[Avodah] The Dynamic of Post-Talmudic Brachos

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

I wrote:
> What we do have is a descriptive observation that we chose
> to avoid designing such brachos.

R' Rich Wolpoe responded:
> Exactly my point. POLICY
? Just like a [post-talmidic] BD might ban EG smoking or polygamy, etc.

I don't mind if you refer to this as "policy", but when you mention "BD" and "ban", it becomes clear that you have misunderstood me. It's quite possible that I'm wrong, but let me clarify again the point that I'm trying to make.

I'm trying to suggest that at no time did a Beis Din or any other organization, or even any individual, ever ban the establishing of new brachos. No one ever said, "Until now it has been okay to compose new brachos. But it stops here and it stops now."

Rather, what happened was that the idea of a bracha being similar to an oath took root among the people. These are things which people do not take lightly, and rightly so. The awe and respect properly due to a bracha grew to the point where there was a natural reluctance towards composing new brachos.

No one ever *banned* it. There was no *need* to ban it. And there is still no such ban today, only an *observation* that no new brachos are being composed.

(If you want to call this a self-imposed ban, I can't stop you. But to me, a self-imposed ban is when I tell myself that if should avoid XYZ because there's a good reason to avoid it. But if the reason I'm avoiding XYZ is that I find it to be a scary thing to do, then I haven't really *forbidden* it to myself at all.)

Akiva Miller

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