[Avodah] Inconsistencies in following tannaim

[Micha Berger]

About a month ago, RZL was kind enough to send me some of the
additions he plans on making to a forthcoming edition of "The Dynamics
of Dispute". (Which is mis-titled, since the seifer is about more than
machloqes. I believe this may be corrected as well.)

He gave me permission to quote the following here:
> Did Disagree with Tannaim, next-to-last sentence, I neglected to
provide
> examples of where Amoraim held hybrids of tannaitic opinions
> (referred to again on p. 127, Last paragraph). The Yad Malachi, under
> the heading Amoraim, states this as a fact that appears many places in
> the Gemora, but he only cites one--perek Raahu Beis Din [Rosh
> HaShonna]--which I haven't been able to find, and for more examples
> refers to a sefer I cannot find. I have, however found the following
> examples: Rav Assi in Bava Metsia 24b; and Shmuel in Yevomos 113b,
> Gittin 67a, Horios 12b, Zevachim 74a, Niddah 70a.

These are cases where we hold like one side of a machloqes in one
case, and another side in another.

He added in a clarifying email (I thought he meant "hybrid" as in
angling the mezuzah to sort of do both):
> I should note, however, that Rav Assi was a talmid of R. Yochonon, the
> one who declared that one can no longer disagree with Mishnaic
teachings
> [of d'oraissos] since they may be Halachos L'Moshe MiSinai. One may
> argue that Rav Assi made his hybrid pesak before his rebbi stated the
> principle.

The problem I'm having is that this line of thought, taken from my
blog, seems to me to be so compelling (even stripped of the Maharal's
model) that I don't see where the error is. So, can someone read this
(particularly the ending) and help me out?

: The Maharal's position is that "divrei E-lokim Chaim -- the word of
: the 'Living' G-d" is simply too rich and too complex to exist in this
: world. Therefore they are mapped to oversimplified models, related
: to Hashem's words the way a shadow is a flattened representation of
: the original. And thus, different people looking at the problem from
: different directions will get different shadows -- even though they are
: all accurate representations of the same thing.

: To finish out the metaphor: The angle at which we look at Devar Hashem
: is our "derekh", our path in how we. This derekh, just like the lamp,
: is determined by two things: mei'ayin basa, ule'an ata holeikh -- from
: where do you come, and to where are you going? Where the lamp is, and
: the angle it points. Different people were put together differently,
: and can have different emphases in how they interpret the ultimate
goal.

: The complexity of Devar Hashem causes the illusion (to us) of
: paradox. It's no more real of a paradox than the 5 blind men who argue
: about the nature of the elephant. The one who felt the elephant's ear
: would argue an elephant is like a fan. The one who felt its leg would
: think it is like a tree. But it's only because we can't capture the
: full picture.

: We therefore see the Torah as demanding conflicting values and
: duties. (Unresolvable dialectics, in R YB Soloveitchik-speak.)
Depending
: upon which we choose to prioritize, followers of different derakhim
will
: obtain different results. But you won't make it to the top of the
mountain
: if you first try this route and that that. You need a consistent plan.

: Someone who changes the weights to find a desired result is no longer
: simplifying an Infinite Truth to fit it into this universe. Different
: shadows of the same object are each valid. But if you trace the shadow
: while changing the direction of the lighting mid-stream, you are left
: with a picture something that isn't a shadow of the original. The
: weighting can't simply be to justify the result; and in that sense
: even including human cost is different than ends-driven decision making
: (picking the pesaq to fit some non-Torah desire). The weighting system,
: the angle of the light, is the a priori -- and must itself be a product
: of the halakhos of making halakhah.

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
micha at aishdas.org        and he wants to sleep well that night too."
http://www.aishdas.org     - Rav Yosef Yozel Horwitz, Alter of Novarodok
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