[Avodah] Avodah] Machlokes in Mishnayos, why?

H Lampel via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Sun Sep 3 18:14:10 PDT 2017



Sun, 3 Sep 2017 Marty Bluke asked:
> ...The Beis Din Hagadol was in existence throughout the period of the
> Tannaim...
> so how can the Rambam write When the Beis Din Hagadol was in existence
> there was no machlokes in Israel when Hillel and Shammai and their students
> had disputes that were unresolved when there clearly was a Beis Din Hagadol
> in existence?
> 2. Why didn't the Beis Din Hagadol resolve the disputes between Hillel and
> Shammai and their students and in fact all of the disputes in the Mishna?
> Why did they let Machlokes fester? Their clearly was a Beis Din Hagadol for
> most if not all of the period of the Tannaim.
By '''in existence,'' the Rambam means when it functioned properly. R' 
Yitzchak Isaac HaLevy in his work, Doros HaRishonim develops the sources 
that there were periods of persecution during which the Beis Din Gadol 
could not operate normally, including the time when Beis Shammai and 
Beis Hillel were unable to unite. The English-language Jewish history 
books that have been published over the past few decades follow this 
model. I have also done so in ''The Dynamics of Dispute,'' (Judaica 
Press) Chapter 10, ''The Control and Proliferation of Machlokess, 
Keeping the Torah One.''

Zvi Lampel




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