[Avodah] on following mesorah

[Eli Turkel]

Micha's recent post on the CI position on not following recently
discovered manuscripts reminds me of an article I recently saw.

It was claimed that many shitot on based on pure sevara and not mesorah.
One case was tefillin of Rabbenu Tam. There is no evidence that he
based himself on some existing pair of tefillin. Rather Rabbenu Tam
came to that conclusion on the order of the parshiyot based on his
learning and so
claimed that Rashi wore incorrect tefillin.
Similarly with his claim that the parshiyot should be perpendicular to
the direction
found in our tefillin.
Similar remarks apply to his changing the nusach of kol nidre and the definition
of sunset.

In a similar case I have been bothered by gemarot which there is a disagreement
with some seemingly factual information. One case was discussed here
refering to the existence of ir hanichadat and ben sorer u moreh
(though it was suggested that
the statement that one sat on the grave is not to be taken literally)
Another case is  when R. Chaninah Sgan HaCohanim states the procedure in
the Temple which he oversaw and others disagree. The only way (IMHO) to disagree
is to claim that the procedure followed in the Temple was wrong!
ie mesorah is wrong based on some drush of a pasuk
Similarly when a tanna sees the curtain of the Temple with blood spots
and others
say the blood on yom kippur did not reach the curtain

BTW as a side remark connected with the parsha it should be noted that when the
Torah says to put the inhabitants of a ir hanichadat to death by sword
the implication
is going to war against the city

-- 
Eli Turkel