[Avodah] Brisker Torah and Design Patterns

[Micha Berger]

In preparation for this week's catching-up on work, I got ahead on
my Arukh haShulchan Yomi (AhSY) over Pesach. But now I have a couple
of minutes to share an obsersation I made while learning OC 436:13-14
(from tomorrow's / Tue 26-Apr's AhSY).

I think that someone whose learning is dominated by Brisker lomdus would
have nodded when learning the first 3/4 of se'if 13.

According to one opinion in the SA's se'if 3, a person who is moving out
of property owned by a non-Jew less than 30 days before Pesach without
having a new home before Pesach has to do beqidas chameitz. According to
the other opinion, added by the Rama in the name of the Tur, he doesn't --
it's the non-Jew's, after all.

In #13, we are set up a classical gavra-cheftza distinction:

The first opinion is saying his chiyuv of bediqah is still attached to
the first home, And the second is saying it's a chiyuv on the cheftza
of the home, and therefore a non-Jew's home would be exempt.

But then he asks the questions the Taz rejects the first opinion with:

1- Since when is bediqah a chovas haguf?

2- And if it is, why only if the home was a non-Jew's? His personal
chiyuv wouldn't be satisfied if the home were returned to a Jewish
landlord? (Me: I would think that this is only if he doesn't make the
landlord, who would have a chiyuv on the same house, his shaliach.)

I am reminded of something from my profession, computer programming. For
a while one of the top buzzwords was "Design Patterns". People noticed
that certain ideas were being used and reused, and they came up with
ideas about how to catalog them to make it more obvious when to use
one of them and when not. One of the observations that caused backlash
was that programmers that overused standard Design Patterns were less
likely to be creative. Why innovate a solution if there is a known one
that could do the job? And if it isn't as clear or efficient as what
you could have come up with, how would you know -- you never bothered
coming up with the idea in order to do the comparison!

Gavra vs cheftza is a Design Pattern for resolving sugyos. Something
true of the whole idea of classic Brisker chaqiros. Note that Rav Chaim's
original derekh didn't focus on any specific set of oft arising chaqiros;
this is a later innovation anyway.

And so I fear that too many guys learning today would never have thought
of the Taz's questions, because they would be too enthralled by the
beauty of the gavra-cheftza chaqira.

Whereas in Telzher derekh, where even if you end up with a Design Pattern
chaqira you still have to understand *why* this din has that chaqira,
a talmid would be less likely to fall into that trap.

And so the typical bachur is Brisk-thinking and would never get to RYME's
sevara for the first shitah: If this is the nearest thing the Jew has
to a home, and no non-Jew moved into the house, the home is thought of
as the Jew's and therefore the chameitz in it is still his! Maybe not
for bal yeira'eh -- the bitul of chameitz left behind is pretty total --
at least for the asei of bediqah.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Today is the 9th day, which is
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
Author: Widen Your Tent      Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                          most appropriate?