[Avodah] Specific to general vs general to specific (was: Minhag Yisroel...)

[Richard Wolpoe]

On 10/30/07, saul mashbaum <smash52 at netvision.net.il> wrote:
>
> RCL
>
> But on a deeper level what this case illustrates (and I could have
> brought you many other examples) is that Chazal tended not to work from
> the platonic ideal and apply downwards, but tended to work from
> individual cases and work upwards.
>
> ===================================
> I will readily concede that in the gemara, deriving halachic principles
> from a given case is much more common, but I still think that to say broadly
> that the fundamental approach of Chazal is from the specific to the general
> is not accurate. On the contrary, I think that for the most part Chazal tend
> to determine the halacha in specific cases from well-known and accepted
> general principles.
>
> Saul Mashbaum
>

I don't know what hard and fast rules you can make from the various
examples.

Let's say the following:
The style of the Mishna and Tosefta is gnerally more about case law as
opposed to general principles. [Midrash halacha might be different]

Where did this case law come from?  Probably from decisions rendered in real
cases.
[In the hierarchy of p'sak the Gaonim establihsed the primacy of "ma'seh
rav" that a real live precedent trumps a Tannaic statment or a Meimra.]

But - and this is a BIG but, it dos not mean that law is extrapolated from
INDIVIDUAL cases. I would suggest a more broadly defined base from deriving
law fro mthe Mishna - by indicutively oncroporating the mass of TSBP and
using "davar mitcoh davar" to arrfie at principles

AISI the process works more like this:

   1. One or sevearl cases are brought to bear.
   2. Ta Shma's will be brought on either side of the proposed hypothesis
   3. The hypothesis is then established by summarizing a combination of
   cases and is ferreted out by the Talmud, and it is  rarely self-understood
   pre-eminent principle


Thus I reject both of the above opinions viz.:

   1. Mishnaic decisions don't flow fro msome great well-known principle.
   Rather, it is usualyl ferreted out and is therefore not so obivous.
   2. Extrapolating from a single case DOES happen but is relatively
   rare. Usually a dialetic accompanies it.

If the case ruled upon was the collective decision of a bona fide pre-Hurban
Sanhedrin, it is treated as Halchah/Maosroah and is a solid precedent - i.e.
it is fixed.  Later case law is not quite as fixed.




-- 
Kol Tuv / Best Regards,
RabbiRichWolpoe at Gmail.com
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