[Avodah] dinosaurs

[Zev Sero]

Ilana Sober Elzufon wrote:

> Even in straight halacha - does elu v'elu (in the sense that both are 
> true on a deeper level, but only one can actually be accepted as 
> practice) apply to every single machloket? Up to what point? The gemara? 
> The rishonim? Nowadays? Or are there some opinions that are just not 
> true at all?

"Elu Va'elu Divrei Elokim Chayim" was a message from Above about BH
and BS, not about everybody.  A similar message is recorded in Shu"T
Min Hashamayim about the tefilin of Rashi and Rabbenu Tam.  Other than
these two examples I'm not aware of any guarantee that in any given
machlokes both are DECh.  As my father says, there are shiv'im panim
latorah, but there are also shiv'im achor.

There were certainly sefarim written in the times of the Rishonim that
were not DECh, and that expressed opinions in halacha that were pure
nonsense.   I'm thinking specifically of the sefer quoted (in order to
refute its opinion) in the first Tosfos in Chulin, which modern
editions give as "Hilchot Eretz Yisrael", though that title may be an
invention of the Bochur Hazetzer.   As far as I know this sefer (which
no longer exists) was rejected by all the rishonim, and need not be
respected merely for being old.

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Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher