[Avodah] "the miracle of judging by smell" was (Re: R. Akiva, Bar Kochba and Zecharya HaNovi)

[Joshua Meisner]

On Oct 18, 2017, at 11:44am, hankman wrote:
> When we learned this sugia recently in the daf yomi I asked the magid
> shiur that lechora this was keneged torah which requires eidim for
> most judgements. He answered that perhaps it means that one smell from
> Moshiach would be enough to get the person to be modeh al ha'emes. I
> replied that would only work for judgments in choshen mishpot (hodoas
> bal din) but not for cases involving arayos, malkos, or misah where two
> eidim are required and we are not permitted to accept his confession as
> ein adam meisim atzmo rasha...

Reaching a correct psak in any area of halacha requires obtaining
a full picture of the situation, including all relevant details and
the particular context. This requires that the posek have skill in
asking questions that will clarify these points and recognizing when,
intentionally or not, the answers he is receiving do not reflect the
whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Perhaps it is this sense that the navi is referring to.

Joshua Meisner