[Avodah] Ein Mosifin al haHalachah

[Micha Berger]

On Y-mi Maaser Sheini 1:1 2a, there is a discussion of the halakhah that
someone may not plant within 30 days of Rosh haHashanah of Shemittah.
If he did, he must uproot the plant. And if he didn't? Rabbi Ba [a/k/a R'
Abba] and R' Ami were staying in Tzur and this question came up, and
R' Ila ruled they must spill out the fruit.

    R' Ba said: I was not counted among them in the attic.
    R' Yonah and R' Yitzchaq bar Tivlei in the name of R' Lazar [a/k/a
    R' Elazar]: Ein mechadshin al hegezeirah.
    R' Asi said R Yitzchaq bar Tivlei in the name of R' Lazar:  Ein
    mosifin al hahlakhah.

It seems to be a pretty clear source that there is no new law without a
formal Sanhedrin session and hands being counted. R' Ba makes reference
to the famous meeting in R' Chananiah ben Chizqiyah ben Garon's attic,
when Beis Shamma and Beis Hillel convened a Beis Din haGadol and "18
devarim gazru bo bayom" (Mishnah Shabbos 1:4).

Interestingly, the Y-mi on the mishnah in Shabbos opens by saying that
this day was as difficult as the day the eigel was made. I don't know
what to make of it.

I mention this because RRW and I had a long misunderstanding which I
think just boiled down to whether or not "taqnah" really means only
in the sense of Hil Mamrim pereq 2, and other usages are loose one,
or whether I was being idiosyncratic on insisting on that tight usage.

Here we see that a real gezeirah requires a formal vote, and according
to R' Asi's version, any new din does.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man can aspire to spiritual-moral greatness
micha at aishdas.org        which is seldom fully achieved and easily lost
http://www.aishdas.org   again. Fulfillment lies not in a final goal,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      but in an eternal striving for perfection. -RSRH