[Avodah] Maharat

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 08/06/17 22:36, Noam Stadlan via Avodah wrote:

> I think the plain reading of the Rambam in Hilchot Sanhedrin 4 is 
> that he is discussing Mosaic semicha that was still operative in the
> time of the Gemara.

I think that is obvious, and it didn't occur to me that this could be 
what R Micha was referring to.  I thought there must be some other 
Rambam, perhaps a teshuvah, where he discusses "modern" semicha to 
whatever extent such a thing even existed in his day and place.

BTW I have seen it suggested that the original semicha was kept alive at 
the yeshivah in Damascus (they would cross into the borders of EY to 
confer it) until it was destroyed in the 2nd Crusade, which, if true, 
would mean there may still have been living musmachim in the Rambam's day.


> Thanks to the Rav who referenced the article in Tradition on triage. 
> That is an excellent source. I was actually thinking of a similar 
> statement made by R. Avraham Steinberg in his Encyclopedia of Medical 
> Ethics on the topic of triage.

But that article doesn't support the claim you made, that there exist 
poskim -- and in fact that it is the unanimous position of MO poskim -- 
that this halacha is no longer operative.  The article cites sources 
relevant to the entire topic of triage, in all circumstances, including 
the mishneh and gemara in Horiyos, and I didn't see any suggestion that 
they are less authoritative or applicable today than they ever were.

-- 
Zev Sero                May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
zev at sero.name           be a brilliant year for us all