5670, rabbanim such as
the Ridvaz opposed the Heter Mechira (MF: Rav YZ Rimon in his sefer on
Shmitta says that this was because of changed economic circumstances).

See also http://www.daat.ac.il/shmita/mehirat/kahana.htm, an article
by R. Kalman Kahana, which goes into much greater detail and says that
there were different halachic methodologies used in the heter mechira
of each of those shmittos, so that R. Yitzchak Elchanan's heter for
5649 did not automatically cover the methodology used in subsequent
years.

Kol tuv,
Moshe