[Avodah] D'rabanan vs. D'oraita

[Micha Berger]

RDG allowed me to bounce his reply to my post to the list:
: In his petiha klalit to Dor Revi'i, there is a discussion...
: The gist of the discussion is that ma'akhlaot assurot do damage, but the
: damage is cumulative over time, so it is only after eating a lot over a
: long period of time that they do damage.  The only problem with eating
: on an occasional basis is that it is forbidden to do so even once. When
: you can rely on a rov to eliminate the issur, the issue of damage to the
: person is no longer a problem because the bad effect from the food is
: dissipated.  That is why sakanta hamira mei-issura.

A bunch of disjoint thoughts:

A person eats three pieces of meat a day, one of which causes timtum and
he knows which one it is. Another person eats three pieces of meat daily,
and he doesn't know which is assur. The first is a mumar, the second
didn't do a single issur. They both ate the same amount of cheilev,
so I presume the D4 would say that they incur the same timtum. So, how does
this explanation resolve my question:
> I already cited the problem of 2 chatichos shuman, 1 cheilev, if we
> understand timtum haleiv as a causal consequence of eating cheilev,
> we can't play rov -- and certainly not of all three pieces at three
> different times. And yet, it's mutar AFAIK without a warning from
> anyone.

 --

There are two possible causal connections between the cheit and the
timtum (and by parallel between hanging a mezuzah and the shemirah,
and so on for our other examples) -- assuming that they are connected,
IOW, that timtum is a kind of onesh:
Treif food is dangerous, therefore Hashem prohibited it.
Because Hashem prohibited it, the act of being an avaryan is dangerous.

In general, I think that people today find the concepts of mitzvah,
sechar va'onesh more appealing in the first way. Hashem gives us
"tarya"g itin" (eitzos) as the Zohar puts it in order to protect us
from soul-damaging activity. The onesh is the damage we were warned to
avoid.

Would the D4 say there's a causal connection between the cheit (as
opposed to the cheftzah in-and-of itself) and the timtum? At first,
I thought he couldn't possibly. However, either would work with what
RDG (the D7?) summarized -- if we presume that the danger is not in
the issur but in being a mumar ledavar zeh. And thus it's like being
prohibited from smoking the first cigarette lest it becomes a habit,
which causes measurable damage.

 --

Chamira saqanta mei'issura: is it invoked on non-physical sakanos?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "And you shall love H' your G-d with your whole
micha at aishdas.org        heart, your entire soul, and all you own."
http://www.aishdas.org   Love is not two who look at each other,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      It is two who look in the same direction.