[Avodah] changes in circumstances

[Joseph Kaplan]

> On Jul 30, 2021, at 1:45 PM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
> 
> If the AhS could declare reshus harabbim deOraisa as not applying in
> any of "our cities", what would be the difficulty with thinking it's
> very hard to be chayav Tefillas haDerekh because of car travel?

I don’t know the answer to the question but I can posit a possibility. If the purpose of tefillat haderech was to institute a bracha on long trips, it could have been defined in what was considered a long trip in those times. That is, most long trips met the parameters set forth. But if they could have imagined many many long trips that still were not cibetdered long because of a changed urban/suburban landscape, then, perhaps, they might have used different parameters. The reasoning for rishut hayachid deoraita might be different so changed circumstances and landscapes might not impact on stub decisions. 

I acknowledge that I don’t know if that’s the case, which is why I used “perhaps” in both my original comment and this one. 

Joseph