[Avodah] A Cheireish Who Could Write

[Zev Sero]

Micha Berger wrote:
> AFAIK, "everyone" holds that today's deaf-mute would not qualify as
> cheireish. The idea being that a cheireish is someone who is cut off
> from communication and can't be taught, a problem not faced by today's
> deaf-mute, now that we have sign languages.

Everyone seems to hold this way today, at least in public, but I've
never found a decent explanation of why, that doesn't ignore the open
halacha you mention, about a cheresh who can write fluently.  I think
the question is avoided in practise, by relying on the fact that almost
every dumb person can really speak in a way that's intelligible to those
who know him very well, and is therefore not really dumb.




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Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
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