[Avodah] The Axaronim

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, May 14, 2021 at 03:23:16PM -0500, Jay F. Shachter via Avodah wrote:
> The transition from the period of the Rishonim, to the period of the
> Axaronim, is when we began saying that to scholars of the Talmud.
> Rishonim were allowed to propose interpretations of the Talmud that no
> one else had previously thought of ("were allowed to" means "were
> taken seriously when they did").  Axaronim are not.  You can still be
> `oqer a din in the Shulxan `Arukh, but only if you find a Rishon on
> whom to base your psaq.

I have said here something similar. Except I looked at the acceptance
of the SA as the dividing line Not when we stopped studying Chazal
without the lens of rishonim, but when we accepted the SA to the point
when a poseiq needs to explain when they diverge from it, but not
when they conform.

And since anyone else since the acceptance of the SA would equally require
such justification, that support must come from someone prior to it.

And the same thing happened when the Mishna was accepted, dividing
tannaim and amor'aim, when Talmud Bavli was declared "sof hora'ah".

... And possibly is happening now.

The thing is, there is no such book now. And so, our grandchildren will
be able to determine which of use are correct.

R Moshe Lichtenstein argued as much in Tvunot #16, but my link to an
online copy of the article is now dead.

Poseqim today feel a need to justify from one pre-WWII acharon when
disagreeing with another from that period. So, it seems like we are
reading halakhah lemaaseh from the rishonim through the lens of pre-War
acharonim.

But, there is no such accepted book to parallel the Mishnah, Shas, or
the Greater SA. The Arukh haShulchan is losing the dominance it looked
like it would have for the first few decades. But, the MB only covers
a small subset of halakhah, OC.

So, if the rav born after WWII does end up being considered another
category of poseiq, it would mean you are correct. If not, I could be
right, or, there could be some other reason why the current convention of
holding pre-War posqim as having qualitatively higher authority doesn't
really last.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 It's nice to be smart,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   but it's smarter to be nice.
Author: Widen Your Tent                      - R' Lazer Brody
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF