[Avodah] More on Who Wrote the Mishna Brura

Micha Berger via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Thu May 28 08:23:01 PDT 2015


On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 02:22:41PM +0000, Eli Turkel wrote:
: I agree he must have looked it over

Which is why I think R/Dr MS is making too much ado over the actual
authorship.

: That leaves the question of contradictions

Well, not every sheverer Rambam is a printing error either. Another case
where the academic norm is to run far further with some fun concept
than I'm comfortable with.

Perhaps we should be looking for how the contradictions are only apparent.
Or perhaps the CC felt than ruling al pi rov or safeiq lechumerah/lequlah
in two different cases needn't results in consistencies between pesaqim.

Before you spend too much time on that bothering you, recall when we
daven minchah and maariv. If the tefillos are on two different days, you
can end up following different definitions of evening on different days.

: And stories about minhagim of cc that are different than what is in mb

I thought R/Dr Seth Mandel's position is compelling. Look at the title page
and the haqdamah. The CC never claims that the MB is a seifer of pesaq.
Rather, he describes the work as a survey.  From the title page, defining
the MB (as opposed to the left column about the BH):
    I called my biur by the name MB since within it is explained
    (misbareir; c.f. "berurah") the words of the SA, every law by its
    reasoning and origins in the gemara and posqim that it not be like
    a sealed book.
    Also I will collect in it all the dinim, halakhos and biurim scattered
    amog the books of the acharonim, meforshim of the SA who are known
    (like MA, PMG, Birkhei Yoseif, Maamar Mordekhai and many such.) There
    are many of them after the Be'er Heitiv and they are not brought in
    shu"t because they are somwhat scattered in various places. All of
    these are compiled here, and all is in a straightforward and easy
    language and in proper order, with Hashem's help.

And the BH:
    Also, I appended on its side some necessary inyanim titled under
    the name Biur Halakhah -- and as the name, so it is. For in it I
    sometimes explained the words of halakhah which are brought in
    summary in the MB without proof, and here I show (be"h) its source
    looking inall of gemara and the posqim. Also in it are sometimes
    explains the words of the SA at length in places which need
    explanation.

(Sorry, just always wanted to bother translating that -- this thread
was just my excuse.)

So, the MB is a survey, and thus the halachic conclusions found in it
(and explained in the BH) are purely what in theory the sources surveyed
would indicate.

It's not that the CC didn't believe in mimeticism, it's that the MB
is a book of theory and therefore ignores mimeticism. The MB was written
lehalakhah velo lemaaseh.

Which makes it ironic that so many RYs of the mid- and late 20th cent
worked so hard to make the work a "poseiq acharon" lemaaseh.

Whereas he CC's own practice did reflect weighing shitos based on their
acceptance. And so, unsurprisingly, in all the places I know of where
his own practice didn't fit the MB (such as supporting a community eiruv,
despite BH 364 "ve'achar") his practice does follow the AhS.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "The most prevalent illness of our generation is
micha at aishdas.org        excessive anxiety....  Emunah decreases anxiety:
http://www.aishdas.org   'The Almighty is my source of salvation;  I will
Fax: (270) 514-1507      trust and not be afraid.'" (Isa 12) -Shalhevesya



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