[Avodah] Consumer Alert: Minhog Scams On The Rise!

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 05:37:22PM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
>> Those are just the fool-making stories he's talking about!

> Since when?  What source do you have for that?  Clearly he's talking
> about the stories that nobody can possibly believe literally happened,
> such as those of Rabba bar Bar Chana.

Look at the Rambam's words. He says that divrei chakhamim are melitzah,
and intepreting them literally is wrong. That part doesn't require
disbelieving that they aren't also potentially historical -- just that
there is no actual historical claim being made. Chazal do not repeat
a story any more because it's history than if it weren't. But then he
talks about people who "...vena'asu etzlam kol hanimna'os mechuyevei
hamtzei'us." The Rambam rules out such stories that defy nature.

BTW, I found a copy, with translation, on R' David Guttman's blog.

Kat 1:
http://yediah.blogspot.com/2008/01/foolishness-of-literalists-rambam-on.html

Kat 2:
http://yediah.blogspot.com/2008/01/evil-literalists-rambam-on-agadeta.html

Kat 3:
http://yediah.blogspot.com/2008/01/rambam-on-aggadeta-correct-approach.html


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When you come to a place of darkness,
micha at aishdas.org        you don't chase out the darkness with a broom.
http://www.aishdas.org   You light a candle.
Fax: (270) 514-1507        - R' Yekusiel Halberstam of Klausenberg zt"l