[Avodah] R' Aharon Lichtenstein on Daas Torah

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Jan 05, 2012 at 07:44:52PM +0200, Marty Bluke wrote:
: R' Lichtenstein spoke on Chanuka about Daas Torah and his talk has been
: transcribed and published here:
: http://bit.ly/A1zsvv

For those whose Hebrew was overly weak for the amount of time or effort
they would dedicate to reading it, there is an unauthorized English
translation by R' Joseph Faith at
<http://www.zootorah.com/RationalistJudaism/DaatTorahLichtenstein.pdf>.

AIUI, his conclusion is that the only chiyuv to follow da'as Torah is
on religious questions. It makes logical sense to follow da'as Torah on
other questions, but DT is a rarity nowadays, if it is around at all.
He laments the days of RSZA, when DT was available.

There can be a talmud chakham without daas, since the gemara calls such
people worse than neveilos. So being a TC doesn't guarantee that the TC
posesses da'as.

In fact, since we now produce rabbanim by keeping them isolated from
the lifestyle of most of the sho'alim and the realia about which they're
being asked, it is impossible for today's talmidei chakhamim and poseqim
to apply DT to the kinds of questions we're discussing. In contrast to
the requirement for a member of Sanhedrin to know multiple languages
(Sanhedrin 17a) and thus be open to multiple perspectives and forms of
wisdom. RAL also cites the Netziv, who requires dayanim to be open and
broadly educated, not one who never leaves the 4 amos shel halakhah. And
the Gra, (Sifra deTzniusa) that requires studying language and grammar.

The Rambam and the Noda biYhudah lived amongst the people.

OTOH, R' Gamliel was impeached, in part, because he was too cut off from
the lifestyle of those he led.

And yet the rabbanim being asked for DT rarely are willing to say "I
don't know" or "this is not my field of expertise". They are removed from
the reality about which they're asked -- both in background and by the
cadre of askanim around them -- they simply don't have da'as relevant
to the question.

Last, RAL cites the Sifri on "ve'ahavta es H' E-lokekha" -- that we
are to make HQBH beloved by humanity, like Avraham did. A rav's job
is to bring others to Ahavas Hashem. If he isn't, if he instead digs
his heals in deeper, if his behavior is a violation of lifnei iveir in
causing hatred of G-d and of other Jews, one has experimental evidence
of a lack of da'as in general, and thus DT.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Life isn't about finding yourself
micha at aishdas.org        Life is about creating yourself.
http://www.aishdas.org                - Bernard Shaw
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