[Avodah] Daas Torah Rerere...redux - Pesachim 112a

Micha Berger micha at aishdas.org
Thu May 10 11:38:09 PDT 2012


On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 12:51:26PM -0500, Lisa Liel wrote:
>> See also Rashi ad loc:
>>      Ve'al tadur be'ir...:
>>      Detarud begirseih velo bemilei detzibura.

>> Isn't Rashi saying that a TC who spends his time with texts lacks the
>> knowledge of what's going on in the society in question to be a good
>> leader?

> Rashi is saying that Rabbi Akiva is only saying not to live in a town  
> where the leaders learn Torah *to the exclusion* of community issues.

There is no "eilu talmidei chakhamim sheheim..." or similar construction.
I see Rashi as saying this is a norm for talmidei chakhamim. A talmud
chakham is not tarud bemilei detzibura, and therefore can't lead.

In any case, Daas Torah about following Rabban Gamliel, not exclusively
the Rabbi Yehoshua's of the world. (Reffering to Berakhos 28a.) As the
latter put it, speaking of R' Gamliel, "Oi lo ledor she'atah paranaso,
she'i atah yodeia betzaaran shel TC."

The argument I'm building appears (now that I find myself quoting that
maaseh about R' Gamliel) to be that of RALichtenstein. Even if we agree
that daas Torah is a real phenomenon, it requires that the TC you're
listening to knows the world beyond the beis medrash about which you're
asking.

See RAL's sichah, transcribed <http://bit.ly/A1zsvv>, R' Joseph Faith's
unauthorized translation
<http://www.zootorah.com/RationalistJudaism/DaatTorahLichtenstein.pdf>
and if you're curious, my impressions when R Marty Bluke posted the
link, <http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol29/v29n013.shtml#04>.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 33rd day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        4 weeks and 5 days in/toward the omer.
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