[Avodah] Torah Study vs. other contributions to soCIETY

[David Riceman]

Now that I understand your general position better how do you harmonize 
it with the Rama in YD 246:21, where he says that it is preferred ( he 
uses the term "midas hassidus") for a person to earn his own living 
while studying, and he describes learning full time (except for a 
wealthy person who needs no stipend) as a less than ideal concession to 
practical considerations.

For specific examples of practical advice in sifrei halacha a five 
minute search yields YD 20:4, 24:6 in hilchos shehita, and, in H' 
Gosses, the long list in YD 339:1, which could be replaced by a simple 
prohibition against anything which shortens a person's expected length 
of life.

In general the line between halachic issues and practical advice is hard 
to draw precisely.  The gemara (sorry, I couldn't find it this morning) 
describes how Abbaye used to hold birds as he slaughtered them, and it 
describes (Hullin 17b) the various methods by which different schools 
used to check knives for nicks.  The poskim view the latter as an actual 
machlokes, and, as far as I can tell, the former as practical advice 
(which is why, IIRC, it's not cited in Shulhan Aruch).

I did hear once, from someone who had a kabbala in shehita from Rabbi 
Feinstein, that Rabbi Feinstein asked him during the examination where 
he put his hands when he slaughtered.  The Rama there (YD 1:1) says that 
the hacham who certifies the shohet should check both that he knows 
hilchos shehita and that he's "baki b'yad".  How can a hacham know that 
unless he himself has studied the mechanics of shehita? According to 
your opinion that it's preferable for a hacham not to spend his time 
learning such things, how could we have established an institution of 
certification which is itself a stumbling block for hachamim?

David Riceman