[Avodah] Rabbi not answering a question

[Akiva Miller]

.
R' Joel Rich asks whether "mutav sheyihu shogegin" and "Halacha v'ain morin
ken" apply when one is asked a direct question.

I'm not sure exactly what he means, but here's my guess: If we would be
totally literal and mechanical, we'd have to admit that these concepts
could be construed as ziyuf haTorah. These rules allow a rav to give the
impression that halacha is somewhat different than it truly is. These *are*
established rules, and they *are* allowed, but only as a b'dieved, to
prevent something worse from happening. So it seems that he's asking
whether these principles can be used only in an indirect manner (in which
case the falsifying of Torah is less overt, and dependent on the
interpretations of the people involved). Or perhaps these principles can
even be used when one is asked a direct question, in which case the
falsifying of Torah is totally overt, which could cause grave problems down
the road.

My first answer is that this very question ought to be an ample
demonstration that paskening cannot be made into a mechanical algorithm, as
we have discussed so many times. Even if the paskening of a particular
question might be straightforward, its application in the real world
oftentimes is not.

My second answer is that yes, these principles - and others - do indeed
apply even when one is asked a direct question. To me, this ziyuf haTorah
-- which I concede is important and even *required* if the rav sees the
situation as important enough to require it -- is very similar to another
very commonplace situation, that of exaggeration. It is very common to see
things like "Mitzvah ABC is more important than any other mitzvah!", when
in fact, there are situations where that mitzvah is set aside for another.
Or, "Aveirah XYZ is worse than any other aveirah!", when in fact, there are
situations where XYZ is the lesser evil.

All this goes to show how the Torah is not an object that can be digitized
and algorithm-ed, but it is a Toras Chaim, which lives and breathes by the
teachings of our teachers, who must judge each situation as it comes, based
on the totality of what they know and (perhaps more importantly) what they
*feel*.

Akiva Miller
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