[Avodah] Daas Torah

[T613K at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/23/2008 6:39:40 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com writes:



On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 3:20 AM, <_T613K at aol.com_ (mailto:T613K at aol.com) >  
wrote:


 
 
 
RRW wrote:
 
>>Example: I was taught in junior high that vinegar is Acetic  Acid AND that 
aspirin is made from acetic acid and salicylic acid. On that  basis I used to 
assum that aspirin was a product of  hametz!  But  I was corrected by  
practical chemists and pharmacists who explained  that using grain vinegar was 
prohibitive in the manufacture of  aspirin!  So a little learning can be dangerous 
and  misleading.<<


>>>>>

For that reason, one should not consult a rav who only has a little  
learning. 
 
Also one should not consult a posek who is still in junior high  school.
 

--Toby  Katz
=============






That's  not my point
My point is one should not consult any Rav in any area in  which he is not 
expert even if he is k'ven shiv'im shana  ....
UNLESS
That Rav will himself be wiling to consult  experts.

So my point is that Da'as Torah is really quite limited to the  sphere of 
Torah itself and only to the areas in which that Rav knows what he  is talking 
about!

OTOH, it is often a good idea to consult a Rav for  his insight  anyway.

=====================================================================

Maa'seh  shehaya #1:

A frum Jew drowned off the GW Bridge. 
Police Ruled it a  suicide.
The fellow involved was somewhat involved with the mob
I was  talking to a "Gadol BaTorah" and he discussed the fellow's suicide as 
a  fact.
I corrected that Gadol and said that we cannot be sure and that al pi  
halacha we MUST give him the benefit of the doubt!  The Gadol concurred  with my 
hochachah

What I did NOT tell that Gadol was that the fellow  had a mob connection for 
obvious reasons of LH etc.  Anyone aware of that  connexion would realize that 
a suicide is not ALWAYS a suicide and that the  fellow may have been either
    1.  murdered in a way to  APPEAR as a suicide  
    2.  OR he was told to jump off the bridge at the point of a gun or 
similar  coercion [like hurting the family]

Point? That Rav was probably  not so aware of how the mob works. I won't go 
into how I know but suffice it  to say that I am more worldly. 

Given a realistic probabilty that said  suicide was never a suicide we 
generally give the niftar the benefit of the  doubt, and the Gadol would probably 
concur. Just that he could not fathom WHY  it was a feasible reality IOW what's 
the safeik? The police and the M/E ruled  it a suicide!  But I had exposure to 
entire sets of facts that this Gadol  Lacked.

==================================================================

M'aseh  #2. A Rav with Semicha - but not practicing - was lecturing that we 
cannot  consider the case of a woman who is to shy to ask sh'eilos about 
taharas  hamishpacha.  He was talking BOOK LEARNING. I have heard anecdotal  
evidence hat there are many sizable communities in which the one-Rav town gets  a 
VERY low number of queries.   POINT? Despite  this Rav's  intentions to  uphold  
book halacha the reality on the ground is  that women ask in far fewer numbers 
than would normally be expected.   They don't print those sociological stats 
in the Mishnah Brurah!  But  Rabbonim in the know - know what they are up 
against.

Therefore, Da'as  Torah of the ivory tower nature can be downright misleading

OTOH a very  dear friend had a shidduch prolbem ironed out by Hassidc Rebbe 
about 25 years  ago in Boro Park,  Rebbes are often well-trained and 
well-versed in  personal and family issues. They not only know halacha but a lot about 
family  dynamics and human nature. Their "da'as" can be very effective, far 
more than  any assimilated social worker would have been. However, how much of 
that is  pure Torah and how much of that is plain "seichel" coupled with years 
of  intense experience
 
Torah, sechel and experience = da'as Torah

I don't  know. as far as Siyyatta Dishmaya goes, Rabbonim do not have a 
monopoly.  Doctors have it, too. Ever watch House?  He is a Kofeir who gets Siyyata 
 dishmaya!   

=====================================================================

Da'as  Torah to me is a function of using good judgment on gray areas. 
Illustration:  equating Electricity to fire [or not] is the kind of halachic 
judgment a  Poseik would do better than an engineer or physicist - because it is not 
a  function of what happens on the molecular level but on the visible Halachic 
 level.

-- 
Kol Tuv / Best  Regards,
RabbiRichWolpoe at Gmail.com
see: _http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/_ (http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/)   




--Toby
--Toby  Katz
=============





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