[Avodah] Who is a Talmid Chacham

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Jul 06, 2012 at 06:15:04PM +0300, Doron Beckerman wrote:
: As RZS said, Talmidei Chachamim are allowed to volunteer. See the RYM
: Tickuczinky piece I've linked to a few times. It isn't even relevant
: whether David Hamelech was a TC. The question is drafting them, which Asa
: was punished for.

Asa didn't draft them for national defense, he had them gathering the
stones off Ramah and building with them. Melakhim I 15:23, and the
gemara's calling them an angary <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angary>.
(Thanks to RZS for identifying the term for me.)

It certainly wasn't for a milkhemes mitzvah, since R' Yehudah holds
Asa accountable for drafting grooms and brides, which the Rambam says
is approriate for a milkhemes mitzvah.

:> Because the quote is about the halachic authority of "hashofeit asher
:> bayamim haheim." See RH 25a-b. Yiftach is being described as his
:> generation's greatest TC, or at least greatest poseiq (and thus some
:> sort of TC).

: No, he isn't. He was very far from it. Along with Gideon and Shimshon, he
: is described as a Kal Olam who was appointed as a Parnas on the Tzibbur....

In a relative sense. Thus the contrast to Shemuel. But the context is
that "lo sasur" applies to Yiftach. The sugya begins (25a) with the
anonymity of the 70 zeqeinim of the first DB haGadol. As Rashi writes:
"Selo yomar adam -- al BD shebeyamav..." In the gemara itself, that
"parnas" is described with "uvasa el hakohanim, haleviim, ve'el hashofeit
ash yiyhey bayamim haheim. This is halachic authority, not political.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A sick person never rejects a healing procedure
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