[Avodah] Sukkah on Shabbos

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Oct 05, 2009 at 04:02:24PM +0000, rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com wrote:
: The gzeiro s in the mishnah as axiomatic

: The GMARA assigns rabba's svara to it
...
: Nevertheless, It's still a pretty good question! But the shema yaavirena
: is AFAIK never used to generate any gzeira. Rather it is Rabbah's svara
: to explain the gzeiros that already [pre-]existed in the Mishnah! (Or
: possibly from an old Sanhedrin)

This touches on the question of defining taamei hamitzvos.

The Chinukh calls them meshoreshei hamitzvah, meaning that they are
partial explanations, but actual elements of why Hashem commanded the mitzvah.

RSRH appears to side with the Chinukh, except also focusing on a lesson
aspect far more often than the Chinukh does. To him, a taam hamitzvah is
a/the lesson that the mitzvah was commanded to teach us.

R' JB Solovetichik talks about "halachic hermeutics" (his term), that we
can not know any actual "Why?" for a mitzvah, not even partially, but
he can offer some lessons one can learn post-facto.

Similarly, when Rabba gives a reason for a pre-existing gezeira, is he
trying to draw a post-facto lesson for the audience? Or is he saying
that this wwas what Anshkei Keneses haGedolah actually had in mind when
making the gezeirah?

I think the discussion going on presumes the latter (I know I did),
that although the reason is articulated by Rabba, it's Rabba's shitah
that this is the sevara that actually caused it.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Our greatest fear is not that we're inadequate,
micha at aishdas.org        Our greatest fear is that we're powerful
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                        - Anonymous