[Avodah] new editions

[Micha Berger]

On a related note, there is a three-way machloqes about how to determine
the shitah of R' Yosef Caro. I couldn't find the previous discussion of
this, when I still remembered who said what. ROY was involved.

1- Follow the SA.

The SA is his code, what do to in the "universal" sense. See the thread
"is psak local or universal" and the URL with which RSZN launched it
<http://garnelironheart.blogspot.com/2010/08/guest-post.html>.
"Garnel Ironheart" emphasized the "local" nature of halakhah, how much
it depends on the particulars of the case. R' Ben Hecht thought he
over-corrected, and wrote about the universal-general is no less critical.

To me it sounded like the reverse of when I wrote about halakhah
as a heuristic, weighing the pros and cons on legal-process,
mimetic, and spiritual desirata. And RnCL thought I was being to
"top-down" and corrected me by reinforcing the "bottom-up" aspects.
This then became one of three comments on Avodah that pointed out
parts of my theory on halachic process that needed more elaboration
<http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2007/12/halachic-process-addenda.shtml>
has quotes from her posts and my response.

Anyway, since a code emphasizes the universalist / top-down elements
of halakhah, it is more suitable for application to new cases. We do
not know everything about the case in the teshuvah, and there might
be something about that case that isn't in ours that wuold have made
a difference to the meishiv (in this case, Maran Bet Yosef).

2- Follow the teshuvah.

Teshuvos, being lemaaseh, are written with greater siyata diShmaya than
the theoretical. Therefore the teshuvah is more authoritative.

3- Follow whichever was later.

This sounds to me the most logical, however....

a- Arguably the Beis Yoseif was a rishon, but as the author of a post-SA
teshuvah the very same mechaber is arguably an acharon!

b- Dating his teshuvos are in most cases guesswork. It is usually unclear
which came after the SA.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             None of us will leave this place alive.
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http://www.aishdas.org   to be as human as possible while we are here.
Fax: (270) 514-1507            - Anonymous MD, while a Nazi prisoner