[Avodah] R Avraham

[Eli Turkel via Avodah]

R Michael Avraham gave 2 different lectures today in Raanana.
In one in started a new series entitled expert vs rabbi

I an extremely short review his main point is that in most areas the expert
can never give a definitive answer. He can only supply statistics or in RMA
words he provides a graph of the probability of outcomes as a function of
either one or many variables.

Thus, for example a doctor cannot say whether fasting will harm a patient
on YK. He can only provide statistics. A transportation engineer cannot say
what is a safe driving speed on a given highway. He can only give a graph
of expected fatalities vs car speed. Similarly does returning land to the
Arabs constitute pikuach nefesh. The military experts can at best give
various scenarios and probabilities as a function of many variables.

Thus there are 3 steps in any psak. 1) derive the graph and statistics -
this is the job of the expert
2) decide what level of risk is acceptable - this is the job of the rabbi
3) deliver a psak based this analysis
(1) can be disputed by anyone who has access to the full information and
the appropriate knowledge
(2) The rabbis opinion is just an opinion - exceptions to this rule are
either a sanhedrin or when has accepted the rabbi for example in a local
shul
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In the second shiur he claimed that there are 2 types of teshuva process.
One that one repents on individual sins. This requires the technicalities
of teshuva, repentance on the past, vidui and determination not to repeat
the sin. The second kind is where one changes one's personality, example is
Elazar ben dordaya. This kind does not need the technicalities of teshuva
as now the person is a different personality. This kind also works in
reverse when a tzaddik changes totally to a rasha while the first kind
works only in one direction.

A more controversial point he made is that the total change of personality
in teshuva is a special chessed of hashem and the regular person can't make
such a change in a different situation.

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A third shiur was given last night by a local rabbi who has a kolel on
monetary matters and also heads of bet din for monetary matters.

In referring to the recent controversy in Israel on fixing tracks on
shabbat he claimed that while it is well known that pikuach nefesh
over-rides shabbat it is also true that a major monetary loss to the
community also over-rides shabbat. He stressed that his opinion was a
generality and that its application to any specific case would require
further investigation.

-- 
Eli Turkel
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