[Avodah] Eilu v'eilu

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 02:15:53PM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
: Question: If one doesn't view eilu v'eilu as multiple truths but rather
: one truth and one nice try (but we don't know which is which), how do
: you explain the approach to halachic process which ignores academic
: findings concerning texts or historical circumstances?

To quote myself from <http://aishdas.org/asp/geulah-and-halachic-process>:

   Last week I drew the conclusion from the Qetzos haChoshen that Torah
   is not Truth, it -- combined with the Jewish People -- is the process
   by which "Truth will bloom from the earth"....

Thus, "vechayei olam nata besokheinu" -- Emes is matzmiach from the Torah.
Note that the Torah isn't actually identified with Emes, but the process
to get there.

   ...

   Rav Moshe Feinstein discusses the halachic process and the role of
   poseiq in his introduction to Igros Mosheh. (The introduction itself
   deserves serious study.)  He writes about "ha'emes lehora'ah umichuyav
   lehoros kein af al pi im be'etzem galyah kelapei shemaya galya she'eino
   kein hapeirush - the true ruling, and one is obligated to teach
   accordingly, even if in essence is it revealed in heaven that this
   isn't the correct eplanation!" The ideal is following the pesaq as
   according to the process.

   As proof, Rav Moshe brings the gemara in Shabbos 130. We rule that only
   the milah itself overrules Shabbos. All preparation before the milah
   must be done in advance. Rabbi Eliezer ruled that anything necessary
   for the milah, even cutting wood to make the fire to make the knife,
   etc... could also be done on Shabbos. There was a town in Israel that
   followed Rabbi Eliezer. The gemara says that Hashem rewarded them for
   their tenacity for the mitzvah of milah. No one in that town died an
   early death. And when the Romans passed a law in Israel against milah,
   they exempted that one town from the law!

   Who was right -- this town, which was rewarded for their position, or
   we, who rule differently? If we understand that the essence of halakhah
   is that it and the Jewish People become one in a process to make truth
   bloom in this world, we can understand how the answer could be "both".

   Torah, like life, is about becoming, not being.

IOW, if Torah is a legal process to reach the truth, and halakhah is
law rather than truths, then it would be reasonable for an truth foung
by extra-legal means to be irrelevant. We aren't up to pursuing Truth
directly yet, we pursue the law. Someday they'll be identical, and
and the neti'ah of chayei olam will have been matzmiach into Emes.


On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 02:22:34AM +0000, R' Akiva ("Kenneth") Miller
replied to RJR:
: You've lost me. Doesn't the grammar and definition of the words "eilu
: v'eilu" imply that the two things under discussion are equal? I just
: can't wrap my brain around a way to translate "eilu v'eilu" where one
: is truth and the other isn't.

RMF says they're equally balid legally, but not as Truths. Implied is
that Divrei E-lokim Chaim are on the meta-level, instructions about
about how to hunt for halakhah, not the individual halachic conclusions
themselves. Eilu va'eilu follow Hashem's instructions for how to pasqen,
but the halakhah is like Beis Hillel.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 13th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        1 week and 6 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Yesod sheb'Gevurah: To what extent is judgment
Fax: (270) 514-1507                   necessary for a good relationship?