[Avodah] Halachic Texts: More Background

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Jun 22, 2008 at 12:18:46AM -0400, Richard Wolpoe wrote:
: Artscroll has done a msterful job in BOTH its Mishna and Talmud to connect
: the texts with the CODES such as Rambam/Tur and especially Shulchan Aruch .
: One of the earlier works to do this was the Tiferes Yisrael on the Mishnah.
...
: Rav Kook began a project of showing Halachah from the Talmud...

Speaking of which, I was reminded of something that would probably
interest RRW, and if not, some others of the chevrah.

R' Prof Ta-Shma notes that someone reading a seifer can usually have a
"feel" for whether it's a rishon or an acharon. He attributes this
difference in feel to three qualities:

1- They dealt not only with single sugyos, but with tying them together
across shas and across time.

3- Rishonim didn't need to seperate the genres of pesaq lehalakhah
ulemaaseh from peirush.

4- Attention to girsaos.

No acharon consistently pulls off all three. Of course, one needs to
take it on faith that Rashi does #1, but that's a different story. I
presume RPTS's full argument is more convincing.

R' Elyakim Krumbein, in his KMTT shiur on the Gra, notes that these
three features are also found in the Vilna Gaon's writings. He ties
things together horizontally to an extreme - eg his ability to relate
every halachic claim in the Zohar to one in shas. And through time --
that's the core of the biur on SA. The Gra also shows how every pesaq
in the gemara is derived from an understanding of the mishnah. And of
course, his lack of separation between pragmatics and peirush lead him
to numerous distinct pesaqim.

One might be able to argue that the Gra was treated like a throwback
to the rishonim because experimentally, he proved himself capable of
rishon-style work.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             You will never "find" time for anything.
micha at aishdas.org        If you want time, you must make it.
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