[Avodah] Consumer alert:minhog scams on the rise!

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jul 06, 2011 at 06:48:29PM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
> You can only say they found it sensible if they thought it was true.
> And if they thought it was true, what makes you say it isn't?

I deny the premise, and thus the conclusion. They thought it was worth
repeating, which means that they thought the story relays the right
message without negative elements

I'm defending the position of rov rishonim, BTW. You are free to hold
otherwise. (Much the way most contemporary Jews believe in universal
hashgachah peratis.) But you perforce must accept the validity of a
position that runs through millenia of baalei mesorah.

BTW, R' Gershon Seif's post at
<http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol16/v16n020.shtml#02> is an easy place
to start a list of mar'eh meqomos.

Again, the sources have been collected on list and in Daas Torah.
Peruse them and then argue; don't just dismiss a valid shitah out of
hand. R' Saadia Gaon, the Rambam, his son R' Avraham, the Ritva, the
Maharal, the Ramchal, the Vilna Gaon, the Maharetz Chajes, R' Hirsch,
R' Yisrael Salanter, etc... weren't stupid.

If you want to argue, don't do so on the basis that they failed to
understand basic logic.

If I thought I came across a trivial way to dismiss a position that well
supported, personally I would assume I didn't understand the position.

Yes, the Maharsha appears to only dismiss those stories one has to (his
criticism of the Arukh WRT Vashti's tail, although in other places he
may say otherwise) and the Rashbam also assumes literalness, but as far
as I can see, until modern times they were the mi'ut.

For that matter, you are now using arguments that would work against
your own version of the Rambam! No matter which subset of stories you
feel a given rishon says we should assume are ahistorical, as long as
there is such a collection your notion that it's only sensible if it
were true would apply to those stories.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
micha at aishdas.org        I awoke and found that life was duty.
http://www.aishdas.org   I worked and, behold -- duty is joy.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                        - Rabindranath Tagore