[Avodah] RYBS's Talk on Hafkaas Kiddushin, Talmud Torah and Kabalas Ol Malchus Shamayim

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

R' Ari Kahn posted a transcript of that famous talk that people remember
for RYBS's statement about tav lemeisiv.
http://arikahn.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/rabbi-soloveitchik-talmud-torah-and.html

As a teaser, here is all RYBS said on tev lemeis tan du:
    Let me add something that is very important: not only the halachos
    but also the chazakos [19] which chachmei chazal have introduced
    are indestructible. We must not tamper, not only with the halachos,
    but even with the chazakos, for the chazakos of which chazal spoke
    rest not upon transient psychological behavioral patterns, but upon
    permanent ontological principles rooted in the very depth of the
    human personality, in the metaphysical human personality, which
    is as changeless as the heavens above. Let us take for example
    the chazaka that I was told about: the chazaka tav l'meisiv tan
    du mil'meisiv armalo [20] has absolutely nothing to do with the
    social and political status of women in antiquity. This chazaka is
    based not upon sociological factors, but upon a verse in breishis
    -- harba arbeh itz'voneich v'heironeich b'etzev teildi vanim v'el
    isheich t'shukaseich v'hu yimshal bach -- "I will greatly multiply
    thy pain and thy travail; in pain thou shalt bring forth children,
    and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee"
    [21]. It is a metaphysical curse rooted in the feminine personality
    -- she suffers incomparably more that the male who is in solitude.
    Solitude to the male is not as terrible an experience, as horrifying
    an experience, as is solitude to the woman. And this will never
    change, mayid shamayim vaaretz [22]. This is not a psychological
    fact; it is an existential fact, which is due not to the inferior
    status of the woman, but rather to the difference, the basic
    distinction, between the female personality and the male personality.
    Loneliness frightens the woman, and an old spinster's life is much
    more miserable and tragic than the life of an old bachelor. This was
    true in antiquity; it is still true, and it will be true a thousand
    years from now. So, to say that tan du mil'meisiv armalo was or
    is due to the inferior political or social status of the woman
    is simply misinterpreting the chazaka tan du mil'meisiv armalo.
    No legislation can alleviate the pain of the single woman, and no
    legislation can change this role. She was burdened by the Almighty,
    after she violated the first [law]. Let me ask you a question --
    ribono shel olam, G-d Almighty, if you should start modifying and
    reassessing the chazakos upon which a multitude of halachos rest,
    you will destroy yehadus. So instead of philosophizing, let us
    rather light a match and set fire to the beis yisrael, and get rid
    of our problems.

What I think is more typical of the general thesis of this portion of
his talk was the immediately prior statement:
    V'chen hakofer b'perusha v'hu torah she b'al peh v'hamach'chish
    magideha; he who denies the perfection and the truthfulness of
    chachmei chazal -- not of the Torah, but of the chachmei chazal
    as personalities, as real persona as far as their character, their
    philosophy, or their outlook on the world is concerned -- is a kofer.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 9th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            most appropriate?