[Avodah] R Tzadok-TSBP

[T613K at aol.com]

In Avodah Digest, Vol 26, Issue 124 dated 6/27/2009 Michael  Makovi 
_mikewinddale at gmail.com_ (mailto:mikewinddale at gmail.com)   wrote:

 
 

>>Professor Shapiro, ibid., does note at length that Rabbi  Haim
Soloveitchik was reticent to pasken, directing people to the dayan  of
Volozhin for practical questions. Rabbi Haim was sure that  his
hiddushim were true and correct, but he couldn't bring himself  to
practically rule that way, against the SA in favor of a novel ruling
of  the Rambam's or a novel reading of the Gemara. Faced with the
conflict, he  simply chose not to pasken anything.

So if Rabbi Haim was a  post-modernist deconstructionist, then rest
easy: he was NOT a  poseiq.

Personally, this makes my stomach turn, with all due respect to  Rabbi
Haim. I cannot imagine the value of learning that does not lead  to
practical halakhah. 
 
....My justification of academic study of Torah is simple: if it  is
objectively true, then surely, it must have an effect on  halakhah...<< 

Michael Makovi
 
 
>>>>
Allow me to put your churning stomach to rest.   The contradiction or 
dichotomy that so troubles you is more apparent than real,  between learning for 
its own sake and learning for the sake of practical  application. "Al menas 
lilmod" and "al menas la'asos" -- it's like the  difference between pure 
science and applied science.  A scientist working  in a lab, doing pure 
research, might not be a medical doctor and might not  have any desire to treat 
patients, but his scientific findings are  nevertheless valuable, and are 
available to the medical field to be  used over time, as circumstances warrant.
 
 

--Toby  Katz
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