[Avodah] Psak in Machshava

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 03:00:59PM -0500, Rich, Joel wrote:
:> WADR to RSK (the translator I cut-n-pasted from), "nimnu vegamru"
:> does literally refer to counting votes. And it is, as RJR noted in his
:> original post, "the language of psak".

:> I think the Maharal's point is that the gemara isn't so much about Beis
:> Hillel and Beis Shammai arguing on an aggadic point as an aggadic story...
:> The "nimnu vegamru" is within the story, part of the mashal, as well.

: .... So while the Maharal's take coheres with a no psak in hashkafa
: position, the simple pshat would be psak.

The question is the value of the simple peshat of an aggadita.

WRT pesuqim, we have "ein davar yotzei miydei peshuto", which might imply
that WRT their own metaphors, Chazal *did* sometimes (usually?) say things
that had no value to the peshat level.

OTOH, there are rules that constrain the content of aggadic stories which
thereby imbue content to their peshat. E.g. they would never violate
halakhah by attributing a sin to a tzadiq who didn't commit it. So if a
midrashic story attributes an act to one of the avos or shevatim (eg),
later generations will discuss how it was mutar.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             For a mitzvah is a lamp,
micha at aishdas.org        And the Torah, its light.
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