[Avodah] Seeing G'zeiros Everywhere

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

Dear Readers, 
You will likely fall into a range of opinions,

1 most negative - IOW it's all wrong
2 centrist - some right some wrong
3 most positive - Aha NOW I see this pattern for the last 1400 years
  following the tallmud
4 indifferent - you still may hang on as a spectator enjoying the
  spectacle!

-------------------------

Micha and I engaged in a lively debate offline regarding the term
"g'zeira". Now I'm seeing them everywhere ai even at yam suf!

Before I post a list of what *I* term different g'zeiros, I'm going to
give some background and caveats

The fictional Rabbi "Elizur". [REZ] allegedly said that prohibitting
riding a bicycle on shabbos is manufacturing a new g'zeira which may
not be done.

I'm not sure if he means after talmud or after the hurban BD hagadol
or what.

Nevertheless I will argue with that premise

Caveat 1.
Please do not bring MT Hilchos Mamrim into the fray. It is IMHO a very
speicific form of g'zeira that I'm really not addressing. My g'zeira
is more analogous to Qitnoyos or to the case found in Rambam MT
Hil. Hametz 5:3

Caveat 2. I will at times use 
- some brand new "taqqanos" or 
- newly minted institutions or
- sometimes newly minted alterations of institutions
to support my general hypothesis.

Even I know that certain taqqanos are truly not g'zeiros, but I will
conflate them anyway - mostly in order to show the ko'ach of Rabbinic
Judaism as it should be, even w/o a Sanhedrin.

Some Terminology:
I will use Catholic Israel [Ca-I]to refer to the amcha when something
is nispasheit

I will use terms like consensus or nimnu v'gamru when a "body" or college
of posqim are involved, even if it is a virtual one.

I will not have time to check out every source again. So some errors of
memory may creep in. Nevertheless I plan BEH to supply useful food for
thought as well as sources.

Generally a g'zeira is framed in Shas and posqim as follows:

X is assur shema/lest one does Y
Or
G'zeira X atu Y

OK let's first go hypothetical

H1 Can a Poseiq or. A BD today ban cigarette smoking? IOW W/O any
speficie whereases such as "v'Nishmartem m'od l'nafshoseichem"?

_________________

Here are bans that I personally see as modern day g'zeiros.
[I'm focusing on the modern times Post SA era]

Of course few may actually agree with me.]. I will not give my reasons,
I will just give the pattern. Then the reader may discern inductively
how they fit in as g'zeiros.


Agudist:
1 the ban on intermingling with non-ortho institutions [RAK's version
  of Austritt in America]

>From RMF
2 the ban that considers one using a microphone on Shabbos as not a
  shomer shabbos [even despite relying upon a lenient teshuva]
3 the ban on performing burials on YT Sheini
4 the ban against any eruv using the streets in Manhattan, [iow excluding
  apartment buildings]

Kashrus Agencies
5 the ban against certifying peanut oil despite the heter of RMF and
  minhag avos permitting them [g'zeira s'feiq qitniyyos atu vaday qitniyyos]
6 the ban against labelling DE and using D instead [lest people be confused]
7 Shuls w/o mechitzos - although Tosafos claims that Mehitzah is for
  "tz'niussa b'alma" organizations banned admitting non-mehitzah shuls
  circa 1970. [Note I'm NOT addressing mixed seating, merely "non-mehitza"
  shuls, which at least there is a dei'ah upon which to be someich]

R Henkin
8 thou shalt no longer rely upon the talmud or posqim for kidra hayssa.  

GRA
9 moshav yeqaro - morphed into v'chise ch'vodo. [Yekaro had an
  undesirable g'matriya]
10 no trees in shuls EG on Shavuos - [despite any minhag avos] - because
   other religions use trees as religious objects
11 Bans against Hassidim
12 Hirsch's Austritt
13 Bans against studying Qabbalah before a certain age
14 Bans against Moreh N'vuchim etc.
15 Bans against Mendelsohnn"s Bei'ur
16 Bans against preaching in the vernacular [even in the USA!]
17 Kitzur SA banned mixed seating at weddings.
18 Bans against weddings in shuls
19 Bans against singing Hatiqvah
20 [new requirement] read both zecher and zeicher in parshas zachor.

I am not familiar with the details of the vaad of 4 lands or the vaad
of Lita. I know from Wikipedia that the Taz was approved by the Vaad-of-4
- even though most pasqen like Shach anyway

Of course most will say Rabbi Wolpoe this are P'saq halachah - not
g'zeiros!

I say these are g'zeiros and not really P'saq halachah, but we've been
conditioned to see them as p'saq! This is AIUI due to a faulty ani
maamim that rabbis lack the authority to issue bans. But in reality d'u
na rabbosai - they do NOT lack this authority at all! But due to anivus
or whatever, it seems that way. Aderabba, rabbis have the authority
to issue g'zeiros, but I will BEH be coy as to the parameters of those
g'zeiros until my list is fairly robust. [Note I will respond to any
hypotheses/theories offline that show in clear black-and-white that such
authority still exists or vice versa]

BEH I will add more from earlier eras.

KT
RRW
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