[Avodah] Mesora?
Micha Berger
micha at aishdas.org
Wed Jan 1 02:55:18 PST 2025
On Wed, Jan 01, 2025 at 04:35:09AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
>> >From R' A Zivotofsky:
>> Claim: There is a mesorah on turkey. Ask almost anyone from the older
>> generation and they will confirm that they and their family and their
>> community ate turkey without hesitation.
...
> Can you reject this claim but still accept the Kuzari argument for
> Judaism's truth?
A big piece of the mis-named Kuzari Argument is that there is no way to
pull over a hoax that big about the history of an entire community.
The turkey isn't a big issue like the origin story. No one would be
surprised that grandpa didn't say anything about his grandpa's grandpa
saying they didn't have such a mesorah.
But more importantly, they did say as much! We know how the mesorah
came about, and we know it's a mistake. The debunking didn't come from
nowhere -- dates back at least to the Tosafos Yom Tov. As soon as we
learned that the turkey and the guineafowl were different birds, there
were people questioning the mesorah.
---
Tangents:
I said the Kuzari Argument is mis-named to remind people of an issue
I raised here in the past: R Yehudah HaLavi's section 1 is actually an
argument against the value of philosophical proofs. There is an irony that
Rihal's statement that mesorah is a more sure source than philosophical
proof was itself turned into a philosophical proof.
Really tangentical -- as in not being Avodah-eque: Guineafowl are
sub-Saharan African birds that reached Europe via Turkish traders, and the
Middle East via Indian ones. This is why when the New World bird arrived,
and people thought they were all one species, they shared the nickname of
the local guineafowl importers -- Turkey or Tarnigol Hodu, respectively.
Have a Great Month,
and a enlightening and enjoyable Chanukah!
-Micha
--
Micha Berger Take time,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp be exact,
Author: Widen Your Tent unclutter the mind.
-- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF -- Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, Alter of Kelm
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