[Avodah] tfilat haderech and birchat hagomel

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Feb 05, 2013 at 12:54:19PM -0500, David Riceman wrote:
> Actually I think the pasuk is part of the excuse.  IIRC he said that if  
> one were to deny the presumption of "tav l'meisav ..." then vast areas  
> of halacha would be rendered moot.  My impression is that that was his  
> actual reason for disagreeing with Rabbi Rackman (my memory is fuzzy - -  
> I may not have the names correct).

Yes, it was RYBS taking on R' Emanuel Rackman and his beis din.

And your impression is proabaly correct, as that's how RALichtenstein
presented his father-in-law's argument. This whole topic of tav lemeisiv
was one line.

BUT, I think that given RYBS's Brisker lineage and academic background,
I think he would take far less license constructing a "da mah lehashiv"
type argument than would have many of his contemporaries. "Intellectual
honesty" was a recurring theme in talking to talmidim. If RYBS said it,
he was pretty convinced at the time, and not just giving an efshar lomar
or something probably true.

So, rejecting tav lemeisiv wouldn't IMHO (and as implied by RAL) overturn
his masqahah. But it doesn't make the idea itself less firmly RYBS's
position on the topic of chazaqah.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

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