[Avodah] Deputy Ministers

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Aug 20, 2024 at 4:30pm UTC, R Joseph Kaplan replied to something
Rn Toby Katz wrote in v42n56:
>> I believe that Rav Kook would have reversed his psak if he were alive today,
>> with the changed circumstances that now prevail." (42/56)

> Putting aside my friend Toby's political opinions which, unsurprisingly,
> differ from mine, I'm happy to see that we agree that halacha can change
> with the times and circumstances.

I think it's rarely a real change. In the vast majority of cases,
we recognize the precedent as binding. We instead note a change in
circumstances that mean something significant change that makes that
apparent precedent as irrelevent. And that the already existing halakhah
needs to be applied to a new case -- which produces a new outcome.

For example, a deaf mute who can learn and communicate through a sign
language like ASL isn't in the same situation as a cheireish. We didn't
change the dinim for cheireish; we found that the existing laws simply
had underlying assumptions that don't apply after means of communication
were invented.

RAYK's pesaq was based on the idea that the state wouldn't allow women
sufferage, thereby avoiding women having sherarah. But if the electoral
body includes women having sherarah either way, the motive for the
his saying it is prohibited is undecut. Instead other aspects of our
lives would be made more difficult by losing votes, but for no to'eles.

A mashal: It's like a Focault's Pendulum, found in science museums. If
you return to one at different times of the day, it will look like it
is swinging back and forth at a different angle.*

But the appearance of change isn't because the pendulum changes, but
because the earth turns underneath it while the pendulum's swinging does
not. The context changes, but the pendultume stays fix. The changing
angle to the observer is actually a product of how *fixed* the swinging
actually is!

(*The rate at which the plane of a Focault's pendulum swings changes
is a function of the pendulum's latitude. At the north and south poles,
it would complete a circle daily. At the equator, not at all. I assumed
a visit to a science museum that wasn't on the equator. Which is a safe
assumption, since they would be unlikely to bother with this particular
exhibit.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Brains to the lazy
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   are like a torch to the blind --
Author: Widen Your Tent      a useless burden.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF               - Bechinas haOlam