[Avodah] RLakish & RElozor - Is less than honest thinking a deception OR What is honest thinking

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 11:17:52AM +1100, Rabbi Meir G. Rabi via Avodah wrote:
> Reb Micha also wrote that
>> The whole reason why someone who never did
>> shimush is an am haaretz or a bur is because real pesaq ALWAYS needs a
>> feel, and not just expertise.

> I think the Maharal has a different approach -- see Nesiv HaTorah end ch 15
> where he explains that blindly following the Pesak of great TCh is contrary
> to the purpose of the Torah and Creation...

We discussed this ad nauseum in the past, and you didn't convince me then,
either.

He talks about not blindly following a pesaq, but his contrast is with
understanding the pesaq first. His objection is with the blindness, not
the following. This is why it's in the same discussion in the Maharal
as his low opinion of codification.

> I believe we may have discussed this earlier regarding R Ch Voloshiner's
> explanation [PAvos Ch 1] of becoming covered in the dust of the feet of
> one's teachers, which he interprets to mean WRESTLE with your teachers,
> RAISE THE DUST or have a 'dust up' with them [as we see the Torah describe
> YaAkov's fight VaYeOVek Ish Imo] if you have Qs about their ruling.

Which is also about understanding and challenging. RCV in particular is
more focused on about talmud Torah than pesaq.

In any case, here we do not know how much RL favored the conclusion he
reached over the alternative. If both made sense to him, but he thought
that one position was a bit more intuitive, it would also make sense to
trust his rebbe's shiqul hadaas over his own.

And the text here needn't even say that! He could have simply meant that
he would have double- and triple-checked his work had he known that the
rebbe he learned from reached a different conclusion.

BTW, this is an interesting codicil to R Yochanan's lament over losing
his talmid-chaver-sparring partner, and being left with yes-men talmidim.

I had far more notes to reply to this, but by the time I found a chance
to actually write tham up as a reply, Rt Chana Sassoon provided a response
that I prefered to my own thoughts.

Chodesh Tov!
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 "As long as the candle is still burning,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   it is still possible to accomplish and to
Author: Widen Your Tent      mend."
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF        - Anonymous shoemaker to R' Yisrael Salanter