[Avodah] The Bond that Ties Chazon and Nahamu Together

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 12:26:53PM -0400, Cantor Wolberg via Avodah wrote:
: Interestingly (as a side) the Talmud (Bava Metzia 30b) asserts that
: the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed because people stuck to the leter of
: the law and did not penetrate the spirit of the law.

This is not the only way to understand that gemara.

It could be that it was because people stuck to the letter of the
law without ever trying for any stretch goals. As RYBS often said,
"Halakhah is a floor, not a ceiling."

Admittedly, one can't know which way is "up", what direction to go
beyond the letter of the law -- or in rabbinic idiom, which direction
is further in from the borders of the legal (lifnim mishuras hadin) --
without getting some sense of taamei hamitzvah. The "experimental data"
of mitzvos are our strongest indicators of qedusha, tov and yosher
with which to implement "qedoshim tihyu", "vehasisa hayashar vehatov",
or hilkhos dei'or.

But it gives a behavioral / moral focus to their flaw rather than a
coginitive / theological one.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Live as if you were living already for the
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