[Avodah] Gezeira's Tach V'Tat

[Zev Sero]

On 15/02/2012 1:33 AM, cantorwolberg at cox.net wrote:
> 3006. The Tosfos YomTov writes that the 'Gezeira's Tach V'Tat' - when Jews were massacred en masse,
> was as a direct result of people speaking during davening and Krias Hatorah. /Piskei Tshuvos 151:3/
>
> I would be interested to know if I'm the only one on Avodah who is
> greatly bothered by the above statement.  To say that one is worthy
> of being massacred because of speaking during davening and k'rias
> haTorah is a bit harsh; don't you think?

On the contrary, the fact that the TYT wrote it proves that it is
appropriate, and that our modern standards need recalibrating.


> This is the same mentality as saying the holocaust was a result of
> irreligious Jews. I believe it is Rav Soloveitchik who had
> said anyone who gives a reason for the Holocaust is a fool.
> Thoughts?

If it comes down to a contest between RYDS and the TYT, that clearly
is no contest.  Ela mai?  RYDS was certainly aware of the TYT, and
therefore what he said cannot have been inconsistent, at least in his
own mind, with what the TYT wrote.

-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
zev at sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
		 are expanding through human ingenuity."
		                            - Julian Simon