[Avodah] Inconceivable!

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

Regarding the Ben Sorer Umoreh, R' Jonathan Baker asked:
> R' Yonason says ... there was one and I sat on his
> grave. So is the maskana that it's impossible, or
> is it that it's rare and extremely unlikely?

I strongly suspect that this is actually not a question of halacha (what's the maskana?), but rather a question of terminology and linguistics and style.

In my experience, Chazal often spoke with exaggeration and hyperbole. Many of the things they said will sound so simple and straightforward that many people accept them at face value without even considering that they were not intended to be understood that way.

One of the main offenders is the formula "Ayn X elah Y." -- often translatable as "Situation X does not occur unless Condition Y is present." Chazal will say such a thing to show the relationship between X and Y, and it is indeed a real relationship. The problem is that people take it too literally, and think that it means "Situation X absolutely never occurs unless Condition Y is present", whereas the truth is that "Situation X *almost* never occurs unless Condition Y is present."

The simplest proof of my point is that "Every Jew has a chelek of Olam Haba" and "Aveira XYZ causes one to lose his Olam Haba" are incompatible if taken too literally. There are many ways of resolving these two statements, and they all involve understanding one or the other (or both!) as less extreme pronouncements.

In the case at hand, regarding the Ben Sorer Umoreh, RJB asks, is it really totally and unequivocally and categorically impossible? Or merely unlikely? My *first* answer would be that Chazal were exaggerating, and the Ben Sorer Umoreh is merely unlikely. If anyone has a problem with that, my *second* answer would be, "Fine. Have it your way. The difference between 'extremely unlikely' and 'categorically impossible' is too small for me to worry about."

Akiva Miller

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