[Avodah] ancient minhagim

[David Riceman]

RMB:
> :> Did Tosafos think they were reinterpreting, or using other data to
> :> understand how it was always understood, thus explaining how the
> :> practice was allowed to persist.
> RETurkel:
> : I assume that tosefot thought this was the perush in the gemara
> RMB:
> I am inclined that way as well.
>   
Don't forget the Talmudic practice "la'asukei Shama'tsa aliba 
d'hilchasa", which I would translate as "to construe a text so that it 
will harmonize with normative halacha".  Normally that implies that the 
text is not being read kipshuto.  See Rabbi Maimon's book "Toldot HaGra" 
p. 75, where he says (my translation) "The Gra used to say that just as 
written law can be expounded with [the four methods whose acronym is] 
PaRDeS, so too the Mishna, which is the oral law, can be expounded with 
[the four methods whose acronym is] PaRDeS.  Therefore we sometimes find 
that the Talmud construes (mefaresh) the Mishna using drash and pilpul, 
when we can construe the mishna differently using pshat."
> The impression I get from the Yad, primed by tertiary sources referring
> to the Rambam's "ledaati", is that the Rambam didn't formalize the rules
> that unite his pesaqim. Rather he operated on the level of feel, of just
> knowing the consistent picture without trying to articulate it.
If you learn through Tshuvos HaRambam (and, to a lesser extent, Sefer 
haMitzvos), you will find many places where the Rambam articulates his 
methodology.  I strongly recommend Rabbi Benedict's book "HaRambam L'lo 
Stiyah Min HaTalmud".

David Riceman