[Avodah] Halacha vs. Policy - Poll re: Who To Marry

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

mikewinddale at gmail.com
> This is obvious, and. you don't need to serve under a poseq to know
> it. I don't see why serving under a poseq would make this any more or less
> obvious. Why on earth would someone think that it is better to marry the
> non-Jew??!! Just read all the Tanakhic narratives and midrashim about
> marrying gentiles,...

It is IMHO that intermarriage is such a ubiquitous theme in Tanach that
at times it seems to me that Tanach is a kind of "manifesto against
intermarriage". ;-) At least it's a major meta-Halachah.

[Email #2. -micha]

mikewinddale at gmail.com
> Rabbi Kaminetsky offers a litmus test to distinguish
> between those who have apprenticed under a poseq, and those who haven't,
> and according to his test, I have in fact so apprenticed!! 

> It is only due to my own knowledge of myself that I know I'm nowhere near
> the stature of a poseq, but if I were to rely on Rabbi Kaminetsky's test,
> I'd have to say I am in fact a poseq. Anyone who's standards are so low as
> his, I don't want to be a part of his group. If Rabbi Kaminetsky's litmus
> test for poseqim is indicative of his own personal stature as a poseq,
> then I don't want him as my poseq. He says I'm of the stature of a poseq,
> but I disagree and I say I'm not of that stature.

The above betrays a major logic flaw
Let me use a reductio ad absurdum

Litmus test:
If you add 2 Plus 2 you fail math and are  no longer eligible for a PhD

RMM's logic is tantamount to saying
"Since I DO know 2 plus 2 equals 4 - ergo I'm a PhD candidate!"

The litmus test here is to dismiss a certain error. It does not mean
that all those who fail to make the error are accomplished scholars!

Here this litmus test is to show that a novice scholar will usually
naively err.

A Complete Non-Scholar might intuit the correct answer - precisely
because he lacks intermediate level data! It's that intermediate level
that RYK is addressing

Here is another illustration

A typical non-Jew will rush to violate shabbos to save a life
Shabbos is no factor

A typical talmid chacham will do the same

But, It's the novice scholar or the new BT who is the most likely to
hesitate!

Therefore merely passing RYK's test might simply inidicate a lack of
gravitas to be even tempted by the incorrect hava amina.

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

At any rate, arguing with a given poseiq is AISI a fair game provided
one has all their ducks lined up.
The best illustration I've seen is Shach taking on Rema on "bassar
sh'ma azlinan"
[Beginning of taaroves]
The Shach was not only a brilliant poseiq in his own right, his
methodology is IMHO often one of the best to emulate.

KT
RRW
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