[Avodah] Dead-Letter Halakhoth

[Zev Sero]

On 9 March 2012 02:15, Jay F Shachter <jay at m5.chicago.il.us> wrote:


>  One example,
> perhaps not the best but certainly the most timely, is the halakha
> that you should observe Purim on the 15th of Adar in Shushan, and in
> any other city that was walled in ancient times.

Only if it was walled in Yehoshua's time.


>  But does any Jew
> observe this halakha outside of Israel, or, in fact, outside of the
> Jerusalem area?

Which other cities are known to have been walled then?


>  It seems to be the case that in every city outside of
> the Jerusalem area that was walled in ancient times, the Jews who live
> there have decided that for some reason or another that particular
> halakha does not apply to them.

They are simply not aware that their city was walled in Yehoshua's time, if
in fact it was.


>  I am not talking about cities that,
> at some point in their history, were burnt to the ground, and then
> rebuilt, perhaps in not exactly the same place.  I am talking about
> cities like, e.g., Beijing, that never were.

If you can find evidence that it was walled in Yehoshua's day, then I have
no doubt that Rabbi Freundlich will start keeping Shushan Purim and will
make a big deal out of it!


> Another example -- and perhaps there is a different mechanism at work
> in this case, I haven't thought carefully and done a thorough
> taxonomic classification of all these examples -- is when Jews ignore
> the halakha that you can't live in a city that has no mikveh.

Where is this halacha to be found?   I'm unaware of it, so maybe they are too.


> Consider another halakha that has, de facto, been defined out of
> existence, the halakha that you aren't allowed to mourn for a suicide.
> I have never seen anyone behave as if this halakha existed.

AFAIK it doesn't apply if 1) the person was out of his mind and therefore annus,
or 2) if the person had time to regret his action before he died, and
can therefore
be presumed to have done teshuvah.



> as if the Sages
> did not know that every suicide suffers -- and should be treated as an
> "oness", someone who sins under extenuating circumstances.  (What kind
> of suicide do they think the Sages were taking about?  The kind that
> doesn't suffer?)

Maybe the category of suicides to whom the halacha applies is in fact empty,
or nearly so.  Maybe the point of the halacha's existence is to emphasise the
seriousness of the issue, and to persuade those contemplating it to desist.
But there are at least some suicides that are done with a clear mind; people
who have rationally calculated their future prospects and very reasonably
decided that life holds no more pleasure for them, and the only reason *not*
to kill themselves is that Hashem forbids it.  And if they don't believe that,
or they decide that they don't care, *and* they choose a method that gives
them no time afterwards to do teshuvah, then I assume the halacha would
be applied to them.



> And as long as we are talking about funerals, consider the halakha
> that you're not allowed to deliver a eulogy on, e.g., Xol HaMo'ed.  I
> have never seen anyone behave as if this halakha existed.  There is a
> slightly different mechanism involved in this case: people admit that
> the halakha applies to them; they deny that they are violating it.
> Practically speaking, this halakha has only a single consequence: the
> sole difference between a funeral conducted on Xol HaMo`ed and a
> funeral conducted on a regular day of the year is that at a funeral
> conducted on Xol HaMo`ed, every speaker begins his remarks by saying,
> "hespedim are forbidden on xol hamo`ed" and there is no other
> perceptible difference.

Really?  I only remember going to one chol hamoed funeral, my great-aunt
Shirley's, and there were no hespedim.  I can't speak for your experience.
Note, though, that divrei kivushim are not hespedim, even if said at a funeral.


-- 
Zev Sero
zev at sero.name