[Avodah] Characterizing our era (was: Re: shabbas//mishum eiva, etc???)

[Micha Berger]

I was actually thinking in entirely different terms.

Speaking historically, we can speak of Anshei Kenesses haGedolah, the
Zugos, the tannaim, amoraim, savora'im, ge'onim, rishonim, acharonim,
and...?

But I was thinking halachically. (And I just paused to approve a post
by RnCL who appears to be thinking along the same lines.) A world in
which the zugos are a subclass of tannaim, because tannaim felt free
to consider them baalei pelugta. Similarly, rishonim didn't feel a
particular requirement to justify differing with geonim, as long as
they were consistent with their understanding of Chazal. We can argue
whether the lines are mandatory, convention, mandatory only in the case
of tannaim vs amora'im, etc.. but in practice, we do find these eras of
halachic authority.

And I'll note but not dwell on the question of whether savoraim should
be considered amoraim or geonim (ie very very early rishonim).

Then we get to the acharonim, who with few exceptions (the Ari, the Besht
and the Gra are the only three that I can think of) would not take a
position based on amoraim without taking "rishonim" (including geonim,
as per above) into account.

Until recently. Posqim born before the Shoah were and are willing to
argue their understanding of the rishonim without much worry that they
were disagreeing with an earlier acharon. Eg the IM.

Addressing that post from RnCL that didn't yet reach my inbox, to
paraphrase the gemara, "RMF acharon hu upalig". You can't cite
those who straddled both eras as counter-examples.

But now among the gedolim who weren't deciding halakhah before 1945,
it seems to me attention has shifted to following our understanding of
the pre-War acharonim, turning only to directly referring to rishonim
when there is no clear acharonic position. A parallel:

    An acharon would pasqen based on rishonim, and turn to chazal only
    when that fails to produce a clear answer

    A post-WWII poseiq tends to (always?) pasqens based on acharonim,
    and turn only to rishonim when that fails to produce a clear answer

I said this is something historians may someday decide. I wrote that
because I feel it's all too new to see if a real trend is emerging.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

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