[Avodah] Torah Only - Hora'as Sha'a

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Yitzchok Levine wrote:
> From page 209 of Rav Breuer - His Life and Legacy
> A perusal of his writings makes it abundantly clear that
> R. Hirsch held that Torah im Derech Eretz was never
> intended as a temporary measure introduced because of a
> specific problem during a specific historical period and
> in a specific geographic area.

It seems to me that the point of this thread is to determine and show what Rav Hirsch's true intentions were.

I would like to suggest that it is fruitless and pointless to attempt any such thing, not merely in the case of Rav Hirsch, but for *any* gadol. I suggest that even if we have easy access to what a particular person wrote and said, that is a far cry from knowing what he *thought*.

There are several things which contribue to this problem:

a) The principle "halacha v'ayn morin keyn" is directed specifically at the leaders, and tells them that in certain situations it is proper to pasken differently than the actual halacha. To my understanding, this is usually for public policy reasons; there are overarching issues at stake, and for the sake of the larger issue, the smaller issue has to be fudged a bit. But this effort will be for naught unless the leader insists with all his might that this is indeed the proper path. Ideally, the followers should have no way of figuring out that the leaders would have preferred a different path, and chose this one only because of circumstances.

b) Another halacha tells us that a leader - in order to make a strong impression upon his followers - may deliberately choose to quote something in the name of a well-known and well-respected person, even though it was actually said by someone less well-known or less respected. This will have the good effect of inspiring the followers, but runs the risk of having people get confused about who said what.

c) It is very common for people to change their views over time. Even a person who does not change his views might be more emphatic on one occasion and less emphatic on another occasion. Even one who is always emphatic might accidentally say or write something which might be interpreted to be the opposite of what he really meant. And in the case at hand, which actually quotes from a book about Rav Breuer, not Rav Hirsch, it is all too easy to be the unwitting victim of the author's selective quotes which highlight one side over the other.

But I did not write this post simply to complain and show flaws.

Points A and B are well-known halachic principles. (I think there might also be other similar ones.) What is the point that they are teaching us?

In the ideal world which we aspire to, Hashem Tzevakos has a well-organized group of people who are working hard to know His will, and to fulfill it. The chain of command, and obedience to that chain of command, are very important principles. That's what leads to the many halachos of what to do in the event that the Sanhedrin is mistaken. Without going into those details (which we've discussed here many many times), suffice it to say that in most cases, it is more important to do what you're told, and not so important to do what is actually the theoretically correct thing.

This brings me back to the original question: What did Rav Hirsch SAY, and what did he really MEAN. If one wants to try to figure out his intentions, because he feels this to be an interesting pursuit, or because he wants to defend Rav Hirsch's memory against those who have misunderstood him, then I say, "Great! Go ahead! Have a good time!"

But if the reason one wants to understand Rav Hirsch better, is in order to figure out what he would say to us today, then I say: Why do you care? That's not how the system works. Yiftach b'doro k'Shmuel b'doro. Ask today's leaders. Rav Hirsch is not here with us, and is unable to tell you what to do. I'm NOT saying to ignore Rav Hirsch's sayings and writings; they certainly rank up there with the Chofetz Chaim and the Gra, with Hillel and Shammai, to be learned and used in helping to understand what Hashem wants of us.

Maybe deep down Rav Hirsch meant TIDE to be a temporary measure, and maybe he truly meant it to be for all times and places. Does it really matter? All that really matters is whether you, or I, or someone else, should use it as a guiding principle in his life. And that depends on a lot more than what Rav Hirsch really meant in his heart of hearts.

Akiva Miller

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